#1 Reason for Poor Shooters, the Steph Curry Story, and a Solution
Before we get to the solution at the bottom, here is the #1 reason for poor shooting...
Quite simply, players and sometimes coaches are impatient with the process. We rush things. I've been guilty of this.
A lot of players want to practice their shooting technique for one day, one week, or one month and expect to be knocking down 3s like Steph Curry.
Instead, you need to focus on one or two aspects of your shot and master these before progressing. Some things might only take a few days. Some things might take a few years. NBA shooting coach Dave Love once told me that he will spend an entire month without shooting outside the paint with some of his NBA clients.
Either way, you do not try to master EVERYTHING at once!
When you try to rush the process and teach too many points at once, you're going to end up with a shooter that looks as fluid as somebody doing The Robot.
Not to mention, you're giving them little chance to have small successes. And when you overwhelm them and set them up for failure, motivation will evaporate. Then you have a player that doesn't want to practice shooting!
When you focus on something small that's attainable, they get motivated when they achieve the goal. Then they want to work harder and practice more.
So how do you get this done!?
1 - You have to sell the athlete on this concept. Below is a great story that you can use about Steph Curry.
2 - You need to have a proven step by step plan. That solution is also below.
Steph Curry's Battle With Changing His Shot During High School
Read below what Steph Curry said about changing his shot. This was during his sophomore year in high school!
- "I really couldn't shoot outside the paint for like the first three weeks," Curry says. "All summer when I was at camps people were like, "Who are you, why are you playing basketball?" I was really that bad for a month and a half [before] I finally
figured it out."
And you might have already considered this as well. Steph Curry's hand-eye coordination is out of this world!
- "The guy (Steph) has the best hand-eye coordination of anybody I've ever seen."
- Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said.
In addition to being one of the greatest shooters ever, he's a great amateur bowler, and he golfs in professional tournaments in the offseason. And he contains great genetics. His dad Dell Curry was one of the best shooters ever in the NBA.
Now, let that soak in for a second. An athlete with world class natural hand-eye coordination did not shoot for 21 days outside of the paint when he was 15 or 16 years old. And it took him a month and a half before his shot finally came around.
So if you're younger or don't have the best hand eye coordination in the world, be patient! It's going to take months and years to develop a good shot.
How To Develop Your Shot Step By Step
There are a number of factors for how quickly you would progress with your shooting: age level, skill level, ability to learn, genetics, psychological factors, etc.
So focus on mastering the technique rather than a set amount of time for each step.
Now, this progression is just to build the foundation of your shot. Even though it's just the foundation, if you mastered it, you'd probably be in the top 10% of shooters.
Step 1: Find the player's proper feet position and hand position on the ball.
Your feet position is critical to give you proper alignment to shoot the ball straight. It's also vital for balance which is a critical element of being a great shooter. Shooters who remain balanced have a better chance to shoot a high percentage.
Also, every person has a slightly different anatomy and slightly different biomechanics, so you might tweak things slightly to enable you to shoot the ball properly.
Step 2: Master the top part of the follow through.
You might also call this the release portion of the shot. In order to become a great shooter, you must develop a consistent release with proper arc and backspin.
Step 3: Master the rhythm and fluidity of the entire shot movement.
You want to develop proper timing and coordination between the legs and the release. (On a side note, many people teach this wrong!) This is vital! If you don't have proper coordination, you can rush through your shot motion which can result in a lower shooting percentage. On the opposite spectrum, it can even create a slower release. This means you have fewer high percentage shots.
After these steps, of course, there is much more that you can do to become an elite shooter. You can start developing a quick release, practice shooting when making game-like cuts, include drills that incorporate random practice, use drills and practice shooting against live defenders, and so on.
But all of that is pointless if you have not developed the skill set to simply catch and shoot the ball.
A Shooting Solution For You!
Within each one of the steps above, there are dozens of techniques and progressions to master each step. This reading would become much longer as entire books, video programs, and basketball camps are dedicated to this process.
At Breakthrough Camps, detailed shooting progressions are broken down in a simple step by step formula. That way, each athlete can take what they've learned and apply it beyond the camp. That's how you become a great shooter! You gain the knowledge then you practice over and over for years!
To get this accomplished, both the Breakthrough Shooting Camps and the Breakthrough Shooting and Ball Handling Camps are great solutions.
What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...
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