I was listening to an interview done with Tom Nordland who claims that you don't need to square your feet when shooting and then he goes on to say the elbow isn't important, neither is the flick. Personally, I'm already a great shooter, like to the point where I can be deadly, but I just wanna know if this guy is full of it, or is he saying something right?

his site is swish22.com and the interview is here if you want to listen.

http://doubleyourscoringaverage.com/?id=btball

Yes, Tom is correct. I have listened to him many times and watched his DVDs. He has one of the best shooting approaches there is.

With that said, consistency is the most important thing. If you study the greatest shooters, not all of them shoot exactly the same. Their shots look a little different, right? But what they all do is they shoot the exact same way each time. They place the ball in their shot pocket the same way, they jump the same way (height), they follow through the same way, etc. Their shot just looks the same every time.

So if you are a deadly shooter, you might not need to change. And I'll bet that if you watch film, you probably shoot in games similar to what Tom teaches. Most players think they always square to the basket, but when they watch film of themself they notice their body naturally turns and compensates.

Anyway, good question. Glad to hear your trying to learn and get better.

Personally, I believe squaring your feet and aggressively snapping your wrist forward are two causes for inconsistent shooting. When I was a freshmen in high school, I changed my shot to do both. Guess what. My shooting percentage went down, down, down.

I like to do things a little bit different than Tom, but I still believe he does make some great points about shooting. As you probably heard in the article, squaring your feet derived from the two-handed set shot.

I like to teach the staggered stance. I like to teach that the shooting foot should be slightly in front of the back foot. For example, if you shoot with your right-hand, your right foot would be forward. I usually like to align the toes of the back foot between the heel and the midfoot of the shooting foot.

I also like the staggered position better than the wide open stance because I feel that it is a more athletic stance to make athletic movements out of such as jumping, cutting, and pivoting.

I teach that the players should point the shooting foot at the rim. I'm not too picky on it being dead-center.

Rather than floppy wrist, I like to say "relaxed" wrist.

This video was also very convincing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ejFVxQtlo

Wow, the video is really convincing. I just got back from shooting around for a little and didn't really see a difference.

Then another question about the follow through, just so I can get a general sense of what you mean on relaxed...it should be a soft touch off of the front two fingers?

I think that when we talked about squaring up, we were teaching to square up to the basket.... not so much your feet as your shoulders... as you go into your shot your feet will turn slightly.

Best advice - get comfortable with your shot and as Jeff and Joe say, be consistent. It's all about muscle memory. I used to use the term, reach into the cookie jar upon release.... not flicking your wrist. A soft touch off the fingers is a good way of putting it.

By the way, IF you are already a great shooter, don't change a thing - just work on the consistency thing.... and we can always get better. What do you shoot from the FT line? Short jumpers like the short corner range? Mid range Js? From the arc? ( percentange wise )

I heard the same exact interview, and I liked some of the things he said. I don't square my feet to the basket, but I don't square my shooting shoulder to the basket either. I turn slightly and I put my shooting foot in front of the other like Joe said (staggered stance) but my shooting foot isn't always pointed directly at the rim, sometimes to the side of it. But I was surprised when he said you don't need to flick your wrist. I always flick my wrist and my wrist doesn't flop either. I don't flick my wrist as hard as I can, but I just flick it in a natural motion when shooting, not in a soft flop, but not a hard flick, somewhere in between. I am a good shooter, not deadly or anything, but I'm a good shooter, so I don't want to change my release to a "flop". however, somedays I shoot better than others. somedays I'll shoot 62-65% from 3 pointers, but somedays I'll shoot 55-58% from 3's during my shooting workout. however, my form is consistent, and even though I flick my wrist, it is the same shot every time, and I shoot 750-1000 shots a day, and I am comfortable with my shooting form, I consider I have good form, but sometimes I miss right and left. I don't know how it happens, but it happens every few times. I know shooting is about keeping the ball straight all the time but I still miss to the side sometimes. I guess the solution is to just keep putting up shots, because I'm already shooting around 60% from 3's when I practice, so the percentage will just go up the more I shoot.

Mikko - If possible, you might want to film your shot and upload it for us. If you're missing to the left and right, I suspect a very minor "adjustment" will help. Shooting 1000 shots a day is great, but if you practicing with a critical flaw, it won't help. Your just perfecting a flawed shot.

Even watching yourself on video can help. Actually, as I think about it, I'll bet your feet are the reason you miss left and right. Consistent footwork is very important. If you can video tape yourself, make sure we can see your feet. We might be able to help.

I agree with Jeff, its a lot easier to correct a problem IF we can see it. Otherwise it is just guess work on our parts...... you might think that what you are doing is correct and when someone else takes a look they can see a minor flaw that is hurting your shot.

alright I'll try to get you a video. I uploaded one before, like 3-4 months ago but my form has changed a little bit since then, and so has my footwork, I used to have a parallel squared stance. And you can also be able to check out if I have a relaxed wrist, even though I flick it

I think I remember looking at that video.... and your form looked pretty good then.... and you were pretty successful correct? Like they say - "IF it aint broke, don't fix it!"

I would still like to see how you are shooting now...... (then find the other one you downloaded and we can compare.)