Tips on how to shoot a basketball better

3 Basketball Drills to Improve your Shooting Accuracy

Basketball Tip

Working on ways to increase the buckets you make will always be valuable to you and your team. Coaches want players who take meaningful shots and that they can depend on in the final minutes of a game. At Nike Basketball Camps, our coaches work with our athletes to make sure they are in the best spot to take and make shots when it comes down to it. Here are three tips for beginner to advanced players that will help improve your shooting accuracy and make you a dependable player when it matters.

1. Practice "Nothing but the Net" Shots

The whole point of all net shots is to make your target smaller and to learn where you need to focus your eye line to make you a more successful shooter. Do you need to focus on the backboard, the back of the rim, the front of the rim, etc, all athletes are different. By taking these shots, you are increasing the amount you need to focus to be a successful shooter. You will soon learn that all net shots are harder to make than regular shots, making game day shots easier for you.

Every shot you take, the ball can only touch the net. Touching the rim or backboard does not count. Start off by taking stationary shots at four different spots and making five net shots in each. Track your progress each time to see how much you improve.

2. Focus on Reps Close to the Basket

While at practice, start out with easier shots closer to the basket. Don't start practice taking 3-pointers, instead work up to this over the course of practice. Start out focusing on your shot technique so you can eventually build out your range and become a more consistent shooter as you grow. Practice is the time to focus on what you are doing right and what you may be doing wrong. After every missed shot, focus on what went wrong and what you can do to fix this for the future. By immediately recognizing your mistakes, you will be able to not only avoid them in the future but build strong habits that will help improve your shooting accuracy.

If your shots are too long or too short, it may just be something you need to work out by taking more reps and getting a better feel for the ball. Often times if you overshot to the left or right it has to do with your core mechanics. Try to make it your goal that over the course of practice you are making 100 perfect shots.

3. One-Armed Shots

A third way to help you improve your accuracy is to take one-armed shots. This will force you to focus on your follow-through and make sure you are flexing your wrist every time.

Start just under the basket and make five shots. To make it more challenging, take a step back and make five more shots and so on. As you take these shots the power should be coming from your legs and you should be following through on every shot, making sure not to drop your arm after the shot.

Finding ways to locate your target faster will give you a leg up when it comes to shooting accuracy. By staying focused in practice and using that time to develop tricks, you will become more confident on the court and in your shooting abilities. Practice these three drills a few times a week and you will see results over time. Check out more basketball shooting tips and learn even more this summer at a Nike Basketball Camp near you.

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Proper Basketball Shooting Technique, Fundamentals, Form, Mechanics

By Jeff Haefner

Home > Player > Basketball Skills > Shooting > Proper Basketball Shooting Technique, Fundamentals, and Form

It's often said that great shooters have a place on any team.

Even if you aren't blessed with tremendous speed, strength or athleticism, great shooting is one of the surest ways you can stand out on the basketball court.

If you spend the time developing and practicing your shot, it will pay off in:

• Making the team
• Getting more playing time
• Scoring consistently
• Feeling confident and having fun every time you step on the floor

Now, let me start with some good news!

Yes, you do need very good shooting form and technique to shoot consistently well.

But it does NOT need to be "perfect".

If you watch enough great shooters, you'll see that their form varies quite a bit based on what's comfortable (and what works) for them.

But almost all great shooters follow the principles I'll explain in this article. So keep reading for (all the good stuff)!

In this section, we give you the raw form and mechanics of stationary shooting.

In other words, this section does NOT address the fundamentals of shooting on the move and more advanced footwork you'll need for game situations.

Here's a quick roadmap of the stationary shooting fundamentals that we'll be covering:

1. Eyes on Target
2. Stance and Balance
3. Shot Pocket
4. Grip
5. Balance Hand
6. Delivery
7. Upforce and Landing
8. Follow Through
9. Correct Shot

NOTE: If youd like specially-designed workouts for shooting and scoring, download our FREE Breakthrough Shooting Workout. It includes over 30 drills you can do by yourself or with a partner all you need is a ball and a hoop!

Click here to get your FREE Shooting Workout.

Related Products & Helpful Resources

Basketball Shooting Camps

Free Basketball Shooting Workouts

Basketball Workout App - Shooting Workouts, Guard Play Workouts, Post Workouts, etc.

Basketball coaching hacks: how to score goals for beginners

Even if you are a novice basketball player, we will not give you a training plan, but we will tell you why the ball flies anywhere but into the ring and into your hands. It's all about technique: even with regular training and perseverance, novice adults and children often make simple mistakes. It's a shame, let's fix it. Below are 11 life hacks on how to hone your technique to increase the likelihood of a goal for your team.

Basketball Shot Rules for Beginners

1. Hands up

In pursuit of the attacker, raise your hands, even if you are standing with your back to the pass, and even more so if the ring is in front of you. Your raised hands will increase the chance of intercepting the ball from the opponent by 2 times. Don't overlook this little thing!

