6 Things You May Be Teaching
That Hold Shooters Back

It seems like everywhere we go coaches teach shooting in a different way. While there are a lot of methods that work, there are also a lot of things being taught that don’t work. Here are 6 things you may be teaching that hold your shooters back.

“Toes to the Target.”

Elite shooters don’t have their toes directly to the target. By keeping your feet offset/tilted to the side you allow the shooting arm to stay on line with more ease. How big is the tilt? Depends on the player…

“Don’t follow the ball!!”

…is something we hear all the time. The problem is a lot of great shooters do. This one is all about what each player is comfortable with. Whether you ball watch or rim watch, there is no data that says one is conclusively better than the other.

• Players and coaches in the NBA estimate 25% of the league are ball watchers. Among those are all-time greats like Klay, Steph, Harden, Dirk, Ray, Reggie and Bird. It seems like you can be a fairly good shooter if you ball watch.

“Don’t dip.”

Only teach this if you want players to struggle to shoot from distance. Dipping the basketball is how we generate power in our shot, make it quicker, and is what every elite player does to extend range. Be excited about a great dip.

“You’ll never get that shot off at the next level.”

Some coaches have a bias toward two motion shots. They watch a player’s one motion shot & mistake this for having a “low release.” They mistakenly are asking them to change to a lift, set, shoot/two motion shot.

• One motion = Curry

  Shooting the ball with one motion is actually a more efficient way to shoot and makes it easier to generate power from deep. By asking a young player to change this you are asking them to give up power.

• Be sure if you are coaching a player to raise their release it is because the release is actually too low. And remember, this has nothing to do with having a one motion or two motion shot.

“1-2 step into your shot.”

We have seen some coaches give only one form of footwork to shooters & ban all others… typically it is the 1-2 step into the shot. The 1-2 step can be slow so at higher levels you won’t typically see it, instead you will see…

• One foot move: this looks similar to the 1-2 step, except it is just a one step. Instead of moving both feet you want to plant your non-shooting foot and on the air time of the pass simply move one foot to get ready to shoot. This is faster
• Airborne receiver: or the hop… this is where as the pass is in the air, the shooter will replace their own feet with a quick hop in place to gain rhythm and ready themselves to shoot. This is also faster.

• Which one do I teach? The one that works best for each player! All we care about is that their feet are set when fingers touch leather. There are no steadfast rules as to which footwork works best. You will see elite shooters use both in all situations.

Teaching them HOW to shoot.

They can’t shoot exactly like Steph, Bird or Jordan… they have to shoot exactly like themselves. There is no cookie cutter so don’t teach them HOW to shoot, help them find their own authentic shot… look at Reggie!!!