• Home
  • Recommendations
    • Basketball Books
    • Football Books (American)
    • Motivational Books
    • New Sports Books
    • Running Books
    • Soccer Books
    • Sports Betting Books
    • Sports Biographies
    • Sports Books for Teen and Young Adults
    • Sports Business
  • About
  • Merch
  • Blog
  • Contact Me
  BOOKS ABOUT SPORTS
  • Home
  • Recommendations
    • Basketball Books
    • Football Books (American)
    • Motivational Books
    • New Sports Books
    • Running Books
    • Soccer Books
    • Sports Betting Books
    • Sports Biographies
    • Sports Books for Teen and Young Adults
    • Sports Business
  • About
  • Merch
  • Blog
  • Contact Me

How To Become a Better Shooter

2/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Becoming a better shooter of the basketball

Intro

Shooting a basketball is like swinging a golf club: it requires hundreds of hours of practice to develop consistent muscle memory. For a lot of young players, unfortunately, they develop flawed shooting mechanics at a young age, and the practice they put in reinforces those flaws. All of a sudden, they're playing in high school, and it's too late. 

Start With The Fundamentals

The reality is that shooting is a living, breathing exercise. What I mean by that is that you need to understand and learn the fundamentals of shooting, first and foremost. From your feet to your hand placement, and your eyes to your follow through, shooting is a full body exercise that is both mental and physical.

The advice from Steph Curry below is spot on: if you start out shooting with a major flaw in your mechanics, "It's the deadliest sin in basketball." 

Cool tidbit from Steph Curry during his recent Hot Ones interview about the most important advice for young shooters

The angle of your elbow matters most. Elbow in = ball goes in -- take it from the best shooter ever!

Credit: @firstwefeast pic.twitter.com/Kh2sWFdfZ6

— Adam Spinella (@Spinella14) July 27, 2023
For me, becoming a good shooter started with watching guys who could really shoot. Take a look at this short clip of NBA guard, Max Strus. There isn't a lot of wasted motion in his shot, his body goes straight up and down, and he doesn't dip the ball when he catches it. His feet are shoulder width apart and pointed at the rim. 

Repetition Is Everything

Once you have good mechanics, repetition is everything. When you hear people say, "put in the work," this is what they mean. You need to teach your brain and your body that this is how you shoot a basketball every time. Not once in a while. EVERY TIME. 

How good (and how fast) you become will ultimately come down to the work you put in. You simply can't take 50 shots a day and expect to see rapid improvement. 

For another visual example, take a look at Devin Booker. Pay particular attention to his feet, his elbow/hands, and his follow through. Notice how he loads his wrist on the catch and practices slowing down stepping into the catch of the ball. None of this requires great athleticism. It's attention to detail, over and over again. 
​

The Best Teaching Resources

To put you in the absolute best position to succeed, the four shooting coaches below are the best that I've come across and can add immediate value to your game. Dave is the only one with a book, but you'll get a lot of value out of watching the videos below. ​

Dave Hopla

When I was young, I got to witness the great Dave Hopla. Dave is world-renowned shooting coach, and his demos are legendary. He'd often start in close and then move further and further back until he was practically hitting shots from half court. Dave wrote a great book back in 2012. For a lot of young players, though, they simply don't have the attention span to read a book. If that's the case, check out Dave's Instagram feed, where he shares a lot of short video content to help you improve your shooting mechanics. ​
Basketball Shooting by Dave Hopla
Buy on Amazon
For more on Dave, check him out on YouTube as well, where he shares more advice and gets into a bit more detail. 

Mike Dunn

Mike Dunn is a tremendous shooting teacher. Mike's entire Instagram account is dedicated to shooting, and I love the fact he doesn't just tell you what to do, he shows you. Mike also has more long-form content on YouTube. 

Lethal Shooter

Chris Matthews, aka "Lethal Shooter" works with a ton of NBA players to fine tune their shots. Similar to Dunn, Matthews has some great tips on his Instagram account that are actionable right away. He includes additional content on his YouTube page, that includes interviews with NBA players, demos, and ways to improve. 

In this example, he focuses in on hand placement. 

Phil Handy

Phil Handy is an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. When he's not with the Lakers, Phil runs a lot of youth camps and has a passion for individual skill development. In this video, Phil provides some great tips in only 5 minutes. 

Want More?

If you have specific shooting questions that I didn't answer, please send me an email on our contact page, and I'd be happy to offer you whatever advice I can. The same goes for other basketball training questions. I can't guarantee you'll like my answers, but I'm happy to share what helped me in my career. 

​For more basketball content, check out the 
Basketball section of our blog. ​
Tags:
0 Comments
​

You Might Also Like

First Last



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    John Willkom is the author of Amazon best-selling basketball books: Walk-On Warrior and No Fear In The Arena. John is an avid reader, sports fan, and father to three incredible little kids.

    Archives

    June 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022

    Categories

    All
    All Time Lists
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Bodybuilding
    Book Clubs
    Book Reviews
    Boxing
    Climbing
    Coaching
    Cricket
    CrossFit
    Cycling
    Endurance Sports
    Esports
    Ethics
    Fantasy Sports
    Fishing
    Football
    Formula 1
    Golf
    Gymnastics
    Hockey
    Hunting
    Kids
    Martial Arts
    Military
    MMA
    Motivational
    NASCAR
    Olympics
    Pickleball
    Quotes
    Rugby
    Running
    Skiing
    Soccer
    Softball
    Sports Authors
    Sports Betting
    Sports Broadcasting
    Sports Business
    Sports Cards
    Sports Doping
    Sports Equipment
    Sports History
    Sports Nutrition
    Sports Photography
    Sports Psychology
    Sports Science
    Streetlifting
    Swimming
    Table Tennis
    Team Building
    Teen & YA
    Tennis
    Track & Field
    Trading Cards
    Triathlon
    Volleyball
    Wrestling

    Complete book of football trivia
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Recommendations
    • Basketball Books
    • Football Books (American)
    • Motivational Books
    • New Sports Books
    • Running Books
    • Soccer Books
    • Sports Betting Books
    • Sports Biographies
    • Sports Books for Teen and Young Adults
    • Sports Business
  • About
  • Merch
  • Blog
  • Contact Me