November 21st, 2009 
Brian McCormick I watched the local high school play-offs this season and was appalled by the poor shooting. In four championship games featuring college-bound players, the best offense was “chuck and chase:” throw the ball at the rim and fight for the offensive rebound and put-back opportunities. The big arenas and the over-reliance on the three-point shot contributed to the poor shooting, but it resulted primarily from players’ hand positioning on the ball and their failure to prepare to shoot before receiving the pass.
The main areas that most coaches concentrate on are the shoulders and elbow when correcting a player’s poor basketball shooting techniques. But the problem in most of these cases tends to be that the hand positioning negatively impacts the player’s shot, regardless of the shoulder or elbow. The first thing to do is make sure the player correctly positions his shooting hand on the ball; in order to do this, players should have their shooting hand centered directly under the ball when they shoot. Now when you shoot, the index and middle fingers should be the last two fingers to leave the ball; that’s why it makes sense to have these two fingers centered.
There are three popular ways to achieve this: first, split the index and middle fingers with the nozzle (the ball’s center); align the middle finger with the ball’s center; or, put the index finger in the middle. All three make sense: if the goal is to shoot with the last two fingers, then both should be equally centered; however, centering the middle finger spreads the hand equally over the ball; but, if you extend your fingers toward the rim in a shooting motion, it is the index finger, not the middle finger, that points straight to the rim, while the body’s physiology points the middle finger slightly to the right for a right-handed shooter.
My main goal when working with a player is to make him feel comfortable and confident, so out of the three approaches, I go with the one that is most comfortable for the player. But the problem usually happens when the player has his hand on the side of the ball. You have to make sure that the shooting hand is centered using one of the approaches I explained above.
The other hand issue is getting the hand properly pointed towards the target. Unfortunately, most coaches and trainers focus on getting the player’s shoulders squared and elbow straight; however, most players have their elbow in, but they have to twist their wrist to the target as part of the shooting motion. When the player has his hand under the ball properly, with a “wrinkle in the wrist,” you’ll also notice a small indentation at the base of the palm.
These two elements will improve a shooter’s technique and opportunity to be a consistent shooter. However, to be a great shooter, the player also must improve the base of the shot. The base is the shot’s foundation, and determines everything thereafter. A poor foundation leads to an inconsistent shot.The first issue is receiving a pass ready to shoot. Many poor shots are taken because the player takes too long to catch and shoot and then fires the shot under duress; when receiving the pass, a player should have his feet wide (shoulder width) and knees bent.
Furthermore, players have to use their leg drive to power their shot. Most players shoot a jump shot, but they tend to shoot the ball on its way down, eliminating the power generated by the players leg drive. When the ball is shot on the way up, earlier in the jump, the player will harness the power generated by the leg drive when jumping, and increase the player’s power. This will help to increase the arc on the ball when it’s shot; most inconsistent or streaky shooters shoot a very flat shot, one that has little room for error. When a player shoots with more arc, they player has a better chance of making the shot into the rim from above.
Improving your hand position, preparing to catch the pass, and utilizing your leg drive will not automatically turn you into a great shooter over night. You’ll have to consistently work on these three areas if you want to develop into a consistent shooter. Let’s be honest, change is difficult, and players who have taken hundreds of thousands of shots have reinforced bad habits that are difficult to correct, especially if the player has had some success with his current shooting technique. But for a player to reach his full potential, it’s really important that he develops a consistent shot, as the game boils down to who can put the ball in basket the most. By fine-tuning the hand placement on the ball as the player lifts the ball to shoot, while focusing on receiving the pass ready to shoot, and utilizing a solid leg drive, a player’s shot will become more consistent with practice, making him a more effective player on the court.
Author Brian McCormick knows a lot about basketball shooting and basketball shooting tips.
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