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Introduction   Technique   Intensity   Purpose   Shot Correction   Program  

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Introduction

In Basketball, shooting is probably the most practiced skill of all, yet it is a minority of players who become highly skilled at it. Michael Jordan, was once quoted as saying,

There is a right and a wrong way to do things, you can practice shooting 8 hours a day, but if your TECHNIQUE is wrong, all you will become is very good at shooting very bad!

The reason only a minority succeed at becoming skilled shooters is not due lack of practice, but more often due to the lack or absence of a shot technique. It is one thing to shoot a basketball, it is another thing to shoot using the same TECHNIQUE, at game INTENSITY and with PURPOSE! The saying, "Practice doesn't make perfect - Perfect Practice makes Perfect!" holds true here. Jordan was correct in his observation, the lack of Technique, Intensity and Purpose (TIP) is what hinders many from becoming skilled shooters.

The importance of these three factors should not be under estimated. A quick definition of each follows.

Technique - The method used to shoot the ball

Intensity - The pace at which the shot technique is executed

Purpose - Setting of and attainment of specific goals and shooting targets when training

 Technique

The most common technique taught in the English speaking world today is known as BEEF (BEEEF for Jump shots). BEE(E)F stands for Balance, Eye, Elbow, (Elevation), Follow-through.

B - is for Balance

Knees must be bent, back must be straight, head must be up and hands must be up in the ready to shoot, or triple threat position. For a right handed shooter the right foot should be slightly forward so the heel is in line with the toes of the left foot. For a left handed shooter the left foot should be forward. Toes must point at the basket and stay pointing at the basket through-out the shot.

Get in the habit of catching the ball with your knees bent so you are ready to go straight into the shot upon receiving the ball. Too often players catch the ball standing up, so if they wanted to shoot the ball they would go down and then up again (bob) to shoot the ball. This has two adverse effects. First the player now has to fight gravity and their body weight to shoot the ball and that is hard work, and secondly it takes the player longer to shoot the ball and is therefore less efficient than catching the ball low and ready to shoot. The emphasis should therefore be body under the ball!!!

"A Player who catches the ball ready to shoot is always a threat!"

E - is for Eye

You must look at your target. Most players who consistently miss lay-ups generally miss for no other reason than they didn't get a good look at their target. It is often the same with shots. The target must be narrowed down to point of focus on the rim, similar to an archer aiming for a bulls-eye. There are three commonly agreed spots to aim for. The back of the rim, the front of the rim and the nothing or middle of the hoop. While these points are considered targets, you are not trying to shoot at them!

If you aim for the back of the rim, you are trying to shoot short of it. If you aim for the front of the rim you are trying to shoot over it. If you aim for the centre (nothing) that is your target. Some coaches say it is not possible to focus on 'nothing' and therefore don't encourage the middle as a  target. Most players focus on the back of the rim but it is best to decide what works for the individual.

"An offensive player whose eyes rarely leave the ring is always a threat."

E - is for Elbow

Your Elbow must be directly under the ball. The elbow is like the hinge on a door, it can only go in one direction, therefore if your elbow is pointing outward, the direction it is pointing is where the ball is most likely to go. So if the elbow is placed directly under the ball and is pointed in line with the ring (The forearm and upper arm should be at 90 degrees to one another), as long as the shoulders of the player are square to the basket the shot should go straight.

The ball rests on the pads of the palm and the finger tips not the palm. And the balance hand does not shoot the ball. The fingers of the balance hand should be spread and point straight up to the sky. The thumbs of each hand should come close to forming the letter 'T'.

"A straight shot is a good shot, it is the easiest shot to correct."

(E - is for Elevation)

In the BEE(E)F jump shot technique the third 'E' basically means you go from the ready to shoot position and jump up extending your legs. As your legs straighten your arm straightens to shoot the ball (See Follow-through). The important thing is to avoid fading, (i.e. moving back away from basket) floating (i.e. moving sideways) or hanging (i.e. holding the peak of the jump too long).

Fading and floating should be avoided because this is the same as shooting at a moving target, which increases the chances of inconsistency. However that being said fade away shots have been proven to be successful time and time again by many great players. But like a crossover there is a time and a place to do them, which is normally when close to the basket and where the shooter is smaller than their opponent. Some coaches discourage the fade-away purely because it makes the shot slow, you lose height on your jump and it is like shooting at a moving target.

Hanging should be avoided because it makes the shot too slow and normally the ball is released after the peak of the jump, which means you are shooting on the fall. The benefit of the jump shot is to give you height above your opponent, so the ball is free from obstruction, also the power gained from the jump needs to be utilised for a quicker release, and to help the ball make the distance the further away from the basket you are.

"A Good Jump shooter should release the ball just on the peak of their jump."

F - is for Follow-through

For younger player teach F as Flick, it is easier for them to remember. While all the components of a shot are important, this is the feedback mechanism provided in the shot technique. The problem is too few players are being made aware of this fact.

Timing is important in follow-through. As your knees straighten your elbow straightens so that both are fully extended at the same time, if the extension of either is out, there is likely to be inefficiency with the shot. The players should finish on their toes, their shooting arm's elbow should be above their eyebrows with its fingers pointing to the basket and palm parallel to the floor.

You must lock your elbow and snap your wrist on the follow-through to give a slight back spin to the ball.

"The follow through is the only thing to let you know why you made or missed a shot."

 Intensity

To shoot is one thing, but to shoot at game intensity and in games situations is another! The saying is, "You play as well as you train." Once you have established and practised a technique and it is reasonably sound. You must get out of your comfort zone and work to use that technique at game intensity, receiving on the move and tired, because this is how you often have to shoot in the game. Use of a "throw-back" is ideal for a player to practice shooting at game intensity if one is available.