2. Make shield rolls

Even Tim Duncan did not neglect them! A square is drawn on the basketball backboard. If you are standing opposite the ring, then aim at the middle of the upper part of the square, if you are standing on the side, then at the corner. If you hit this square, then the ball is at 90% of cases will fall into the ring. The law of physics and no cheating!

3.

Practice driving the ball with your hand, not your eyes, develop tactile control. Your eyes should be on the hoop while dribbling and be aware of the position of your body in relation to the hoop. Then you will be able to take the correct posture, and the throw will be effective.

4. Dribble with the balls of your fingers only

The palm should not touch the ball, only the pads of the fingers. Dribbling should become familiar to you, like an extension of your hand. Then you can change its trajectory at any time and you will have more chances to score goals. Practice with the ball constantly.

5. Throw with one hand

If you throw the ball with two hands, you reduce the chance of hitting the basket. All the efforts of the throw are in one hand (in the right for right-handers, in the left for left-handers). The other hand only holds the ball, the leading one holds it with the fingers, not the palm.

6.

Jumping is the main mistake of rookie defenders. To intercept the ball and block the shot, simply stick out your hands. When you are in a jump, the attacker will easily bypass you.

7. Don't look back

When you dribble, don't look back, but dribble and aim for the ring, focus on shooting (or passing to another player on your team).

8. Bring the throw to automatism

Incorporate the most basic basketball techniques into your training plan and bring the shot to automatism. Throw first from a distance of half a meter from the ring, gradually increasing it. Learn to throw the ball so that it hits the hoop without touching the edge.

Throw the ball with all fives and jump

Throwing Rules:

• Head in the center of the body - if tilted, accuracy is lost.
• Look at the ring: mentally build a trajectory. If you are far away, the ball flies in a curved curve with a maximum height of 2 meters above the hoop.
• A strong hand is in front and throws, a weak hand is on the side and directs, only holding the ball. The elbow of the throwing hand must be in line with the ring.
• The ball must rest on the fingers without touching the palm. The fingers are as far apart as possible and grab the ball.
• Throwing arm bent 90 degrees, forearm perpendicular to the floor. If you bend less, then you get not a throw, but a throwing of the ball horizontally.

The main thing in the throw is the position of the body and its balance. Place your feet apart and parallel to each other: it is important to orient them in the middle of the basket. Then the direction of the body during the jump will coincide with the direction of the throw, and the ball will fly straight into the ring. When the feet are uneven, the ball flies in the wrong direction or does not reach (although the throw was normal).

Take a deep breath and release as you exhale.

How to hold the ball and shoot in basketball

How to throw correctly: straighten your arm, point your wrist up, and with your hand set the ball to rotate in the opposite direction from the flight. The ball should seem to "roll" off your fingers.

9. Copy masters and play as a team

Watch professional basketball games and try to copy the movements of your favorite players in training. And be sure to conduct game sparring - this will allow you to develop more techniques.

10. Do not throw in a straight line

The higher the arc of the ball, the greater the chance of a goal and the less chance of blocking by the opponent.

11. Do not throw the ball from a full height stand

This is the biggest newbie mistake!

Before the throw, bend your knees slightly and at the moment of the throw, straighten your body, making a jump. You need to straighten up and push off the ground at the same time. When squatting, keep the elbow of the throwing arm close to the body and towards the ring.

The jump will give momentum to the ball and will allow you not to make sudden movements with the brush.

***

And to be a long-term player, do not forget about your health: take care of your joints and muscles, use tapes, do a warm-up. And be sure to strengthen your arms, legs and shoulder girdle, develop coordination. Regular exercises on uneven bars and horizontal bars will help you with this.

9 tips from Jay Wolf

Hello, dear site visitors basketball-training.org.ua ! In this article, we will talk about one of the most important basketball elements - the throw. And not just about throwing, but about how to achieve a significant increase in the accuracy of your throws, while not radically changing their structure, that is, without retraining.

Of course, the correct throw, or, more precisely, the “classic throw from the forehead” is cool, correct and beautiful. However, it seems to me that what matters is not how you throw, but how effective these throws are. If your shot is difficult to cover and it regularly hits the basket, there is no need to change anything drastically: look at the throwing technique Larry Bird , Michael Jordan , "Magic" Johnson and Ray Allen . They all shot differently, which did not stop them from scoring well; so - draw your own conclusions.

The tips you read below are recommendations from Jay Wolf - Shot Improvement Specialist, Summer Sports Camp Organizer, Owner of StarShooter , you can read more about him on his website - starshooter.net . Well, now, in fact, advice, divided into 2 parts: how to improve throws from close range; how to improve mid-range and long-range shots (3-point shots).

