One may not think that free throws would be, on their own, an acceptable subject of an NBA highlight video. And if you had confronted me on the subject not two weeks ago, I would have agreed with that viewpoint. After all, my disdain for free throws is well-publicized. Frequently I will bemoan the fact that a highlight video is ruined by a preponderance of free throws.
However, your pal DownToBuck has had a change of heart. Free throws contain within them a subtle beauty which is usually missed by the crass and uncultured casual NBA fan. The poetic look of absolute focus which adorns the face of the shooter, the sublime economy of motion as well-practiced shot mechanics are instinctively executed, the gentle arc of the ball through the air on either a flat trajectory, a high arc, or somewhere in between, the breathy swish of the ball through the net that is a sound which every basketball player has a secret yearning to hear, all of it is like the essence of basketball distilled into its purest state.
That is why I have decided to track down the hundred finest free throws from the 2019-20 season, a season which was disappointingly cut short by worldwide pandemic but which still contained a wealth of exemplary free throws. Each of the 34,285 free throws made this season underwent in-depth frame-by-frame scrutiny, searching for the qualities outlined above. But those well-defined criteria were not alone in shaping this video; I was also guided by my soul, which recognizes basketball purity much more readily than my ofttimes-cynical human mind. On viewing certain free throws, I could feel my soul “shimmer” so to speak, and it was on those occasions that I could truly recognize a specific free throw as being worthy of inclusion in this video.
I hope that your souls will likewise be enriched by viewing this video of unsurpassed basketball innocence, a video which is unsullied by such concepts as “teammates”, “defense”, and “coaching”.
I think that, if Dr. James Naismith were to see this video, he would cry. I know that I am crying right now.