The science of shooting a basketball

[Breakfast]

I’m someone who is never going to post often. I’m just going to say what I have to say and then I’ll go back into the background.

I want Marshall to hire a shooting coach. If I was the WSU shooting coach then WSU would be 32-1 and ranked number 1 right now.

I’m kidding, but I'm only partially kidding. I’m not looking for a job, and WSU would never hire me, but they could definitely use a shooting coach. I studied the art and science of shooting for more than 10 years.

I just did the math and I realized that I’ve taken more than 5,000,000 basketball shots during my life. The last time I shot I made more than 40 jump-shots in a row, all of them off the backboard, from about 18 feet, from about 10 feet left of the lane. Obviously it’s easier to shoot without a defense.

My dad was a high school basketball head coach. Some of you might have played for him. I’m sure that some of you played against him. He was my main shooting coach.

At various times when I was young I was extremely lucky to share the court with James Carr, Antoine Carr, Aubrey Sherrod, Ricky Ross, Darnell Valentine, Karl Papke, Greg Dreiling, and even Jay Jackson. Five of those guys started for WSU, and those five guys together would make a top-flight team.

I took shooting extremely seriously for years. Part of that study was the mechanics of shooting. That part gets a lot of attention when players are young, but for some reason it’s usually neglected later on. Baseball hitters keep tweaking their entire career. For some reason basketball players seem to settle into complacency and quit tweaking.

I compare it to putting. A professional golfer continues to study putting, even though he already knows how to putt. I’m willing to bet that most great golfers have a putting coach. I’ve only known a few basketball players who studied the science of shooting religiously. Many BB players practice shooting a lot without really studying what it is that they're practicing.

I studied how much to practice shooting, and when to practice, and what to practice. As an example I learned that taking 500 jump shots the night before a game made my shots go in almost automatically during the game.

The automatic part seemed to be extremely important. All of the work and the thinking took place well in advance. I never had to think about shooting during a game. I just let it fly.

I studied a lot of different things, including some bizarre things such as visualization. I took thousands of shots in my mind for every shot that I took against defenders. That sounds wimpy, but it helped turn me into an unconscious shooter.

This whole subject might sound like mumbo-jumbo, but shooting has been a problem at WSU for years. I could be wrong, but my attitude is that if Tekele Cotton had spent a few years with a first-rate shooting coach then he would have been a first-round draft pick with a current contract in the NBA. My judgment of him was that he had the hand-eye and muscular coordination to be a good shooter, but for whatever reason he never developed what he had.

Baker is widely considered to be WSU’s best shooter, but in 13 games this year he shot between .200 and .385 from the field. He’s been consistently inconsistent all four years. I’m not saying that he’s a bad shooter. I’m saying that there are reasons for his inconsistency, and those flaws could be addressed and corrected by a great shooting coach.

The shooting problems go across the board to the whole team. Something is obviously wrong with the shooting systems when Frankamp is knocked off course. The main thing that he’s usually great at isn’t a reliable strength right now. That’s not a fluke. It’s definitely correctable.

All of the top 25 teams, except Texas, have a higher shooting percentage than WSU. The majority of the top 25 teams have a significantly better shooting percentage than WSU.
In WSU’s losses they typically shot 35% or below. The only exception to that was Seton Hall, but even in that game the shooting was below average.

Of course a team will occasionally have an off game. Of course defenses can have something to do with poor shooting. That doesn’t explain why every other good team shoots for a higher percentage than WSU.

Marshall values toughness, but only on defense. Toughness on offense means getting the damn ball through the damn hole no matter what the opponent is doing. Nobody can make every open shot, but no quality team should miss as many open shots as WSU does game after game.

Poor shooting costs games. Poor shooting damaged this season. It’s not some mysterious thing that can’t be helped. Shooting can be improved and it should be improved. If Marshall adds shooting science as one of his top priorities to study and teach then WSU has a much better chance of playing games in April.

[AZ Shocker]

Randy is that you? Bark twice if you're in El Dorado?

[OregonShocker]

I think it is a pretty big assumption that they don't have someone already filling that role. And all the coaching in the world will never get me putting like Tiger.

[Kung Wu]

Same thing happens in soccer at a high level. You either have it or you don't and there typically isn't someone there helping correct and tweak your shot. The expectation is to just go out and shoot a ton over and over to dial it in. Unfortunately most players just practice doing it wrong 100 times.

[Dave Stalwart]

Would you have them practice shooting free throws?

[shoxlax]

Pretty sure I know who you are. And I agree with you.

For example, Nick Wiggins in the past had different release points almost every shot he took. Watching him shoot in practice before the Kentucky game I noticed when his release point was behind his head a little bit he made it, but in front of his head it was flat and short. Evan seems to have the same problem.

