Basketball Fundamentals: Shooting

Shooting a basketball, like any other skill can be learned and improved with A LOT of CORRECT practice. No one is born as a great shooter, all of the great shooters have put in hours and hours of correct practice. It does not do very much good to practice the wrong way. Additionally, mental toughness is essential to being a great shooter. Developing mental toughness is discussed in another section of our site. There are five stages in the shooting progression to becoming a great shooter.

1. The first stage is learning the correct fundamentals of holding the ball, and then delivering the shot. Your shooting hand should be set across the seams of the basketball. The index finger of your shooting hand should be placed in the middle of the ball--you should use the air valve as a guide. Your guide hand should be placed on the side of the ball. Point all ten of your toes to the rim-with your shooting foot pointed at the center of the basket and your other foot slightly off center. When you jump, push your feet toward the basket. You should land six inches closer to the basket with your toes still pointing to the rim and your feet in the same position and the same distance apart as when you started. When you release the ball, the ball should spin or rotate backwards off your fingers and that backspin rotation should continue as the ball is in the air toward the goals. The guide hand does not move on its own and only opens up slightly as the ball is pushed to the basket by the shooting hand. After you release the ball, hold a high goose neck follow through as if you were putting your hand in basket with ball.   Your eyes should be focused on the nearest eyelet on the basket and should stay on that eyelet target. You should not watch the flight of the ball! The best basketball shooting drills to practice these fundamentals are shooting on the line and rim flips.

2. Stage Number 2 is repetition shots with no pressure and no movement. Concentrate on the fundamentals from stage one. Clap and ready hands to catch the ball. These shots should be 12-15 feet or whatever distance is a comfortable distance for you. In this stage you will combine proper mechanics from stage #1 above with getting the ball straight. Your aim if you do miss is to never miss to the right, to the left, or short. Get the ball straight and up over the front of the rim and if you have to miss, miss on the back of the rim. The shooting on a line dril helps you to work on getting the ball straight. During the Competitive Individual Development Workout, this phase of the shooting progression is made up of the technique shooting games.

3. Moving at a game pace in ways that occur in a 5/5 game to get a shot. The most effective way to master stage #3 is by having an organized individual development workout plan that is designed for the areas you want to improve--and then you must have the dedication to stick to your plan. The most important time to be dedicated is when you don't want to be.
   

4. Shooting with pressure produced by time, performance goals, or one defender. We have descriptions of several Game Pace Shooting Drills, such as the The Two Minute Drill to assist in this phase of the shooting progression.

5. Being able to make shots in a 5/5 scrimmage. You must shoot the shots that you have been practicing in your individual development workouts and plan your workouts so that you are practicing the shots that you get in games