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How to become a great scorer in basketball
How to become a great scorer in basketball
8 Keys to Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball
This article was written by Basketball HQ co-founder Kyle Ohman.
1. Score Within the Offense
- Set Plays
- Master your team’s set basketball plays and recognize when and where there are great scoring opportunities for yourself.
- It could be a play designed specifically for you or for another teammate, but you always need to be ready to take a high percentage shot within your team’s offense.
- Read the Defense
- Don’t be a robot when running plays. Understand how the defense is guarding a certain action, and then exploit it.
- This requires knowing and understanding each play at a high level. If you are always trying to remember the play, you won’t be able to read the defense.
2. Play to Your Strengths
- You are What you Shoot
- You must value the shots that you shoot.
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Not every shot is a good shot. - Look for high percentage shots to take advantage of.
- Seek Out YOUR Shot
- Every scorer has different spots on the floor that they prefer. So get the ball where you want it, and then shoot the shot that you want.
- Use Your Teammates
- Don’t try to do it on your own.
- i.e., If you are great with ball screens, look to use a ball screen with one of your post players to score.
- Communicate with your teammates and let them know where you want to get the ball.
3. Next Play Mentality
- Short Memory
- Not every shot is going to go in; that is just how it works. You should never let a miss impact the next shot.
- Move on to the next play and shoot the next shot with confidence.
- Confidence
- You must be mentally tough and have confidence in your abilities.
- Don’t allow a few misses to deter you from taking the next quality shot that comes your way (as long as it fits the moment in the game).
4. Take Advantage of Easy Baskets
- Transition
- Sprint the floor and look to get easy baskets before the defense gets set.
- Sprinting the floor also opens up scoring lanes for other teammates as well.
- Hard Cuts
- Read the defense and take advantage of miscommunication or laziness with hard cuts to the basket.
- Backdoor: if the defender is playing too high in the passing lane, back cut to the basket for an easy finish.
- Face Cut: if the defender doesn’t jump to the ball after a pass, cut right across their face.
- Offensive Rebounds
- Crash the boards hard and look to get easy put backs.
- If you are more of a guard, be ready to shoot kick out 3 pointers off the offensive rebound.
5. Free Throws
- Aggressiveness
- Put pressure on the defense and force them to commit fouls.
- Play under control while being aggressive and don’t pick up out of control fouls or turn the basketball over.
- Free Points
- You must be able to capitalize at the free-throw line and take advantage of free points.
- End of Game Situations
- Making free throws at a high percentage adds a lot of value in close games when the other team must foul to extend the game.
6. Offensive Balance
- Create for Others
- You must be willing to set up other teammates to keep the defense from collapsing on you every time you make a move.
- Being a dual-threat to score and create puts so much more pressure on the defense.
- Multiple Scoring Moves
- Be able to score in a variety of different ways.
- You will have “go-to moves,” but you also need to be able to exploit the defense when they are overplaying you a certain way.
- Example: A guard that can both shoot at a high level and finish at the basket is a lot harder to guard than a player that is only one-dimensional.
7. Develop your Weaknesses
- Don’t Avoid Your Weakness
- Purposely set time aside to work on areas of your game that you struggle with.
- Write out what you need to work on and how you are going to improve in those areas.
- Constant Development
- Always be improving your weaknesses and look to turn them into strengths.
- Work to become a complete player.
8. Defense to Offense
- Stops to Buckets
- Getting hands in passing lanes, harassing the ball handler, rebounds, etc., can open up transition opportunities and allow you to turn defense to offense.
- This doesn’t mean gambling outside of team strategy; stay disciplined.
- Team Defense
- Buy into team defense and recognize that defense ignites the offense.
- Don’t be the player known as a scorer but takes it easy on the defensive end and hurts team defense.
When you hear the word “scorer” in basketball, you sometimes think of it negatively because there are so many volume shooters out there that we label as scorers. Being a great scorer, though, means being able to score the basketball efficiently; it is done with one purpose in mind, and that is to help the team win.
Great scorers shoot the basketball with accountability. They know that it is their role to shoot a lot of shots and score points for their team. However, they don’t just shoot any shot that they want or feel like. It is about the team, and they show that by choosing to shoot high percentage shots.
