Basketball shooting is an art, but it is an art that improves with practice. Does natural shooting talent help? Of course it does. But even without natural shooting ability, most players should be able to develop good, reliable shooting ability with the right guidance and repetition of the skill.
Players should be taught how to hold the ball on the fingertips, to be sure their elbow is under the ball when they raise it, to use leg power to give their shot strength, to snap their wrist for back spin, to put arc on the ball. These are the basics of shooting a basketball, and not every player is taught well at a young age, which is regrettable. But even those that are taught to shoot properly will occasionally need an adjustment, will fall into a bad habit or have an off game (or season). Everyone makes mistakes.
Here are three common problems basketball players have when shooting the ball, along with what they can do to fix the problem and become better basketball shooters:
1. The shot is short. Is there a more common shooting problem? Probably not. If the ball is hitting the front of the rim, the player's shooting form may not need a major change, but rather a more minor, and yet very important, adjustment. When shooting the basketball, the power comes from the legs. Not the relatively small and weaker arm and shoulder muscles, but the strong, powerful leg muscles. Shooters need to use their leg muscles to give power to their shot - i.e., the shooter needs to bend his legs as he is setting up the shot, then explode upwards into the shot release.
Another possibility is that the shooter isn't following through on the release. As the ball is leaving the shooter's hands, he needs to snap his wrist down, as if he is draping his hand over the rim. This snap of the wrist - follow through - gives the ball a little extra power in its flight as well as giving it backspin, which causes it to bounce softly on the rim if it misses, and maybe roll in as opposed to bouncing away.
2.The shot falls to the left or right of the basket. Likely a problem squaring up. When the shooter sets up to shoot, he should be squared to the basket - i.e., a line drawn across his shoulders should be perpendicular to a straight line drawn from the shooter to the basket. This means the player's body will be facing directly to the hoop, and the ball is more likely to fly in the direction the body is facing.
Similarly, it could be that the shooter's elbow is out. The elbow of the shooting hand should be as directly under the ball as possible. The arm acts as a fulcrum, and the straighter that fulcrum is, the straighter the ball will fly. Think of those big catapults that he king's army used centuries ago that, when released, would throw big rocks at castles to break apart the castle walls. The shooting arm is the catapult, the ball is the rock. As long as the catapult is pointed straight in the right direction, the rock hits its mark.
3. The ball skims the rim and circles out or slams hard off the rim and bounces out - no 'shooter's roll'. A couple of possibilities here: if the ball is circling the rim and spinning out, it could be that the ball is being released off the side of the hand, or at least not off the very center. The shooter needs to be sure that on the release, the ball is rolling off the middle finger, and not one of the other fingers. Besides helping the ball to fly straighter, this should also mean the spin on the ball will be back spin, and not side spin.
If the ball is hitting the front or back of the rim and bouncing out, it could be there is not enough arc on the shot - the shot is flat. Shooters need to have lots of arc on the shot if they want to get that shooter's roll, where the ball comes down on the rim, stops dead or bounces around lightly, and then drops in. To get that requires the ball to come down from above the rim - not launched like a missile from in front of it.
Every practice should have a few minutes set aside for players to practice their shooting on their own - the first 10 minutes or so immediately before the actual practice begins is the best time to do this. During this time, the coaches can walk around and make necessary adjustments, depending on what they see. If no coaches are available at the time, players can pair up and watch each others shooting and try to pick out problem areas.
You can find more about how to coach basketball shooting, as well as a variety of shooting drills, on the Basketball Shooting Skills page on my Better Basketball Coaching website.
Players should be taught how to hold the ball on the fingertips, to be sure their elbow is under the ball when they raise it, to use leg power to give their shot strength, to snap their wrist for back spin, to put arc on the ball. These are the basics of shooting a basketball, and not every player is taught well at a young age, which is regrettable. But even those that are taught to shoot properly will occasionally need an adjustment, will fall into a bad habit or have an off game (or season). Everyone makes mistakes.
Here are three common problems basketball players have when shooting the ball, along with what they can do to fix the problem and become better basketball shooters:
1. The shot is short. Is there a more common shooting problem? Probably not. If the ball is hitting the front of the rim, the player's shooting form may not need a major change, but rather a more minor, and yet very important, adjustment. When shooting the basketball, the power comes from the legs. Not the relatively small and weaker arm and shoulder muscles, but the strong, powerful leg muscles. Shooters need to use their leg muscles to give power to their shot - i.e., the shooter needs to bend his legs as he is setting up the shot, then explode upwards into the shot release.
Another possibility is that the shooter isn't following through on the release. As the ball is leaving the shooter's hands, he needs to snap his wrist down, as if he is draping his hand over the rim. This snap of the wrist - follow through - gives the ball a little extra power in its flight as well as giving it backspin, which causes it to bounce softly on the rim if it misses, and maybe roll in as opposed to bouncing away.
2.The shot falls to the left or right of the basket. Likely a problem squaring up. When the shooter sets up to shoot, he should be squared to the basket - i.e., a line drawn across his shoulders should be perpendicular to a straight line drawn from the shooter to the basket. This means the player's body will be facing directly to the hoop, and the ball is more likely to fly in the direction the body is facing.
Similarly, it could be that the shooter's elbow is out. The elbow of the shooting hand should be as directly under the ball as possible. The arm acts as a fulcrum, and the straighter that fulcrum is, the straighter the ball will fly. Think of those big catapults that he king's army used centuries ago that, when released, would throw big rocks at castles to break apart the castle walls. The shooting arm is the catapult, the ball is the rock. As long as the catapult is pointed straight in the right direction, the rock hits its mark.
3. The ball skims the rim and circles out or slams hard off the rim and bounces out - no 'shooter's roll'. A couple of possibilities here: if the ball is circling the rim and spinning out, it could be that the ball is being released off the side of the hand, or at least not off the very center. The shooter needs to be sure that on the release, the ball is rolling off the middle finger, and not one of the other fingers. Besides helping the ball to fly straighter, this should also mean the spin on the ball will be back spin, and not side spin.
If the ball is hitting the front or back of the rim and bouncing out, it could be there is not enough arc on the shot - the shot is flat. Shooters need to have lots of arc on the shot if they want to get that shooter's roll, where the ball comes down on the rim, stops dead or bounces around lightly, and then drops in. To get that requires the ball to come down from above the rim - not launched like a missile from in front of it.
Every practice should have a few minutes set aside for players to practice their shooting on their own - the first 10 minutes or so immediately before the actual practice begins is the best time to do this. During this time, the coaches can walk around and make necessary adjustments, depending on what they see. If no coaches are available at the time, players can pair up and watch each others shooting and try to pick out problem areas.
You can find more about how to coach basketball shooting, as well as a variety of shooting drills, on the Basketball Shooting Skills page on my Better Basketball Coaching website.
| Gary has been coaching varsity basketball for over fifteen years. Read more of his coaching advice on his website http://betterbasketballcoaching.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Donovan |  |
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