Let’s face it, there are plenty of ‘ways’ to shoot the basketball properly but after analyzing the top 20 NBA shooters of all time there are some things that are consistent across them all.
There’s a reason they are legends of the sports - and scoring tens of thousands of points definitely helps! Together we’ll cover some of the things YOU can do to improve your shot, and develop your muscle memory so that you are able to be the threat on the court you need to be.
We’ve divided these MUST-KNOW shooting tips into different sections so you’re able to read, practice and master each of them one by one. There is no race to the finish line in developing a lethal shot, but the sooner you have it, the sooner the whole game becomes that must easier for you and your teammates. Without further adieu, let’s dive in to all the subtle nuances of how you can have perfect basketball shooting form like the best NBA players from LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan to the newer Superstars like Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis.
#1 - Practice Makes Perfect - Repeated Actions Are YOUR Key To Success
Whether it’s before a practice or a game, develop the habit of shooting all the types of shots you are likely to shoot during games. If you have more of an inside game, practice chippies and simple layups with both hands, from both sides of the rim. Practice using the backboard and also without. Get a feel for the rim and get your confidence up by making these shots before you have hands in your face and defenders trying to stop you. When you’re facing the basket, dead-on, practice shooting the ball with a good amount of arc and try to hit 10 shots all net - SWISH! - and 10 shots using the backboard. Try this from 4 feet out then take a few steps back and repeat it again from 7-8 feet. Do this same routine from the free-throw line. Then step back and do it from the top of the arc. And if it’s a part of your game and your coach encourages it, practice your 3 pointers as well. As you practice your shot from different distances, you’ll notice how your shooting form changes and working with a coach will help you see what is working for you and what needs to be corrected. And the more shots you hit, the more your confidence will sky-rocket. It’s a feedback loop that when repeated over many years allows your game to elevate to the next level and beyond. Mentally as you see the ball going in the basket over and over, you will notice your whole energy shift in a positive direction and others will take notice as well from your coaches, to your teammates, to recruiters, and hopefully the opposing team! They need to know to respect your shot! If you’ve ever been to an NBA or college game, you’ll notice the routines and shooting drills players do before games. There is a reason for this - because it works!
#2 - Use a Shooting Partner to Make Sure Your Form is On Point
If you have to find them online, or at the gym or wherever, make sure you find a partner you can work with to improve your shot. Instead of running around getting your own rebounds, you need to invest your time shooting shot after shot and hearing their feedback in real-time so you know what to tweak right away before you develop bad shooting habits which may be harder to reverse over time.
This is crucial. Think about it...what you do in practice mirrors what you will be doing in the game. There is a direct correlation - this is why you should never skip practice!
When you are in the middle of a good shooting rhythm, the last thing you want to do is run around the court getting the ball and lining back up. This isn’t what you’re doing in the game so why do it in practice?
AND this can screw up your follow-through as well. It’s so important to finish each shot and watch as your wrist is aligned with the back of the rim and VISUALIZE the ball dropping right in the hoop.
Find a partner that you bond well with, has a positive attitude and knows how to shoot the basketball properly!
#3 - Make Sure Your Wrist Is Relaxed After Shooting
There are many common mistakes basketball players make when shooting and one of the worst ones is having a tense wrist. You need to have a nice smooth follow-through and keep your wrist in a relaxed position. Have your shooting partner monitor your shot to make sure it’s not sticking out to the left or right. Doing some gentle stretches before shooting can help relax your wrist. Bend it carefully forwards and backwards and be mindful of not over-extending!
#4 - Try Shooting with a Ball with Color in Practice to Improve Your Rotation
When you’re practicing, whenever possible, use a colored ball and this way you can see the rotation and it will improve the straightness of your shot quite a lot. When you’re able to actually see the rotation and the direction of the basketball, it allows you to make the necessary adjustments to make your shot perfect. Regular basketballs, the way they are designed, are not the best for this, so practice practice practice with a colored ball as much as possible! When you get this kind of immediate feedback you’ll be in a great position to make adjustments and improve every aspect of your shot.
#5 - Try To Locate Your Target Earlier - See the Rim Before Setting Up Your Shot
One of the common mistakes players make is rushing their shot. Look we can’t all be like Kobe Bryant and have our backs to the rim, shift left and right, fake out our defender, turn and shoot a perfect fadeaway shot! For the rest of us mortals, it’s best to develop the good habit of locating the rim as early as possible, getting your feet set and this will do wonders to improving your shooting percentage. Let’s took a look at the reasons: When you locate the rim earlier, your eyes have more time to gauge the distance and the rest of your body adjusts thereafter. When your brain has the time to subconsciously make these calculations, the rest of your body follows from the way you bend your knees, to your hand position on the ball, to the release in your fingertips. Maintaining eye contact with the back of the rim is CRITICAL to improving your shot accuracy - this is where you must aim for every shot. Keep this in mind and as always, make this a habit in practice that stays with you into every game. It will revolutionize the way your shot.
#6 - Hold Your Follow Through After The Shot Like You’re Hitting the Game-Winner
So obviously every shot is not a game-winner, but you should hold your follow-through like it is. You may have heard coaches, pundits, and basketball greats saying it, and there is a great reason for it: because it helps you sink more shots! You need to believe the shot is going in before, during and after your release. An easy way to make this happen is by lining your shot up, having great form and holding your follow-through so your wrist is aligned with the back of the rim. Over time this will become second nature and you won’t even need to think about it - it will just happen. And others will take notice when you start hitting your shots. Everything changes for the better. Try it!
#7 - Trust Your Shot Instincts You’ve Developed In Practice
Again, it all comes back to practice and what you do behind the scenes to prepare for games. When you have confidence in your shot and it happens fluidly, you won’t even have to think about it during the game - it’ll all flow naturally and you’ll sink your shots. Good shooting mechanics are developed in practice and are used during games. One of the ways to accelerate your learning curve is to use a top-rated shooting aid like Allnet shooter, not just become Pro level ballers use it, but because it trains your muscle memory and ensures that your shot mechanics are as they should be. Yes, it’s important to have a 90 degree angle with your elbow but even more important is how your hand is positioned on the ball. And Allnet is the best at forcing you to develop these right habits and instincts so you can shoot the lights out during games. When you have a strong mentality and have repeated a successful action more times than you can count, you’re on your way to actualizing your potential as a basketball player others will look up to and try to emulate.
#8 - Bend Your Knees and Land in the Right Position on the Way Down
So many times shooting coaches focus on what is happening with your hands and arms which is important, but some overlook the rest of your body - where most of your force is actually generated which is from your legs. Shooting the basketball like a pro means you need to understand how balance factors into the equation. Having good footwork and a proper stance ensures that you have good balance and when you rise up for the shot, you should always aim to land in front of your feet. Don’t follow in the footsteps of players like Dirk Nowitzki who leans back for every shot - he is the exception and it works for him, but likely won’t work for you. Your momentum should be going forward towards the basket and keep everything aligned, your hips square and maintain your balance at all times.
#9 - Get the Best Arc on Your Shot That Increases the Probability of Your Shot Going In!
Too much arc and every shot is a rainbow that will have long rebounds. Too little arc and there’s very little chance the ball will be at the perfect angle to go in. Finding that happy medium is key to increasing your shooting percentage. Without getting too mathematical, just know that you need to have a good amount of arc on your shot and doing so increases your percentage drastically. If you’re not sure what’s best think about this: when you’re following through with your shooting hand, the rim should be easily visible under your fingers. Try it in practice and over time it will come naturally to you.
#10 - Record Your Shot With Your Cell Phone and Study It
It’s ok to compare your shot to the best basketball players in the world, because if you’re going to try to copy someone it may as well be them! They are getting paid millions of dollars to shoot, so they must be doing something right...this tip goes hand in hand with having a partner to practice shooting with. Record your shot from different angles and cross-reference it with classic shooters like Ray Allen and Robert Horry. Make the necessary adjustments so every part of your shot is working for you. Pay attention to their leg positioning, the ball rotation, their arc and every other aspect of shooting the basketball like a pro. Keep studying, keep refining the process and over time you will see a big improvement. It’s worth the effort!
Top 5 Tips to Help Your Child become an elite basketball shooter and a Star Basketball Player
Everyone wants to see their children succeed in every aspect of life and sports is no different. Parents of basketball players have it particularly rough because of how physical the game has become and players and parents alike are doing so many things behind the scenes to gain an advantage.
Whoever has the upper hand has the greatest likelihood of winning - and let’s face it - we all want to win!
Helping our kids be winners on the court is made all the more difficult because as much we’d like, we can’t hop onto the court and do anything...all we can do is stay on the sidelines and offer morale and verbal support. But is that really true?