Scorers are usually naturally gifted, but GREAT scorers are also some of the hardest workers as well. If you look at players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, etc., you will quickly see that they are also some of the hardest workers. If you want to develop into a great scorer, it starts in the gym with hours and hours of hard work.
This allows you to shoot the ball with confidence and take the big shots at the end of the game.
Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball
As a basketball player, you shouldn’t just be work on scoring, and you should not measure your worth to your team by how many points you score. That being said, the way you win a game is to score more points than the other team, and the big-time players are getting paid to score the basketball.
So what is it that makes the elite players so good at scoring the basketball? What is all involved in becoming a great basketball scorer? Obviously, most of them are naturally gifted, hard workers, etc. However, the reason they are such good scorers is versatility. This basketball article for players will break down exactly what this looks like and help you become a better scorer.
Complete Basketball Player
In every basketball player’s game, they are going to have strong areas and weak areas.
The goal, though, is to turn as many weak areas as you can into strengths. When Michael Jordan came into the league, his critics claimed that he didn’t have a good enough jump shot, so he worked on it, and today he is known as one of the best pure scorers of all time. That was one of his weaknesses that he turned into a strength.
Don’t be a one-dimensional player. What I mean by this is, don’t be just a catch and shoot player or don’t be just a driver. If you can only do one thing, then you will be easy to guard. As a player early in my career, I was mainly known as a catch and shoot player, but one summer, I made it a point that I was really going to do ball-handling drills and work on finishing at the basket. For the whole summer, I worked on these types of basketball drills. The following season, I saw my points per game average almost double.
It wasn’t because I had turned into this freak ball handler that could get to the hoop and score on anyone I wanted to; it was because I could mix it up.
My defender wasn’t able to just run up on me tight and close me out because I could put the ball on the floor and make him pay. Being able to drive the ball made my defender close me out slower, which allowed me to get my shot off and get to the free-throw line more because I was initiating the contact off of the dribble.
I was watching an NBA game a while ago, and I don’t even remember who was playing, but one thing I do remember is what Reggie Miller said as he was announcing the game. He said, “What are you going to do as a player when a good defender takes away your 2 or 3 best scoring moves?” A good defender in basketball will know what you do well and make you play to your weaknesses.
You need to be able to be versatile and score in different ways. Obviously, you will lean on your strengths, but what if your strength is your right hand and your defender is completely taking it away? Are you going to be able to go left and finish at the basket? Mix your game up, and don’t just work on the things you are good at when you get in the gym and do your basketball training.
Know Your Defender’s Tendencies
People always talk about scouting the offensive player and picking up tips to shut them down. Well, it goes the same way when evaluating your defender. For example, is your defender a shot blocker, or will he stay down and try to wall you up? If a shot blocker is guarding you, then your best friend is a shot fake, but if you are being guarded by a defender that just contests shots, his whole strategy is to try and get you to hesitate and throw your shot off just a little bit and then live with the results.
If a player is quicker but smaller than you, take them in the post or use your mid-range game. On the other hand, if a bigger, stronger player is guarding you, take him out to where he has to move his feet to stay in front of you. As a big man on offense, it is pretty simple to read your defender.
Suppose your man is bigger and stronger than you, face him up and shoot or go around him. If he is smaller than you, put them in the post and back him down to get your hook off.
However, this only works if you are a multi-dimensional player and well-rounded in your offensive game.
Score Within the Offense
As much as it is being a skilled player, you also need to give yourself the advantage over your defender. The best way to do this is within the offense, and by using your teammates to help you get open. You look at a player’s stats and see that he scored 20 points, and you think that is pretty good, but then you look and see that he took 30 shots, and it isn’t as impressive. A great scorer is efficient and uses his teammates to help himself score as well as his teammates.
The other team will know who the great scorers are, and they are going to focus the team defense on them. This is why it is important to use your team and your offensive sets to get your shots. Use down screens, ball screens, attack off of the second penetration or after a reverse, be in the right spot for a kick out, etc.
Big men should be willing to screen because you create a disadvantage for the defense whenever you set a good screen in basketball.
This will allow you to pick and pop or pick and roll to create an advantage for yourself to score. Give yourself the advantage by scoring through the offense.
Know When to Attack
Time and place is another part of being a great scorer. During the game, there are going to be different times that call for different shots. It is okay to shoot a contested off of the dribble shot with the clock running down, and no one else has a better shot. It is not okay to shoot that same shot if you have plenty of time on the clock.
There are just different situations you need to learn as you become a better scorer. For example, at the end of the game, if you know your guy is having a hard time guarding you and your team is in the bonus, don’t shoot an off the dribble three, go to the basket and get a foul, finish, or both.
When looking to become a great scorer in basketball, it is essential that you find the right balance between being versatile and also maximizing your strengths.
The better you can do this, the easier it will be for you to get quality shots.
It is also critical that you use your teammates and the offense to get a good shot for yourself or a teammate. Don’t be afraid to pass the ball to your teammates when they are open because it will open things up for you later in the game. It doesn’t take a great scorer to get 20 points on 30 shots. To be a great scorer, you need to be efficient and know the time and place to score.
So take advantage of all of these different scoring tips and start to become a great basketball scorer.
who it is, what position it plays in, top players
This player has many titles: scorer, shooting guard or post scorer in basketball. You can also often hear the wording “second number”, this is his position among his team. Basketball fans from our country most often call him a scorer, because this reflects the essence of the tasks assigned to him. This basketball player combines many functions, the most important of which are the completion of attacks and the pursuit of dangerous attackers from opponents.
Let's figure out the duties of the second number, what skills and abilities he should have. Also here you will find the best scorers in the history of the sport.
Usually the best sniper in the team is number two, hence the unspoken name - scorer. Since he is a shooting guard, he is required to be equally good at scoring points for his team and working on defense.
Basketball players in this role are always popular, as they are the most capable players in the league and leaders of their team. It is they who more often than others give the audience truly exciting moments and break the applause. Get ready to find out what qualities an athlete must have in order to take such a position in the central zone.
What should a scorer be like?
Shooting into the basket from the central area is not easy. In accordance with his strategy, each coach puts in this place an athlete in whose abilities he is confident. It is the common duty of all defenders to prevent opponents from scoring.
Capable defenders can take over the leader of the other team, thereby compromising their tactical decisions.
The attacking defender is a special piece. As a rule, not the tallest players, who are distinguished by quick reaction, speed and dexterity, get such a role. These are the most dynamic and maneuverable representatives of the team, who will boldly take the initiative and throw the ball into the ring. At the same time, they are strong and very well developed physically, which allows them to emerge as a leader from the fight under the basket.
The defender will spend more time in the background, focusing on long shots, the main characteristic of this position is accuracy. More is required from the attacking defender. They constantly rush forward, paving the way for themselves or for themselves and their comrades.
He provides a lot of rebounds, he has a lot of assists.
A defender who is able to attack is a powerful weapon for his team, and a serious threat for the opponent.
There is always an experienced player in this position, so his skill really impresses the audience. For other members of the team, the scorer is a leader and support, as it is he who comes to the rescue in difficult situations. The longer the number two basketball player plays in this position, the more dangerous he poses to opponents, and the more fans love him.
How to become a good scorer?
First you need to become a good defender, that is, learn how to act in those situations when the other team has the ball. The most important skill is to keep the player, that is, to follow on the heels of the wards, to prevent him from realizing his plans, but at the same time not breaking the rules. In this situation, you need to not allow to break through and make a hit on the ring, and this is very difficult. It is required to keep up with the enemy in speed and surpass him in agility in order to skillfully maneuver.
There are several basic skills that every defender must master.
First of all, this is the ability to take the correct position of the body, ensuring high mobility. When guarding a basketball player, you need to keep your legs in line and bend your knees slightly to give your body springiness. The body weight is evenly distributed between the two reference points, the upper part leans forward slightly. The arms are outstretched and slightly bent.
It is necessary to keep at a distance of a meter or one and a half from the guarded, and at the moment when he is ready to throw, take a step towards him and throw one of his hands up and forward. The task is not to allow the ball to be thrown and even to aim, so there is less risk. As soon as the attacker releases the projectile from his hands, you need to return to the starting position again. Remember, at this moment he is already preparing for a new action, and you have to track or even predict.
