Analysing an optimal angle in basketball free throw

• Published in: Journal of Physics: Conference Series
• Main Author: Nor-Al-Din S.M.; Shamsuddin N.N.S.; Razali N.K.; Sukri N.M.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing Ltd 2021
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85120771067&doi=10.1088%2f1742-6596%2f2084%2f1%2f012017&partnerID=40&md5=820e9808bf7c9a024f0c96683234bc8f

Basketball is a sport, played worldwide by people of all ages, from young to old. The most important skill that a football player should have is shooting. Shooting the ball into the hoop involves projectile motion. The ability of a player to shoot will determine the scores of his/her team. The angle and initial velocity taken during the shooting, plays a vital role, so that a perfect shooting could be achieved. This work has been conducted to determine the optimal throwing angle and initial velocity that a player should take in order to get the best shooting. The relationship of these factors were investigated: the throwing angle and player's height, initial velocity with the player's height, as well as the throwing angles versus time taken for the ball to reach the hoop. Our focus is to maximize the height of the ball, before it is thrown. Newton's law and the concept of projectile motion were applied using a calculus-based model. Relationship between the player's height with the initial velocity, optimal throwing angle and time taken for the ball to reach the hoop were discussed. Perfect optimal release angle were determined for thirty data of NBA players. It shows that the player's height is inversely proportional to the initial velocity and the optimal throwing angle. The obtained results also concluded that the optimal throwing angle is directly proportional to the time taken for a ball to reach its maximum height. © Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence.