Division 3: Shooter Sets DIII Scoring Record with 89 Points

Yes, this happened.  Yes, I was apart of this.  Yes, I was on the team that lost.  No one mentioned that the other team had only had 7 players, because two of ourguys had gone down with ankle injuries the day before.  Grinnell had a total of 23 players! That being said it was an awesome, exciting game, and I wouldn't take it back for a second.  I learned so much from watching Griffin Lentsch pull 55 shots!  Talk about a shooter, his range was infinite and he always was getting up high on his shot.  Best form on a shot that I have seen in person.  I was the top scorer for my team, but had sixty to go to catch his... pretty ridiculous right?   All seven of our guys were toast after this, but were coming back on monday and going to kick some tail!  Anyways, just wanted to check in, been so busy with basketball haven't had time to post!

Taylor Allan Shooting

I want to take a break from tips on shooting today to refer you to the best shooting expert in the field today.  Taylor Allan has, by far, the best program if you want to learn and increase your shooting ability.  I have been doing his training for a little over two years now.  My results have exploded since I began his program.  I went from barely averaging five points in college to doubling that to ten points.  Now that our main scorer graduated last year my scoring isn't going to skyrocket even more.  The program will challenge you to make shots that are difficult so that when you enter a game  you will be extremely prepared to hit any shot.  Also, he goes into mechanics, strategies, moves, and basically anything you need to become as he calls it a "prolific shooter."  I'm only one of a hundreds that have been positively impacted by his training.  If you want to improve your scoring average than click on this link...Taylor Allan Shooting or you can click on the link on the side.

Basketball Footwork: The 1-2 Step

The 1-2 step is the generic beginning to a basketball set shot.  Basically, I use this whenever I'm faced up against a defender and I'm going to shoot in his face.  To do the 1-2 step you just take your pivot foot and step into your shot.  This means you must step into a balanced position with your feet shoulder width apart.  This cant also be done when you make a move.   You just always have to set your inside foot first.  The outside foot should always be the one that is planted second.  This is key even when you don't make a move.  Now, go get some shooting in at the gym! I know I'm going to, first game tomorrow!

Basketball Footwork: The Drop

    There are two footwork possibilities when your pulling up for a jumpshot in basketball.  First is what I like to call the drop, which is what I'm talking about today.  The drop is my preferred footwork technique when shooting a jumpshot.  Second, is stepping into your shot.  I call that method the step in, and I will talk about that tomorrow.  The drop is an important part of every great shooters repertoire.
    The drop is a very quick and balanced way to get off your shot.   When your performing the drop your goal is to plant your two feet and immediately being your jumpshot.  This can mean pretending to drive by starting to make a move to the hoop, but then dropping into a jump shot.  Or it can mean coming off a screen and dropping right into your shot. In fact, I would recommend using this method if you want to get off a quick shot after coming off a screen.  The drop is an extremely effective, quick way to get off a shot.  One person who uses this method almost everytime is Jimmer Fredette.   In the video below he uses the drop every time he shoots as opposed to the step in. 

Shooting Mechanics: Conclusion/Footwork

     From the feet to the neck, all of these posts on mechanics are important.  However, don't worry if your mechanics aren't entirely perfect.  You are striving for perfection, but in the end feeling comfortable with your shot is just as important.  Even the greatest shooters don't have completely perfect form.  When you do get to the comfortable shot that feels and looks great, then you need to focus on shooting the same way everytime.  All the great shooters always have the same motion when they pull up to shoot, no matter if it's from 20 feet or 30 feet.  This brings me to the next important part of shooting, footwork.      
    You may have heard many people say that Kobe has the best footwork in the NBA.  The first time I heard this I was confused as to how that could make him a better shooter or scorer.  It turns out footwork has huge importance in shooting.  Footwork includes how you approach your shot such as, dropping into your shot as opposed to stepping into your shot.  My next posts will continue with shooting footwork.  These posts will include what footwork to use, when, and how to use it to your advantage.

Shooting Mechanics: Neck

Yup, the neck.  It's actually important when your shooting a basketball.  This neck being in an incorrect position is a common problem.  I often see shooters cocking their necks when they go up for a shot.   However, you want your neck to be in a straight line with your spine for a few reasons.  One, this means less movement of the eyes when your elevating to shoot your shot.  Two, cocking the neck often means your looking at the ball, not the hoop, when your shooting.  Different people have different preferences on where they want to look when they shoot.  The best places to look are generally the front of the rim, the back of the rim, or even just at the hoop in general.  However, you don't ever want to look at the ball when your shooting.  Third, this can throw off the balance of your body.  You can practice enough and make it feel balanced if your neck is cocked, but it's much better to just avoid the problem altogether.  Therefore, try to keep the neck straight as much as possible and you can avoid all of these problems. Also, I haven't posted a video in awhile so I wanted to drop one on a player I greatly admire.  Deron Williams is not only a phenominal shooter, but an amazing athlete, passer, and dribbler.

Shooting Mechanics: Finishing the Shot

The chain of power from starting from your foot has now reached your hand.  Following through unleashes all of the power that has built through your body.  First, as you may have known, you must flick your wrist.  As every coach says, "finger in the cookie jar".  Pretend like your young again and all you want is that last cookie.  You got to seriously reach in to get that cookie!  Second, you want the ball to roll off your index finger.  This is how your hand aims toward the hoop.  You should finish with that index finger pointing at the hoop.  Remember, the key to a great follow through is to get in that cookie jar and have that ball roll off the index finger!

