Use Your Biggest Muscles

Your legs are the biggest muscles in your body. They are the engine that power the entire shot. As you jump, you want to ride the power of your liftoff from the floor through your entire shooting motion, releasing the ball at the peak of your jump. This will give distance and stability to your shot. The more you rely on your legs to power the shot, the easier it will be for the rest of your shooting to be effortless and repeatable.

Proper Ball Flight Control

You want to keep your eye on the target(the rim) throughout the shot. You want to hold the release an extra half second to a second to increase to provide prober rotation of your shot. An automatic and predictable release and follow through makes all shots easier and gives you more control of your shot. As you land, you want to come down exactly where you started your jump or sightly in front of where you started.

The Midas Touch

Having a soft touch is very desirable, and really just means that rather than clanging off the rim, your ball dribbles softly around the edge - due to your soft touch. To develop a soft touch, you want to have more rotation on the ball when you shoot and a higher arch to your ball. An undesirable trait is thinking too much, and it is due to being tentative. To overcome this tentativeness you want to make sure that when you don't have the ball you think about what you will do with it when you get it (for example - "If I'm open for the shot I will shoot it." etc). This prevents you from freezing up and "thinking too much" once you have the ball.

Confidence

Many players ask what they should do when they are having an off-shooting night (or week, or season), First thing, practice and practice some more. If you put in the work and you know you can make these shots, then just keep shooting. Great shooters have a short memory, no matter how many they have missed, they KNOW the next one is going in. Be confident and take heart - this is the golden rule, and it will work.

Shooting Range

One of the determining factors in whether a shot is a good one or not is if it is taken within your shooting range. Your shooting range is the big circle around the rim that you can comfortable shoot from. You don't have to change your form, or techniqe from your shooting range. One problem younger kids have is they try to shoot outside of their "range" and develop bad shooting habits because they are not naturally strong enough to shoot from this far. Find out your shooting range by shooting, taking a step back, shooting, taking a step back. When you begin to lose your form because you are so far out, that is your range. Don't shoot outside of it.

Shoot When Tired

When you get tired while doing drills, stop and shoot some free throws. In addition to getting practice shooting free throws, you will be simulating game-like conditions in that you will have to shoot free throws when tired.

Learn the Jumpshot

Make sure you have the proper, comfortable stance and balance. See the rim. Extend your wrist backwards. The basketball should rest on your fingerpads. Try to keep your elbow in and under the ball. Use your legs to get lift... the longer the shot, the more you use your legs. As you reach the peak of your jump, the ball should be coming out. Raise the ball smoothly and in one, fluid motion. Finish high with your arm to get good "arc" on the shot. Snap your wrist and hold that follow through to get the backspin you need for a "shooter´s touch".

Shooting Pocket

To solve the problem of arm position on your shot, learn where your shooting pocket is. Let your shooting arm hang down at your side and swing it back and forth and several times. Swing it up toward your shoulder and hold it when it stops. This position is your shooting pocket and is the position that the ball should be in when you begin your jump shot.

Hold your follow through

In order to get proper rotation on a shot, the shooter´s follow-through must be correct. After snapping the wrist, the fingers of your shooting hand should be pointed toward the rim.

Good Shooters

A shooter is as good as the shots he takes. Take shots that you practice and you make alot of. If you take those shots, chances are you will be a good shooter. If you take bad shots, you are probably not going to make many in a game.

Balance in Shooting

Your body must be balanced and relaxed when shooting the basketball. Here are some guidelines to good balance. First, your feet should be about shoulder width apart in order to give you a strong base. Secondly, your strong foot (the foot on the same side of your body as your shooting hand) should be about a half step ahead of the other. Finally, your head should be centered. This will keep you balanced throughout the shot and allow you to shoot without having to make adjustments. All people are built differently, so if any of these are a little off, yet you are still comfortable - that is what is important.

Shooting Progression

Because form is so important in shooting, work on making that form a habit is very important. An easy way to do this is to lay on your back and shoot the ball straight up into the air. It is very easy to check on the position of the ball, follow through, and rotation. The ball should go straight up and come straight down with proper back spin. This can be done before going to sleep at night or while watching TV during commercials.

Focus Point

Most experts would agree that concentration is the key to becoming a great shooter. But what do you concentrate on? Where do you focus?

It's not the ball as many beginning players have a habit of doing. You should NEVER watch the ball after it leaves your hand. You should instead find a FOCUS POINT on the rim. The most popular focus point being the front of the rim. Think about it. Wherever you are on the court, the front of the rim is always there for you. When you have committed to taking a jump shot, the only thing that you should be focusing on is your focus point. Not the ball, not the defender, just your focus point. This will lead to better concentration and a rise in your shooting percentage.

Hand Position on the Ball

One of the problems with young players being told to shoot with their fingertips is that they hold the ball on their fingertips. In order to control the ball, it has to rest on the pads of the shooting hand. Then, when shooting, the ball should come off the fingertips as it leaves the shooter´s hand.

Put Some Arc On Your Shot

Get the ball up in he air with a nice high arc. The arc will give you a bigger margin of error because it basically increases the size of the rim. Look at the rim coming straight down, and then like at it from head on like a line drive shot coming straight at the rim. The rim shrinks when you shoot a line drive. Just ask Shaq, who throws darts at the free throw line and is notorious for his bad free throw shooting.

Layup follow thru

When first learning to shoot, the FOLLOW THRU should be the same as a regular shot. Your palm is facing the basket, with the ball coming off of the 1st two fingers. Flop over the wrist to get backspin on the ball for a nice soft shot. Later, when a player can jump higher, the palm can face skyward and lay the ball up softly off of the backboard with very little spin. Try not to spin the ball and be too "fancy". This should be a sure TWO POINTS-make sure that you make it.