That's my thinking. I'm guessing they have a budgeted amount of memory dedicated to animations. So if they add something, then they probably have to eliminate something. They may have felt it was better to drop an animation that not many people used in favor of something more useful.
As for shooting free throws granny-style, I'm surprised more players who are terrible at the line don't give it a try. And for really tall guys, it does make sense from a physics standpoint to lower the release point of the ball and encourage a softer arc. But for me personally, I shot free throws at a 90% rate throughout high school but can't make 6 out of 10 granny-style (the few times that I've tried it). So it's definitely not for everyone. It wasn't ever that big of a deal for me to replicate my normal shot at the line. I'm also only 6 foot tall though, so I'm already low enough to the ground as is.