Wilt Chamberlain's Underhand Experiment

The greatest stat line in basketball history was uplifted by the most awkward shot in the game.

Author

Zach Brandon
May 04, 2025

Granny-style Greatness

Wilt Chamberlain once found the answer to his biggest weakness… and walked away from it.

In the 1961–62 NBA season, Wilt Chamberlain was rewriting the record books. He averaged over 50 points per game and capped it all off with the most iconic individual performance in basketball history: A 100-point game.

What most people don’t realize is that on that night, Wilt made 28 of 32 free throws (his biggest weakness)…By shooting them granny-style, underhanded.

That season, Chamberlain experimented with the uncommon technique and saw real improvement. In fact, it was his best free-throw shooting year ever, finishing at 61.3% (far above his career average of 51.1%). But even after seeing results, he gave it up. Why?

In his autobiography, Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door, he reflected on that decision:

“I felt silly shooting underhanded. I know I was wrong. I know some of the best foul shooters in history shot that way. I just couldn’t do it.”

Despite knowing the method worked, Chamberlain let the fear of perception override his performance. He traded effectiveness for image.

The Crowd Effect

Chamberlain’s story is a prime example of what behavioral scientists call threshold theory. This idea suggests that many people won’t adopt a new behavior until enough others do it first. They wait until it's socially safe.

In other words, human beings don’t make decisions in a vacuum. Instead, we’re influenced by how many others are doing something before we join in.

Everyone has a threshold. Some need just one person to go first. Others need dozens. And some won’t move until everyone is doing it.

As coaches and leaders, we need to recognize that many of our performers wrestle not with what works, but with what it looks like to others. They’re not just managing their skills, they're managing their social risk and perception. That means improvement often competes with image. Innovation wrestles with insecurity.

But high performance sometimes demands choosing the unpopular path.

That’s why this famous quote from Hall of Fame wide receiver, Jerry Rice, still resonates on so many levels: “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”

As a coach, this is where you come in. You get to help people lower their threshold and act with courage, not the consensus. Helping athletes break free of this threshold mindset could be the difference between potential left untapped and performance unleashed.

Developing Courageous Performers

Here are two ways to help athletes push past their threshold and become the kind of performer who leads, not follows:

  1. Rewind the Breakthrough — Ask: “What’s been the catalyst for you to finally try something new in the past?”

It’s not always logic. Maybe it was a person. Maybe it was a story. Help athletes identify what helped them act in the past so they can recreate those conditions with intention and purpose. When they see how change actually happens, they’ll stop waiting for a perfect time and start creating one.

  1. Acknowledge Early Movers — Spotlight players who are willing to try something new, even if it’s awkward and uncomfortable at first. Because once someone goes first, they lower the threshold for everyone else.

Steph Curry did this on a global scale. For years, shooting from 30 feet was a novelty. Now it’s a strategy.

He once said: “I’ve always been comfortable being uncomfortable… you have to shoot shots that you might miss to stretch your game.”

Curry went first. Now the rest of the league is catching up. When athletes take a risk or when they choose growth over comfort, acknowledge and celebrate it. That one brave decision might shift the standard for the entire group.

Final Thoughts

Wilt Chamberlain had a solution in his hands. But he let the fear of standing out stop him. Not because the method failed, but because he felt alone using it. Threshold behavior reminds us that many people aren’t waiting for results. They’re waiting for company.

Don’t be afraid to be the person who goes first. Cheer for the ones who do. Because tomorrow’s greatness depends on today’s courage.

Inspiration for This Piece:

The Threshold Lab Podcast

In case you missed it, I recently launched a new podcast called The Threshold Lab — where I explore fundamental principles that help high performers think, lead, and live at the highest level.

This past week’s most downloaded episode was “Cut The Rope” where I discuss how fear is often unfamiliarity in disguise and why waiting to feel “ready” is one of the fastest ways to stay stuck.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’d love for you to give it a listen and share if anything resonates for you!