Keys to High Percentage Shooting

We've compiled the most important aspects of shooting form and ideas from elite shooters to share them with you. Happy shooting!

1. Your foundation

• Stand on the balls of your feet—legs shoulder-width apart.
• Take a balanced stance.
• Slightly bend your knees.
• Shoulders square to the basket

2. Your hands

• The ball should rest on your fingertips for better control, not on your palm.
• The guide/off-hand should touch the ball only lightly to provide gentle support. If your off-hand grazes the ball as you release the shot, the ball will spin sideways and take an inaccurate path towards the basket.

3. Your eyes

• Focus on the rim or the backboard if shooting a bank shot.

4. Your shooting pocket (the ball's starting place for shooting).

• The ball should rest on the side of your hip, waist high on the side of your shooting hand.
• Raise the ball directly up from there without veering right or left. The ball should not be in front of your face--this would cause an inaccurate elbow position and obscure your view of the goal.

5. Your elbow

• Your elbow should be directly under the ball. This will eliminate a "chicken wing" position that forms when the elbow is outside the ball rather than under it. If your elbow isn't directly under the ball, you increase the likelihood that the ball's path will veer right or left of the basket.
• Your shooting arm should form what looks like a capital "L" when viewed from the side.

6. Your shot movement and release

• Shooting should begin with slightly bent knees. As you begin shooting, extend your legs and jump to leverage the power in your lower body. Using the power of your lower body in this upward push from your legs reduces the energy required of your arms and shoulders, allowing you to release the ball correctly rather than "chucking it," which often results when a shooter lacks power in their shot. 
• Your wrist should snap downward towards the basket, propelling the ball with backspin.
• Your release should be high above your head, aiming for a 45% ball-flight arc.
• The ball should not graze your off-hand during release. Too much contact with your offhand will cause a sidespin on the ball. Sidespin alters the ball's intended direction and can cause a hard bounce if it hits the rim. 
• Follow through fully, leaving your fingers hanging “in the cookie jar.”

7.  Your thoughts

• Shoot with confidence, knowing that you have an understanding of the most effective shooting method and the knowledge that you've put in the work to master it.  
• Remember that two basketballs, side by side, can drop through a hoop simultaneously. You are shooting at a big target! Get your hands on a rim detached from a backboard and try it! 
• Eliminate negative thoughts as you shoot by visualizing the ball dropping through the hoop.

8.  Muscle memory and the work necessary to improve your shot.

• Muscle memory is the brain’s ability to place repeated motor tasks into long-term memory, allowing movements to be performed automatically. The challenge is that if a player has spent years encoding a less effective shooting movement into long-term memory, many, many repetitions, the better way will be required to reprogram their muscle memory. The longer a player shoots one way, the more repetitions will be required for the new way to be coded into their muscle memory. The bottom line is that improving a shooting method requires a serious commitment to thousands of proper repetitions.   

It's time to get to work Performance 33 nation!