Now one point of contention I have is the ridiculous toll taken on the legs of Ron and Fred playing our intense defense coupled with the number of minutes played. I don't care who you are; your mechanics will waver when you are that tired

[proshox]

Same thing happens in soccer at a high level. You either have it or you don't and there typically isn't someone there helping correct and tweak your shot. The expectation is to just go out and shoot a ton over and over to dial it in. Unfortunately most players just practice doing it wrong 100 times.

I was listening to an XM radio show called "coaching academy." The show is about soccer, but one subject was "if you have three practices a week, what is included in every session?"

The answer - Technique. Most of the participants pointed to the best coaches in the world. The basic tennet at play was that pros can't let technique be the reason they fail. Bad technique will eventually put the best competitors and athletes on the bench.

So I disagree with your premise about soccer players at a high level not working on technique. In fact, the detailed study of how and when to touch the ball was the basis for Coerver Coaching.

[proshox]

I often rationalize our shooting percentage by allowing for tired legs due to effort on defense. This year, I blame our lack of quick ball movement which leads to less Han ideal shots.

It would be interesting to track expected shooting percentage increase per year and compare the shockers. It seems that our players fail to improve, but I am not sure if that is abnormal.

[Kung Wu]

I was listening to an XM radio show called "coaching academy." The show is about soccer, but one subject was "if you have three practices a week, what is included in every session?"

The answer - Technique. Most of the participants pointed to the best coaches in the world. The basic tennet at play was that pros can't let technique be the reason they fail. Bad technique will eventually put the best competitors and athletes on the bench.

So I disagree with your premise about soccer players at a high level not working on technique. In fact, the detailed study of how and when to touch the ball was the basis for Coerver Coaching.

Wow, I didn't say they don't work on technique. I was speaking specifically to shooting and having shooting coaches, per the OP'S post.

[proshox]

Apparently when Coach Kerr took over the Warriors he spent a ton of time on the fundamentals of passing. Entire practices were devouted to becoming excellent passes. When, how, where, shooter's pocket - the whole nine yards.

This was rather unusual, but he was convinced that it was the number one thing Golden State needed to improve on to win a championship.

Great passing leads to great shooting.

[proshox]

Wow, I didn't say they don't work on technique. I was speaking specifically to shooting and having shooting coaches, per the OP'S post.

I was a little black and white on my original post, but I do think they do focus on proper technique rather than just volume.

[Kung Wu]

I was a little black and white on my original post, but I do think they do focus on proper technique rather than just volume.

Not in shooting. Beyond plant foot, knee position, and follow through, it's very typical to use volume as the key method to train that specific technique. Coerver is almost exclusively ball handling (and is excellent for that by the way). I don't know of any Coerver training around advanced shooting techniques.

I should repeat though, I am primarily talking about high level ball. NCAA D1 and beyond.

Although even at the older competitive youth club levels, coaches aren't that good at helping players hone their shot. It's VERY technical business helping to correct shooting issues.

[Tyrone Shoelace]

Good luck getting hired, I am still waiting to hear back on my offer to work with the team on their cross-over dribble (which I invented back in the early 70's).
I will say though, you are correct that practice makes perfect. I am a great example of that. In fact, I would break down each step of my patented move (the cross-over dribble which I invented back in the early 70's) and spend weeks on just one part until it was perfect before I would move on to the next step. For example, I would do the jab step over and over until my legs cramped and I wore holes in the bottom of my shoes. Once I perfected the jab step, I moved on to the rubber neck juke and I practiced it everywhere I went, walking through the mall, down the street, in the shower, even sitting in church. It was embarrassing, I could here people talking under their breath, "Why is that guy walking around like a chicken?"
At night I would bounce a ball back and forth with lightning speed from one hand to the other until my finger tips were raw. I couldn't dial a phone, pick my nose, or even wipe my hiney for weeks at a time. But it was all worth it because now when I walk down the street people say, "There goes Tyrone Shoelace, the inventor of the cross-over dribble. He is the best there ever was."

[AZ Shocker]

No one got my Ron Burgundy joke??? Dang it...I suck again.

[swiltar71]

I like the idea of a shooting science coach! Big time shot coaches must exist. How else can you explain Anthony Davis? He couldn't shoot much at all in college iirc. He blocked shots, rebounded, and got some putbacks. Now he scores out to 20 feet. Many nba guys become much better shooters after college.
HCGMs system is complicated. He values "makers" not "takers" but I think players are expected to get extra shots up on their own time. Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice does. I was never a shooter so I don't know what I'm looking for, but when RB is off his shot looks flat to me. And CF looks like he dips before he shoots which leads to a very slow release. I'm curious to hear what Breakfast thinks of their shots (ZB and MMs too)