Many players practice shooting and just throw the ball up from different spots. They neglect a whole chain of events that leads to those shots in games. For example in their practice they may fail to square up, shot or foot fake, drive or do one or two dribble shots and jumpers. You see it is the quality of training that makes a player a good shooter. For example a player who practices a shot fake-one dribble-jump shot from 5 spots, is going to have more chance of scoring this way in a game than the player who just practiced shooting from spots.

Effective use of the imagination (imagery) is important when practising shooting on your own. You must pretend to see the defence and what option they have given you. Therefore the player who practices the shot fake shot or drive, has effectively imagined their opponent's reaction to the fake, even though the opponent is not there. But when the opponent is there, will this shooter's actions and reactions be any different? Probably not!

Effectively what you are doing when you do any training is reinforcing good habits. The more we do something the less reliant we become on thinking about doing it. In sport this reinforcement is known as "Muscle Memory" that is the training of our mind to send signals to the muscles in reacting to certain situations to obtain a result without any real thought going into the desired result. More common language is to refer to it as "second nature".

Purpose

Shooting with purpose at game intensity in training cannot be under estimated. What is meant by purpose? Purpose means a player must set goals and try to reach them. But it is not only setting a goal, but trying to be better than you were before. Teach your players to forget competing against their teammates and opponents when trying to measure their success. Coach Rowe has had players approach him when given an assignment on court saying "but that guy is too good" - his response to this is, "he is only as good as you let him be". His point is the only competition you are guaranteed of winning is the one against yourself! Every time you train or step on a court you should try to be better than you were before you or the coach should accept and expect nothing less than this regardless of the outcome.

Shooting with purpose when training means, if you shoot ten shots at five different spots, you should set a goal to make greater than 50%. If you don't make 50% at a spot give yourself a penalty of push-ups or a suicide run. Once you consistently make 50% at each spot, you move the goal post and make it 60%, that way you will know you will be better. When you are consistently making 10 shots at each spot, again change the goal post, make it 15 or 20 shots at each spot.

You should do this for all shooting drills no matter what the shot it is. But it is not enough just to do it, you need to record your makes from takes somewhere and then graph them over a period of time to see your improvement. A shooting program has been provided on the Programs page.

Shot Correction

Why you made or missed?

You need to know why you made or missed a shot, too often players throw the ball up and miss and would not have the faintest idea why they missed, all they know is that they missed. Chances are if a player misses a shot one of the components of BEE(E)F was not executed correctly. The follow-through is the mechanism to tell a player why they missed. Unfortunately some coaches do not teach their players how to analyse their shot. Remember the saying, "Give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish he'll eat forever!" The same holds true for shooting.

"Players must be able to assess why they missed a shot. If they cannot,
then there is little hope for them to be great shooters." - Coach Rowe

Below are the most common reasons players miss shots. First use BEE(E)F as a checklist

1. Poor Balance - faded, floated, hung, feet turned, shoulders turned, head went to side
2. Didn't look at target - didn't focus on a point on the rim, eyes left target on release
3. Elbow was not under the ball or was bent too far back
4. Released the ball after peak of jump on the fall.
5. Didn't extend and hold follow through finishing with elbow above eyebrows.

While that is a checklist it is useless without knowing what the shot actually did so here are some common shooting problems for different handed shooters and suggestions on ways they may be corrected.

Right Hand Shooter

Missed Shot: Ball goes to right of basket
Likely Cause: Elbow is not under the ball or balance hand influencing the shot
Solution: Make sure elbow remains under the ball pointing at rim or remove balance hand sooner

Missed Shot: Ball goes to left of basket
Likely Cause: Shoulders or feet moved on shot
Solution: Keep shoulders level and strong, keep toes pointing to basket through-out the shot

Left Hand Shooter

Missed Shot: Ball goes to left of basket
Likely Cause: Elbow is not under the ball or balance hand influencing the shot
Solution: Make sure elbow remains under the ball pointing at rim or remove balance hand sooner

Missed Shot: Ball goes to right of basket
Likely Cause: Shoulders or feet moved on shot
Solution: Keep shoulders level and strong, keep toes pointing to basket through-out the shot

Shots may also miss to the side if a player moves their body in a lateral motion (i.e. sideways) on the shot, particularly if floating sideways on a jump shot.

In General - For a straight shot that missed...

Missed Shot: Shot over thrown and shot is flat
Likely Cause: Elbow is not finishing high enough on shot (i.e. above eyebrows)
Solution: Finish elbow higher for more arc, but don't throw the ball off the shoulder

Missed Shot: Shot over thrown with arc
Likely Cause: To much push power from legs
Solution: Reduce the amount the knees are bent, move shooter back slightly

Missed Shot: Shot is under thrown and is flat
Likely Cause: Poor knee, elbow and wrist timing
Solution: Get within range, bend knees, simultaneous extension, snap the wrist

Missed Shot: Shot is under thrown with arc
Likely Cause: Elbow too high on shot or shooting outside range.
Solution: Lower the elbow on release or move closer to the basket

Missed Shot: Too much backspin ball falling short
Likely Cause: Too much wrist snap or arm and wrist snap too rigid
Solution: Don't flick wrist too much, check ball is released from finger tips not the palm

These are just general common reasons why shots are missed. Sometimes the case may not be as simple as these. Each player is different and each problem should also be treated as such. There are some factors effecting poor shooting which cannot be changed and these are biomechanical.

Shooting Program

To assist you in practicing your shot technique with intensity and purpose Coach Rowe has provided a shooting program on the Programs page in Adobe PDF format for you to download. You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or later.