Today we’re going to show you the top 3 mistakes that hold players back from being great shooters!
Mistake #1 Warming Up Too Far Away from the Basket
Before every game and practice, players come right into the gym and begin chucking up shots too far away from the basket. By making your first shot a far shot, whether it be from the three-point line or half-court, you do not build up the confidence or the mentality you need to prepare for a game or a practice.
Instead, start underneath the basket at least one or two feet away. Focus on your form shooting or set shooting.
Benefits of Starting Close
- Improve touch and technique
- Improve mentality and confidence
- Develop a rhythm
If you focus on beginning up close, you will establish a rhythm that will carry into the game or practice. Your form will be accurate as you take multiple shots. Most importantly, this will improve your confidence level. As you see shot after shot being made, your confidence level will rise. You will have a mindset that you will be able to make shots.
Next time you go to the gym, be mindful. Don’t start with a far shot. Start in close and get a lot of reps in. Then begin working your way away from the basket. The goal is to build up your confidence and mentality as you go into your game or practice.
Mistake #2 Not Aligning your Feet Properly
By not aligning your feet properly, your chances of missing your shots to the left and right greatly increases. To be a great shooter, you should only worry about being either long or short with your shot. If you miss a shot to the left or right, you would notice it right away due to your body swaying to the side or your follow-through going to the left or right.
Your footwork is the place where you can ensure you have the right alignment to the basket. By not aligning your feet properly, you are impacting your chances of becoming a great shooter. Of course, that would impact your scoring average.
How do you ensure your feet are aligned properly? Your dominant foot is slightly forward. If you are a right-handed shooter, your right foot is slightly in front of your left foot. If you are a left-handed shooter, your left foot is slightly in front of your right foot.
When you are aligned properly, everything lines up. When you bring the ball up to shoot, your elbow forming the L is right over the knee. Your right knee is over your right toe. This ensures you have a straight line to the basket which eliminates the error to shoot to the right or left.
Mistake #3 Not Following your Shot
Not following your shot is like leaving free money on the table. You are not giving yourself the opportunity to go and get a put-back and make up for the shot you missed. You are also not giving your team a second chance to rerun the offense to get an even better look than it was before.
Why should you follow your shot? You should follow your shot because it is going to help increase your scoring average. It is also going to help your teammates. All of the defenders are going to worry about you getting easy put-backs because you are so aggressive on the offensive glass. Of course, it will help your offensive rebounding stats. This will give you more opportunities to score and get rebounds.
If you get the rebound and don’t have a shot, you can pass out to a teammate who can shoot. If they make it, that builds up your assists.
When you shoot, aggressively attack the rebound. You have the advantage of knowing the direction of the rebound. You can also time it easier. You don’t want to jump too late or jump too early. You want to jump just in time to grab the ball, come down on the balls of your feet to land softly, and explode right back up to finish high off of the glass. When you do rebound the ball, do not bring the ball down low. Keep it up high. There will be people down there trying to steal the ball.
There will be certain situations where you will miss the shot and the ball will come right back to you. You have to be scrappy and go get the ball. Don’t just let it land in front of you. Get that ball!
Following your shot will only increase your offensive rebounding and assists. Not only can it help increase those two things, but your scoring average will also increase because you will get more attempts at the basket each game.