There is a growing movement of super-moms nationwide who have unlocked the secret to helping their kids be superstars on the court. And what they have shared is revolutionizing the way both players and their parents are approaching the preparation and practice aspects of the game.
An anonymous mom is Texas shared her top 5 secrets that helped her son go from sitting on the bench to being the teams MVP in only 6 weeks. Here’s what she revealed:
“I was a mess sitting on the sidelines seeing my son demoralized. The coach wouldn’t put him in the game because he couldn’t shoot the ball so he was a liability to the team. The other team didn’t even really have to play defense on him! It was bad. Really bad. So I stayed up one night, all night actually, researching ways I could help my son get his confidence back. I realized it came down to getting him the tools he needed to develop the skill sets to start performing on the court. From there his confidence followed. This is the order and TRUST ME, there’s no shortcut.”
Super-Mom, Plano, TX
Make sure they have proper nutrition to grow healthy and strong.
I noticed a big improvement when I cut some of the refined sugars out of my son’s diet and served him more fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, less sugary drinks and more filtered water helped a lot. He had more mental clarity, more focus, more energy and was more motivated to practice. I helped him with doing meal-prep for the week and made sure that before every basketball game he had some carbs and healthy proteins to give him enough energy.
Swap out the gatorade for lemon water. The sugary stuff left him with sudden surges of energy and then when he got out on the court, he crashed. This didn’t work especially in the games and everyone on the basketball team noticed. My son was so disheartened and didn’t know where to turn - so I helped him every step of the way. I researched proper hydration, got his water bottles filled up and cooled the night before and prepared his cooler bag so he always had enough water throughout the day, especially on game days!
Get them a proper shooting aid that works
OMG this was a game-changer for me and for my son! I searched Amazon for weeks and ordered 3 different basketball shooting aids. The only one that made a huge difference was called Allnet shooter. After spending thousands of dollars on summer camps, and shooting coaches, turns out the solution that helped the most was this $35 product. Wow, my son took a liking to it quickly. Right when it arrived (FREE shipping was awesome too lol!) he raced over the gym to try it out.
“MOM! I hit five 3 pointers in a row! First time in my life!” he screamed when he got home. Good Lord Baby Jesus our prayers were answered. When his coaches saw him shooting the basketball with perfect form in practice, it only took 3 days til he was inserted into the starting line up and now he’s averaging 22.4 points per game! There’s no shortcuts to success, but if your child is willing to put in the effort to practice, buy them an Allnetshooter.com
Let them watch youtube videos of how NBA stars practice
Yes, as a good parents you NEED to monitor what your child sees online because there is so much poisoning their brains. One of the things that I did that was very helpful was find great reputable shooting improvement videos online, created a YouTube Mix, added parental controls, and shared it with my son.
He LOVES watching how his favorite basketball players shoot all different kinds of shots. From jumpshots, to free throw shots, to 3 pointers, to lay-ups, to fadeaways… his eyes LIGHT UP as he studies his idols perfecting their craft.
I recommend limiting the video-watching to a max of 30 minutes per day so that your child also has ample time to practice. Also, pro-tip: go to the dollar store and buy your child a notepad and help them to develop the invaluable skill of note-taking while they are watching the videos. They can record their observations, their progress and they are creating the muscle memory not only of how to shoot the basketball with perfect form, but also the PROCESS of achieving this ability.
Help structure their schedule so they have more time to practice.
Kids will be kids! Or so they say...well when I was younger, looking back on it, I totally wish that someone had helped me structure my agenda so I could accomplish more in less time while honoring all my other commitments like school, Church, part-time job, babysitting etc. Anyway, for something like supporting your child in their pursuit of developing the habit that will empower them to shoot the basketball like an NBA player, it’s critical that nothing else in their life suffers as a result.
Remember fellow Super-Mom - it’s YOU with the wealth of experience and who is ultimately responsible for guiding your child in the right direction. They do not need to make the same mistakes you did, and you have SO much to teach them about organization. Here’s what I can share about my own journey:
I structure my son’s day so he has a consistent sleep cycle and wakes up every day at 7:15am. From there we make sure he has a nutritious breakfast, and I allow him 15 minutes of watching his favorite basketball players shoot (and also other highlights of course!). From there, get dressed, basic hygiene (including flossing!) and out the door to school. I teach my kids that even during recess or lunch break these are valuable opportunities to progress with whatever it is they are trying to learn or master. My son goes outside and shoots the basketball from all over the court the entire lunch-break after eating. Sometimes he plays 3 on 3 with other kids but mostly he is so focused on improving his shooting percentage that he just shoots shot after shot after shot.
