3 Common Mistakes Players Make With Their Shooting Mechanics
As the third hardest skill to learn in sports, learning to shoot the basketball takes hours of time, refinement, repetition, and disciplined habits in order to get good at it. That said, it's very easy to develop bad habits!
Mistake #1: Awkward Stance
Players most often have a stance that is too wide (vs too narrow). This can cause a valgus stress on your knees which can eventually lead to knee pain. It is also inefficient because when your stance is wider than your hips on any vertical movement (jumping on a rebound, shot, etc.), your body leaks power horizontally and you aren’t able to get as much power from your legs into your shot. This can in turn lead to weird compensations with your upper body!
Thus, start refining your shot by first tackling the broken parts of your stance instead of starting from the top down.
Focus on
Hip width stance
Toes slightly angled away from your shooting hand
Legs bent in an athletic position
Ball straight out from your belly button
Drill: Line (or) Cone Hop Overs
Drill: 180 Degree Shots
Mistake #2: Pausing on Your Shot
Some coaches or players refer to this is having a “hitch”. It’s kind of like when you’re listening to your favorite song and your friend in the backseat starts singing along off key and the entire song is now ruined. Simply put, pauses in your shot destroy the rhythm.
As a strength and conditioning specialist as well as a player development coach, I often relate this in my mind to a hang clean or hang snatch.
In a hang snatch, for someone to lift a significant amount of weight over their head safely and efficiently, the entire body must work together synergistically. Weight lifters refer to this as “triple extension”, but this same term can be applied to a basketball players shot. If a part of the chain (ankles, knees, hips) or also in our case, arms, moves independently of the other moving parts, it’s just not as efficient.
Focus on
Your legs and the ball moving up at the exact same time
Pretend the ball and your hips are connected by a string
Drill: Tap & Shoot
Mistake #3: Too Low of a Follow Through
Having too low of a follow through results in a flat shot. If you’re shooting in the gym alone, you’ll know your shot is flat if it’s constantly hitting the front of the rim. Before fixing this, make sure you have worked on the other two mistakes first! A high, perfect follow through is a result of the rest of the process being on point.
Focus on
Bringing the ball directly above your forehead
Extending your elbow under then through the ball
Keep the ball off your palm
Freeze your guide hand at your release point (right above your forehead)
Drill: Extension Shots
