Improve Your Basketball Shooting in Two Simple Steps
I had a chance to check out the local high school play-offs this season and was horrified by the poor shooting. In four championship games, many featuring D-1 bound players, the best offense was “chuck and chase”: throw the ball towards the rim (hoping that goes in) and fight for the offensive rebound and any put-back opportunities. Granted, they were playing in an NBA arena and most of the teams over-relied on the three-point shot for their scoring opportunities, but the main reason for the poor shooting was the players’ poor hand positioning when shooting the ball and their failure to be ready to shoot when they catch the pass.
The majority of coaches concentrate on the elbow and shoulders when correcting a player’s shot. But that’s usually the wrong place to start. In the majority of the cases, the player’s shooting struggles originate from their shooting hand position negatively impacting their shot. This has nothing to do with the shoulders or elbow. So the first thing you should do is to make sure that the player correctly positions his hand on the ball. The easiest way to do this is to have the player center the ball directly under their shooting hand. Now when the player shoots, the middle and index fingers should be the last two fingers to leave the ball. That’s why it makes sense to have these two fingers centered.
There are three popular ways to achieve this: first, split the index and middle fingers with the nozzle (the ball’s center); align the middle finger with the ball’s center; or, put the index finger in the middle. All three make sense: if the goal is to shoot with the last two fingers, then both should be equally centered; however, centering the middle finger spreads the hand equally over the ball; but, if you extend your fingers toward the rim in a shooting motion, it is the index finger, not the middle finger, that points straight to the rim, while the body’s physiology points the middle finger slightly to the right for a right-handed shooter.
My main goal when working with a player is to make him feel comfortable and confident, so out of the three approaches, I go with the one that is most comfortable for the player. But the problem usually happens when the player has his hand on the side of the ball. You have to make sure that the shooting hand is centered using one of the approaches I explained above.
The other hand issue is getting the hand properly pointed towards the target. Unfortunately, most coaches and trainers focus on getting the player’s shoulders squared and elbow straight; however, most players have their elbow in, but they have to twist their wrist to the target as part of the shooting motion. When the player has his hand under the ball properly, with a “wrinkle in the wrist,” you’ll also notice a small indentation at the base of the palm.
These simple elements will improve a shooter’s technique and turn them into a consistent shooter. But, to be a great shooter, players also have to improve the base of their shots. The base is the foundation for a successful shot, plain and simple. If a player has a poor foundation, his shot will be really inconsistent. In order to improve the foundation, teach him to be ready to shoot when he receives the pass. So many bad and poor shots are taken because the player takes too long to catch and shoot, and ends up letting the defense recover; when the player is receiving the pass, make sure that his feet are wide (about shoulder width apart), knees bent, and hands up and ready.
Furthermore, players have to use their leg drive to power their shot. Most players shoot a jump shot, but they tend to shoot the ball on its way down, eliminating the power generated by the players leg drive. When the ball is shot on the way up, earlier in the jump, the player will harness the power generated by the leg drive when jumping, and increase the player’s power. This will help to increase the arc on the ball when it’s shot; most inconsistent or streaky shooters shoot a very flat shot, one that has little room for error. When a player shoots with more arc, they player has a better chance of making the shot into the rim from above.
Improving these three areas will not automatically make you a great shooter, but they will instantly help a player to create a more consistent shot. Change is difficult at times, and players who have taken hundreds of thousands of shots have built and reinforced bad habits that are difficult to change. However, for a player to reach his full shooting potential, he has to learn to shoot consistently. The game is really simple; whoever puts the ball in the hole the most wins. By tweaking a player’s hand placement when he lifts the ball into his shot, concentrating on receiving the pass prepared to shoot and then using a solid leg drive, a player’s shot will become more consistent, creating a better overall offensive player.
Author Brian McCormick knows a lot about basketball shooting and basketball shooting tips.
Write a comment