After school, he has a few minutes to practice shooting again before I pick him up and drive him home. After a quick snack, I help him realize that while he probably isn’t in the mood, to develop good discipline he should just get his homework out of the way immediately, so he can go back to doing what he loves: perfecting his shot! Our family bought him a nice outdoor rim and installed it in our driveway. Once he has finished dinner and has helped clean up, he runs straight outside with his Allnet shooter in hand and goes to town! I mean, he doesn’t even notice the sun going down as his focus is purely on shooting the basketball with perfect form and increasing his shooting percentage as much as possible, every day.
I’ve noticed so much progress and am so so so proud of his efforts. In his last school game, he made 6 3 pointers, tying a school record for a regular season game. Boy oh boy was he proud of himself and the attention he got from his peers really boosted his confidence tremendously. It’s as if he is a new, improved person to go along with his new and vastly better basketball shooting form.
Pay for a motivational coach/mentor.
As cliche as it may sound, there truly is no price we can put on our children’s happiness. Now after years of struggling, we can to realize that what our child needed was something to be proud of - something he could excel at. And not just something easy, something that involves skill….something the other kids would notice him for and give him the respect he deserves.
So when our son discovered basketball there was nothing we could do to change his mind. He LOVES basketball. He lives, breaths, sleeps, and dreams about shooting the game winning shot, with a high-arcing floater, in the lane, over the opposing team’s center, and having it drop - SWISH! - right through the net. It’s the go-ahead bucket as the shot clock winds down to 0 and his last-minute score is the reason his team wins the game 7 clincher to secure the championship! He raises the trophy over his head with his teammates as (non-alcoholic) champagne is dumped all over them and the crowd is going wild!
This type of imagery, feelings, and emotions are what drive my son, day in and day out to become a better basketball player. And to help him as much as I can, I hired a motivational coach to ensure that his confidence increases, but not his ego. I mean, *proud mommy alert* he is getting REALLY good at basketball. So good, that college recruiters are scouting him and I think he will be getting a scholarship to Duke or Mississippi State (or maybe North Carolina). The scouting reports say there is no one out there like him that shoots the ball so smoothly and consistently and with such grace.
Before graduating to hiring a motivational coach for your child, make sure they have already as far as they could without one (they don’t come cheap!). This is why I highly recommend buying your child an Allnet Shooter first, and helping them structure their schedule so they can use it as much as possible throughout the day. And once they’ve really got the hang of shooting the ball properly, and their hands and fingers are positioned consistently in the right place, and the ball as the perfect amount of rotation and they actually have a great shooting percentage, then to elevate them from great to something really special, hire a personal coach/mentor. Investing in your kids is a no-brainer - and if your family can afford to get your child someone to help shift their mindset to a championship level, it’s the best investment you could make. Email me directly if you need recommendations or have any further questions.
Conclusion:
As a mom, it’s only natural that we do everything in our power to help our kids blossom. And making sure they develop AND maintain their confidence on and off the basketball court is absolutely essential. Our story is not unique. In fact, tens of thousands of folks just like us started our journey by discovering the Allnet shooter online, ordered it ASAP, and within a week, our children came back to life in a major way. When they starting shooting the ball better, and got more playing time, and more recognition, even their grades started improving and even more importantly their health! I was so worried that my son would develop diabetes like his father, but no! He even gave his xbox and all his video-games to an underprivileged student at his school just so that he could spend more time playing basketball.
If you are a mom who wants her child to succeed and is willing to take one small step today to get them on the right track, follow the steps above and within a month or so, you will see incredible results.
Quick recap:
Make sure they eat right
Get them the best shooting aid (Allnet Shooter is our go-to)
Put together a video reel of basketball stars shooting the ball with perfect form
Help your child create a schedule that works for you and them
Connect them with a coach or personal mentor
I promise, with God as my Witness, that when you do all these things, your child will buy in to your optimism, and once they practice just even in the first few hours with their Allnet, and notice the difference in their shot, everything else will evolve organically from there. They eat better, feel better, have more energy, get their schoolwork done faster to have more time to shoot the basketball, their friends take notice, they get more positive attention, their health improves….omg the feedback loop of happiness, health and humility is like nothing else.
I am so happy to share these secrets to our success and on behalf of my son and I, we pray that you too are able to motivate your child to take the next steps to being a better basketball player and a better overall person - someone you can both be proud of.
Comments