| 31 March 2011
We have all had those days playing the game of basketball where for whatever reason everything just seemed to fall into place. You could see the plays unfold two passes before they actually happened, your defensive anticipation was sharp and of course, your jump shot felt so smooth and easy that an NBA three pointer felt like a twelve foot bank shot. Why is it those days seem so few and far between?
I am going to do the best I can to explain why, well at least explain the shooting part.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Townsend. I've been a shooting coach for a little over 22 years. Previously, I spent the last three seasons as the full time shooting coach for the Portland Trail Blazers and have worked individually with over one hundred NBA players. Of those hundred players, two have been number one picks, four have been NBA All-Stars, one Rookie of the Year and one Gatorade Three Point Champ. I have also worked on basketball shooting work in such places as the Canary Islands, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Spain and Jordan. I have taught with club teams from China and South Korea as well, and domestically here in the US with the CBA, D-League, and NBA.
With all that being said, I am going to give you a good idea how to increase the aforementioned days of shooting great and decrease the days of shooting poorly.
The first thing I am going to look at when watching any player shoot a basketball is the basketball itself. Does the ball go in? If so, case closed. No need for me. If the ball does not go in the basket, where does it go? Does the shot miss left, miss right, long, or short? Of those four different ways to miss a shooter wants to do all he or she can to eliminate missing left and right. After watching the way the ball is missing the basket I will next look at the shooters hand, specifically their hand position. When working with any shooter I teach them about the center of the basketball. The center of every basketball is the air nozzle. That is where the shooters middle finger needs to be placed when shooting.
Next comes the shooters wrist. What kind of position is the shooting wrist placed?
I just created an invention - the STR8 SHOOTER - specifically for this purpose, to eliminate ulnar and radial deviation in your shooting wrist. In lamens terms, any kind of wrist movement to the outside or inside, left or right of your arm. By having a straight wrist it will allow your shooting wrist to “hammer” back in the shooting motion, like the hammer of a gun - think Steve Nash.
I know, I know, I never mentioned the word “balance” or “follow through” and nothing even about your shooting elbow - sorry. That is what you will get from other shooting coaches or basketball coaches in general.
Please give these first two teaching points a try: hand position and a straight wrist. The straight wrist will take care of a lot of your shooting woes, especially if you combine that with a “hammer” in your wrist during your shooting motion. In my 22 years of teaching and coaching experience, I have found that these two points will clean up almost every shot.
Do your best to be a STR8 SHOOTER. I will check back here at “Beyond the Beat” next week where I hope to outline the second phase of shooting straight.
John Townsend joins Beyond the Beat with his weekly column and an inside look at basketball from an NBA shooting coach. With over 22 years of experience between the CBA, D-League and NBA, Towsend now presents the STR8 Shooter and provides his positive coaching style around the country. He can be reached at his website jtshooting.com and on Twitter at @JTshootingcoach.
photo: john townsend
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