A good defender will never let an attacker get away. He will fight him, but at the same time keep a distance of a couple of steps.
Keeping the distance is very important, for this you need to have high speed and excellent reaction. The defender acts after the attacker, so he has to move in different ways. Better technique means more success.
Learn to run backwards, this skill is in demand, as well as side step running. The side step is convenient when moving at a short distance from the object, in order to keep it on its half and not let it get close to your ring. You can run this way not only to the right or left, but also forward, in which case the first step is taken from the foot that is forward. Beginners often start bouncing, but this is not what you need. Movements should not be jumping, but sliding.
The defender knows this perfectly, and the attacker is ready to cope with such actions. He knows how to behave in the case of tight guardianship, how to get rid of it. Being an attacking defender is even more difficult, because he combines two roles at once. That's why second players are so in-demand: they're versatile in their skill set.
NBA Top Scorers
The NBA's all-time top scorer is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. To determine the effectiveness of the player, two indicators are evaluated:
- total career points scored;
- how useful the player is in attack and what benefits he brings in general.
At the moment, only seven basketball players have managed to overcome the personal effectiveness threshold of 30,000 points. The statistics are a little unbiased, since now different shots are valued by different numbers of points. But before the 80s, there were no three-point shots in basketball, and athletes received only a point even after hitting from a long distance.
Wilt Chamberlain was the first to break the 30,000 mark in the 1971-1972 season. He retired a year later with a total of 31,419 points. This was repeated by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1983-1984 season. After that, five more seasons awaited him, the result of which was an unsurpassed record to this day - 38,387 points.
Next on the list is Karl Malone, who retired with 36,928 points. Not to mention Michael Jordan, his result was 32 292. But Jordan is also a record holder, although he is not in first place, but he is in the lead in the average score per game - 30.123 points.
We have analyzed who a post scorer in basketball is and what functions he performs. Being such a player is very honorable, responsible and difficult at the same time.
Shved became the top scorer of the VTB United League and other results of the championship
Alexey Shved became the best scorer of the VTB United League and the Euroleague, the derby between Khimki and CSKA confirmed the status of the hottest confrontation in Eastern Europe, Russian basketball players took a step towards breaking the stereotype about his fading against the background of stellar legionnaires - "Gazeta.Ru" sums up the year in the "banking" championship.
The ninth season of the VTB United League has officially ended.
What do you remember about the championship of the strongest clubs in Eastern Europe?
Leningradki derby
Whatever you say, the battle between CSKA Moscow and Khimki near Moscow remains the main confrontation of the "banking" tournament.
Lokomotiv monumental in its defense, daring and reactive Zenit, multifunctional UNICS — no matter how hard the national basketball giants try to compete with the champion, it's all in vain.
The most effectively destroying team of the "regular season" already at the stage of the quarter-finals "merged" dry. Young winds from St. Petersburg turned into a draft, barely colliding with more sophisticated rivals. Kazan, which gathered two equal squads to implement revolutionary plans, nullified all the achievements of the “smooth” championship, as soon as it came to the “win or die” games ...
Against the background of other tops, yellow-blue initially looked paler. They did not break into the leaders of the peloton, stumbled when countered by the middle peasants, hung on the border of the top 8, which bothered the management and the fans.
However, when the issue of life and death (and getting into the Euroleague next season) was faced by Bartzokas' men, they gave out a whole series of bright fights.
And thereby confirmed not only the reputation of the fighters, but also the status of the Leningradka derby. After all, the way its participants walked towards each other along the grid, and the way they fought in the main match of the championship, proves that CSKA and Khimki remain the most promoted brands in Russian basketball. And any intersection of them causes a stir that cannot be compared with any other essentially similar confrontation.
Shved in prime
Experts constantly found flaws in the work of Alexey Shved on the site. Realizing the extent of the defender's talent, they demanded an ideal game from him in almost every match.
Therefore, mistakes in destruction, inappropriate manifestations of individualism, "lazy" fouls were equated with mortal sins and hung like a heavy burden on the soul of a basketball player.
However, last season the attitude towards Alexei changed, and not only because he became the top scorer of both the VTB United League and the Euroleague.
