When you say “shooting form” in basketball, it refers to a player’s shooting mechanics. It involves proper positioning of the feet, body, elbows, arms and follow-through. Proper shooting form helps increase the chance of making a shot before even the ball takes off of your hand.
What is shooting form in basketball?
“Shooting form” in basketball is the shooting mechanics of a player. The mechanics or the manner of shooting the shot is integral to actually make it. You may have noticed that all great shooters have impeccable shooting techniques.
Key Takeaways
Shooting form has a lot to do with making the shot. Without proper shooting form or technique, shot attempts could go long or short, wide right or left.
Proper shooting technique begins with using the legs.
Like ball-handling skills, a good shooting technique is fundamental in the game of basketball.
A good shooting form is a result of several body parts working together to produce one fluid motion. Everything comes together, from the positioning of the feet to the release of the ball through the fingertips.
In basketball, you may hear the adage: There are a lot of shooters who may have “bad” form, but there is no player with a perfect form who is a bad shooter.
How to Develop A Proper Shooting Form
The positioning of the feet is the origin of a proper shooting form. Be sure to stand on the balls of your feet and not on your heels or flat-footed. Additionally, your feet should be shoulder-width apart to achieve a proper balance.
The next most important thing is alignment. There are a lot of shooting coaches who may have different opinions on this, but it’s important to keep everything on your shooting-hand side aligned.
Your shooting hand should be behind the ball, and the guiding hand (non-shooting hand) should be on the side of the ball. When saying the shooting must be “behind the ball,” it’s not to be taken literally. Some grips naturally tilt a little sideways, but the idea is to put it behind the ball and not the side of the ball like the non-shooting hand.
After proper alignment and positioning of the shooting and non-shooting hand, be sure that the ball rests on your fingertips and not the palms.
Release the ball in a way that wrists roll over the middle and index finger pointing the basket.
Drills For Proper Shooting Form
Here are some pretty good shooting form drills by professional shooting coach Collin Castellaw. The drills he recommends to develop a proper shooting form are:
The Slow Motion Form
Thigh Tap Shooting
High Bounce Shooting
Basketball Shooting Drills Video
Now, if you want to know more about the very basics, watch Klay Thompson and Ryan Anderson demonstrate for coach John Calipari. They also shared some tricks of the trade-in developing the perfect form.
Tips, Skills, and Drills: Shooting Video
More Shooting Form Tips
Begin shooting from a shorter distance. The great shooters like Reggie Miller or Steph Curry did not begin shooting three-pointers right off the bat. They developed their shooting form by starting a few feet from the basket. This is a good way to develop muscle memory, something that you’ll need as your range extends.
Film yourself and then analyze what went wrong. Filming yourself as you go about your shooting drills is an excellent way to dissect your shooting form. Especially take note of the types of misses (wide right or left, short or long) and take steps in correcting the fundamental mistakes that you may have. It’s easy to develop bad shooting habits, so weed them out before they take root.
Aim to develop an optimal arc. High-arching shots are mathematically proven to have increased accuracy. If you shoot the ball at a flat 35 degrees, its margin of error is only six-tenths of an inch. On the other hand, shooting the ball at a 45-degree angle has a three-inch margin of error. By improving the arc on your shot, you can increase the margin of error by up to five times! Basketball is a game of inches, so don’t take this for granted.
Incorporate game-like movements in practice. There are drills that focus on muscle memory and development, but if you’re past that stage, go about your drills with game-like movements. The logic is simple: If you have to make game shots, then practice with game shots. Use chairs or other materials as defenders, do catch-and-shoot situations, running off screens, etc.
Overtime
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