Shooting Mechanics: Elbow/Shooting Pocket

The elbow must be in a direct line with your power foot.   This means that if you took a picture of yourself shooting, that you could draw a red line from your power foot to the elbow.  No chicken wing!  The chicken wings happens when you aren't tucking your elbow into your body.  By tucking the elbow in you create the shooting pocket, which every dominant shooter has.  The shooting pocket is the C that your upper and lower arm form with your hand.  This "C' is created by positioning the upper arm at a ninety degree angle in relation with your lower arm.  If you look at Dirk in the picture below he does this perfectly.  His shooting pocket is formed with the perfect ninety degree angle, with the ball placed in his shooting T.  A common mistake in shooting is to release at a lower point from where your should be releasing.  For example, Shawn Marion is a terrible example of a good shooter.   He releases from almost under his head, which is why he doesn't score most of his points on jump shots.  Every great shooter gets the ball to his shooting pocket before he shoots. Dirk is just one example.  If you go look at pictures of Jordan, Kobe, Pierce, etc, you will see they all have the shooting pocket in common.

Shooting Mechanics: Grip

Today is grip day!  This is heavily related to the release, which I will be talking about tomorrow. That being said, the shooters T is the best way to place your hand on the ball.  The T is made by placing your thumb parrallel with the seams, while putting your index finger perpendicular with the seams.  Other things to pay attention to with grip are the pressure applied from the fingers on the basketball and what part of the hand is being placed on the basketball.  When shooting, the basketball should be held tight, but not too tight to where your knuckles are turning white! A firm grip will do.  Also, you should only place the finger pads on the basketball with the basketball elevated slightly above your palm.  This grip will translate into helping with your release.  Use the picture below as a visual reference to see if you have the correct shooters T grip.

Shooting Mechanics: Shoulders

Shoulders!  One of the relatively unimportant parts of shooting!  However, you can use them to judge if your other mechanics are correct.  How?  Well the shoulders are one of the last links in the chain of power going up your body and through your shot.  Therefore, you should film yourself or have a friend look at your shot. If your shoulders aren't squared toward the basket then you know there is a problem.   Your shoulders should be squared toward the basket if every link in your power chain is aligned correctly.  So I'm already at the conclusion to the mechanics of your shoulders! To Reiterate, you just have to make sure your shoulders are aligned with the hips and square toward the basket.  Then you will know your chain of power is nearing perfection.

Shooting Mechanics: Clarification

As the title states, this post is to clarify my goals in reviewing shooting mechanics.  I want to inform you about the physical components involved in a technically sound shot.  This is critical in beginning to become a great shooter.  Trying to achieve having a perfectly technical shot should be an everyday struggle for young to even experienced basketball players.  However, shooting has many more aspects than just the physical shot.  In fact, there are other phytical components to review about shooting to be successfuk.  Then there are the mental aspects of being a successful shooter.  I don't want you to believe that I would keep shooting to as simple a concept as mechanics.  That being said, I will continue with laying the groundwork for great shooting with posts on mechanics for the next few days.  The next post on mechanics will be what you do with the shoulders when shooting a basketball.

Shooting Mechanics: Hips

The hips are the easiest part.  As long as your feet are squared toward the basket, then your hips should follow in a similar fashion.  Having them squared toward the basket is extremely important.  If the hips are not squared, then your shot will not be consistently accurate.  A way to identify if your shooting form is off is seeing if your shot is missing left off the rim or right off the rim.  If you have great form than your ball will only miss long or short.  Usually, short means you didn't use enough legs, and long means your aiming the ball too much.  Here is one of my favorite shooters to watch.  He absolutely tore it up when he was at Duke, and now is a solid player in the NBA. JJ Reddick is NASTY, and is one of the greastest shooters of all time.

Shooting Mechanics: Knees

Knees are key to every baketball players shot.  Most people don't use their knees correctly.  The players who don't use their knees correctly are the ones that have their knees bend inward on their shot.  You can see this when certain people jump their knees bend inward instead of keeping them aligned with the feet.  This doesn't utilize all the power you can be getting out of your knees.  When they bend inward your losing power and increasing your chance of injury.  Bending your knees inward on your jump shot or just jumping puts tremendous stress on you knees.  You want to have yours knees directly above your feet when your dropping before you explode into your jump shot.  This will save you a lot of pain and make your shot more powerful.

Shooting Mechanics: Feet

Being able to position your feet correctly is a crucial part to the perfect shot.  Many players believe that positioning your feet diagonally is correct.  However, this is a less effective way to place the feet.  One player chronically places his feet diagonally is Kobe Bryant.  He’s a great player, but it's my personal opinion is that he could be an even better shooter if he placed his feet differently.  The accurate way is place your 10 ten toes all facing the basket with the feet shoulder width apart.  Another important part is to place your dominant foot slightly in front of your other foot.  That means if you’re a lefty the dominant foot will be your left, and if you’re a righty it would be your right.  This is essential, because you need to have a direct influence from that foot all the way up to your shooting side elbow.  You want to be able to take the power in that dominant foot and explode it through your knees, hips, and shoulder to your shot.  One person who does this very well is Ray Allen.  Watch his feet toward the end of the video. 

First Post!

Shooting a basketball is difficult.  Everyone knows it takes years to hone the skill.  But what makes a perfect shot?  What are perfect mechanics?  Who are the experts on shooting?  How does one become a great shooter?  I will discuss these questions and much more on my blog.  As a college basketball player I am always looking for an edge on the competition.  Also, I have just been promoted to captain of my team, which has increased my desire for knowledge on the art of shooting.  I want to be able to help my teamate's in their quest for the perfect shot.  However, I won't focus this blog solely on shooting.  I may be the most interested in the skill of shooting, but I still know that this is only one part of how people are successful on the basketball court.  My goal is give you as much information that I can provide about how to become an amazing baller. Here's a video of what happens when I teach people how to shoot....Just Kidding...