Improving close range and under hoop shots

• All short range shots both to the right and left of the basket must be taken with a bounce off the backboard and a point of aim.

In principle, nothing new, this is where all throw training begins in every sports school: they learn to throw from the backboard, while the ball must touch the upper corner of the “square” drawn above the ring. The ball should softly touch this corner (remember about reverse spin of the ball when thrown) and bounce into the basket. In order to focus the thrower's attention on the aiming point, you can stick a dollar sign or a picture of the sight there. Remember: the shield is your best ally, be sure to learn how to bounce off it.

• Practice clean throws from under the hoop and clean bounce shots from the second tendrils.

So, let's figure it out. A clean throw is a shot where the ball goes into the basket without touching the ring itself. To achieve such a throw, you need to throw very softly, with reverse rotation, finishing with a brush. Such throws require the maximum concentration of attention from the basketball player and a change in the trajectory. So, we make 5 throws from under the ring in a row, 3 of which must be clean. If it's very easy, then add the number of throws up to 10, trying to get everything clean. Throws can be made with a rebound from the backboard, but the ball must not touch the ring hoop itself. Challenge yourself - and pass this test with honor!

Improving medium and long range shots

• Again doing clean throws : 5 shots in a row from one spot.

By the way, for me, clean throws are a big problem: the peculiarity of my throw is that I kind of load the far bow, “striking” which, the ball falls down. But here's the problem - if the ring is a little higher than usual, then almost all the balls go into the near bow, and while I get used to it, I smear a lot.

This job allows develop stable throw accuracy . Five throws in a row help improve accuracy, because the shape of the throw, the effort applied, the trajectory - all this must be the same and repeat all the time. Clean shots make the trajectory “lift up”, which is also good: they are more difficult to cover and, as a rule, when the ball touches the ring, the ball will fall into the basket. And one more thing: a high trajectory gives rise to a short rebound, for which it will be easier for partners to compete.

• Make multiple free throws in a row, before leaving the court (training).

Such a move will allow you to repeat all the elements of the throw again and develop self-confidence. After the shot, you pick up the ball yourself, return to the free-throw line - and shoot again. It is important to repeat all the routine that occurs before the free throws in the game. In order to recreate the game situation even more realistically, simply add jerks to the exercise: throw the ball, perform a jerk after the ball (to the middle of the hall, etc.), return to the line again - throw it. Players can be stimulated by some kind of competitive effect: who spends more time on 5 (7, 10) executed free throws in a row - runs, pushes up, carries a partner to the locker room, etc.

• Shoot 200 free throws daily for 5 days, or 500 on the first day and 200 on the next 4 days. Goal: 25/25 rolls, of which 15 will be clean.

Here you need to understand that you will need at least 1 partner who will “bring the cores”. In America, of course, this is not a problem, there are personnel who receive money for this kind of service. But with us it will be more difficult, we will have to look for like-minded people. According to Jay Wolf, such a series of shots will help to hone the form of the shot, the moment of release of the ball and the trajectory; and also - they will increase the accuracy of 3-point shots. Again, according to Wolf, 100 throws will take 15 minutes.

I once tried to throw such a series of free kicks. My execution technique is as follows: I squat a little, then straighten my legs and straighten my body at the same time I straighten my arms. As soon as the body is fully unbent (I also stand on my toes), the ball is released. It turns out - as if one movement. So, the calves quickly began to hurt from such lifts, the hands got tired, and the hand refused to twist the ball. But some results did appear, so the exercise is useful, even very useful.

• Find out where you shoot most often in games – and practice your “signature points” by shooting at least 5 clean shots in a row from these points.

I already wrote about this in an article about how to develop a shot ( Shot training in basketball ), it turned out not quite the way I imagined it in my head, but still it is very informative and useful.

• Practice throwing on a correctly marked area , in a correctly marked shield. The court must have a correctly drawn 3-point line.

And again I will complain a little: why in our country do people who have no idea how it should be do everything? Why are basketball markings applied by people who have never played basketball and do not know what the front line is? As a result, it passes under the front bow of the ring. And the “three-ruble note” - why is it 6 meters on the right, and more than 7 meters on the left? Why?

So - try to choose good sites with correct markings. And another note: at first it is very difficult to throw with a rebound from the backboard, if the backboard is streetball, i.e. much less than standard.

• Hold hands after throwing , as if guiding the ball into the basket until it reaches there.

Here it should be noted that in his video about the throw, the legendary Pete Maravich (the lessons from which will soon appear on the site) recommends not to hold a fixed hand, but rather to wave 2-3 times after the ball , repeating the final stage brush work.

• And once again about the type of throw: a good throw is the one that in 60% of cases is not covered by the opponent and reaches the basket.

The point is that by doing this type of shooting practice, you can build confidence and improve your throwing stability.

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