Pass, Shoot or Drive ?

Hello!
I'm a 14 years old High School player. I play as a Point Guard most of the time, but when the other Point guard is in too, I play as Shooting Guard.
... The city league will start next week, and I wanna clear a doubt. As I play on the perimeter and most time as a guard, what should I think of doing first ? Shoot (I have a pretty decent shoot)? Drive to the rim (I think that penetrating is what I'm best at, as my coach says that I'm very good at it)? or pass ? I'm asking this because I don't want to look selfish by shooting/driving too much, but I do want to score many points too, leading to my team victory.
So.. Think Shot first? Think Drive first ? or Think pass first ?

Regards,
Chelton

Talk to your coach and ask him what he would like to see you improve on this summer.... Drving to the basket..... shooting the perimeter shot or being a better passer.... that should lead you in the right direction.

I can tell you this.... that your teammates are important to you and the team..... Michael Jordon didn't win any championships until he got the rest of the team more involved..... make sure you get them involved.... if you are having one of those "cant miss" games, shoot the ball.... if you are having problems with your shot, take the ball to the basket and get to the free throw line, that will help you work on your shot mechanics..... and yes, dump it off or kick it out if someone else is wide open.

Play to your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

Thanks for replying! Now it is clear. I should do one of these more depending on the game situation from what I understood.
Oh, and tomorrow its the first city league game, I'll let you know how it was.

Chelton.

Whatever is working for you.... good luck Chelton!

Thanks! :)

This city leauge champ wasn't what I thought. We just had 2qtr, 15min each, so the whole game had just 30min. Because of the lack of time and too many players, there were 2groups: one for the 1st qtr and other for 2nd qtr. I played at the 1st. On this play we were putting the ball more on the low post, so I didn't score any point (time was little too) --' , but made 2 assists. So, didn't like it too much. But the summer league is coming next month I think, so there'll be more playing time (I hope).

PS: I think that maybe a "Journal" section on the forums would be helpful. The players would have a place to post about their games and training, etc. ^o)

Chelton

Patience my boy, Patience. The summer league will be a better test of your talents... in the mean time... go play against some older and better guys... that will force you to step up your game. AND, work on your weaknesses... become a better all around player.

Thanks for the advices ! :)
Possibly today it'll be scrimmage. We'll try and play better.

,Chelton

Chelton,

Just do the best you can... keep working on your game, you have all summer to work on your weaknesses and perfect the strong parts of your game.

By the way, set some goals for yourself... what you want to accomplish this summer... then ask yourself, how am I going to accomplish this?

Let us know how its going.

Well, today it wasn't scrimmage as I expected, we were shooting around. Well, the ball my partner picked was slippery, and I wasn't well warmed up, so it was a bad shooting day (most of the missed shoots were going left because I wasn't releasing well the ball and didn't have a good arc too, due to the slippery ball). But on Saturday we'll be shooting around again, this time I'll take note of the shoots taken and made, and will pick a good ball. ;) Tomorrow I'll work on my shooting line at home.

About the goals, maybe: Improve shooting percentage to 40% at least, Be a hard guard to defend/develop great handling & dribble and increase passing accuracy.
How to accomplish: Drill, Practice, Drill. Will use drills & exercises of Better Basketball Better Shooting, Handling, Offence & passing. Spending more time on Shooting and Handling. And some drills from here and coach's clipboard too.

,Chelton

First step, pick your own ball.... then make sure you are ready when you hit the floor, thats your responsibilty. Those are good goals to start with... I would want you to shooter better than 40% inside the arc.... from the 3.... 35% and up....

If you find you are having problems shooting on a particular day... shoot some free throws... you can check your form out that way. Missing left sounds like a follow through problem... hard to tell since I cant see the shot.

I have stuff on Coaches Clipboard and this site also.... these are two GREAT sites.

Coach Sar

Ye, I failed on that first step. I'll start using the shooting chart next week then, to see the progress.
I'll try to film my shoots next week.

Will let you know how it went on Saturday.

,Chelton

Good luck and have some fun....

The coach didn't came --'. So we just played. But on the end I stayed some time and took 10 shoots, made 4 (40%)
I'm planing to buy a hoop, so I can practice the shoots daily. How high would I have to put it ? 3m ?

,Chelton

Do a little searching out there... this is what I found -

"When mounting the backboard and the basketball hoop you'll want to make sure that you are 10-feet off the ground measured from the court surface to the center of the hoop."

If you want to be a shooter, you will have to start measuring the number of shots in the 100s or you wont see much of an improvement.

My better shooters shot 1,000 free throws a day along with their other shooting workouts. (during the summer) While you don't necessarily need to shoot a thousand...... you better be shooting a long time... several hundreds.

Thanks for the input!

On my shooting workout I'll aim to do at least 200 shoots (10reps of 20 different types). That's why I'm planning to buy a hoop, it will be easier to shoot that much as I'll be at home.

,Chelton

Find a shooting partner... its more fun and it will go faster... you will push each other, be more competitive. Good luck

Thats a really good idea !
Thanks Coach.

,Chelton