Universal definitely improved in all aspects of the game, starting to pass more gracefully and at the right time, to guard opponents more diligently and to control the nerves in the endings.
As a result: not only the club, but also the national team got an athlete-leader, who alone can positively influence the outcome of even the most hopeless game.
"Hybrid" fives
The trend to play without centers is already being exploited overseas, while in the Old World the use of oversized, but mobile and interchangeable quintets is still equated with experiments. In the 2017/18 season, this trend in the VTB United League was picked up by the leading teams.
True, at first Moscow and the Moscow Region joined the movement not because of a good life: the injuries of the main giants forced Dimitris Itoudis and Georgios Bartzokas to reshape the usual combinations without losing the quality of the game.
And, it must be admitted, the “tailors” from the Greeks turned out to be excellent.
Thanks to the reactive units, the Red-Blues became the most productive team of the season, while the Yellow-Blues, with the help of constant changes in defense in the decisive matches of the year, confused the main competitors - Lokomotiv and UNICS.
Race for the playoffs
Such density as in the 2017/18 season, the “tail” of the standings has not known for a long time. Almost all six teams that lived behind the "ring" (that is, the zone of the knockout round), until the middle of spring, retained a chance for promotion. To prove their worth, modest ones even worked miracles: Kalev, who fired the coach during the season, beat Khimki; "Tsmoki", lacking the stars from the sky, put on the shoulder blades of the "Locomotive"; Parma, which played almost without legionnaires, rolled out Avtodor, and VEF - Nizhny Novgorod.
The very definition of "passing matches" is a thing of the past, and the price of a single victory has increased significantly.
It is gratifying that the outcome of the race for tickets to the knockout round turned out to match the season. Only with the final siren of the final duel it became clear that the best among equals were the Riga electrical engineers. And even then only because the team from Latvia turned out to be better in the spin of personal meetings with the Minsk “dragons”. Drama, expression, exposed nerve and unpredictable denouement - what could be better for a sports fan?
Influence of Russians
Usually Russian fans who follow the league treat national performers with indulgence. Like, against the backdrop of super-legionnaires, local basketball players turn pale and get lost. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule: Shved, Karasev... However, even such talented guys are unlikely to be able to make a change in the mentality that has taken root among the audience.
Nevertheless, last season did a lot, if not all, to bring down the blinders. For example, Dmitry Kulagin was recognized as the best defensive player in the league, who made a major improvement in Loko's roster, forming a spectacular pair of domestic rear players with Dmitry Khvostov.
Nikita Kurbanov from CSKA showed himself not only in the country, but also on the continent as a top personal man, capable of destroying three positions at once.
Vyacheslav Zaitsev received a substantial portion of playing time in Khimki's squad due to injuries to the "kids", which he used wisely both for himself and for the team, undertaking persistently knocking on the doors of the national team. Plus, Petr Gubanov with Ivan Ukhov, Evgeny Voronov with Denis Zakharov, Maxim Sheleketo with Anton Ponkrashov are “role players” who significantly influenced the style and degree of success of their teams and thus made them respect the basketball players entered in the rosters under the Russian flag.
New people
This season, the VTB United League opened up to fans a whole bunch of bright performers at once. Previously, they did not particularly shine either on continental venues or in the structure of international tournaments. For this reason, it is the “banking” competition that is the springboard for them, launching their careers into near-Earth orbit.
Parma defender Cody Miller-McIntyre flew the highest, for whom the battles in Russia were the first real test of his career.
Having scored a “triple-double” so rare for our latitudes and almost dragged the outsiders of the draw into the playoffs, the American overnight became the most talked about athlete of the tournament and up to the final round lived up to the image.
Just as brilliantly settled into the adult world of Isaiah Briscoe, in the middle of the season he rushed to save Kalev from the crisis. Although the Estonians did not reach the knockout round, the "kid" finished second in the list of the most productive players in the competition.
Few people heard about Alex Perez before this season, but by the end of the playing year, the Mexican became familiar to all VEF fans. Almost in one hand, he sensationally dragged the most modest budget team in the league in the playoffs,
than increased his transfer value at times. As for the digital breakthrough, it was made by Nizhny Novgorod sniper Stevan Jelovac.
