Why the Shooting Woes at the 4 Eastern Maine Tournaments

Having run shooting camps, individual shooting lessons and put on shooting clinics for years, from my experience these are the reasons for the shooting woes in high school basketball today in no particular order:

1. Poor Shot Selection such as forcing a shot when a player is not open, rushing shots, not knowing time and score

2. Too much shooting off the dribble

3. Not enough legs in the shot

4. Improper shooting techniques on holding the ball while shooting

5 Not getting enough of the proper backspin

6.. Not squaring both feet at the foul line

7. Not having the shooting foot on the foul in the center of the basket.when shooting foul shots and no foul shot ritual

8. Aiming for the wrong target

9. Shooting 3’s before getting the ball to the paint on entry passes or dribble penetraion

10. Not following thru properly on the shot

These 10 reasons are easy to correct, but many coaches do not spend much time on working on shooting skills. They take what the players have and do not try to correct them. 

There is really only on physical kinesthetic skill in shooting a basketball and THAT IS RELEASING THE BALL FROM THE SHOOTING HABD WHEN THE LEGS ARE STRAIGHT, the rest are just mechanics. Players need to shoot with their legs.

The release should be the same for all shots be it a power layup, jump shot 3 point shot or foul shot. Release the ball when the legs are straight.

If you took a picture of a player from the waist up before they release the ball you should not know what kind of shot they took, be it a power layup, jump shot, 3 point shot or foul shot.

Shooting a basketball is not as diccicult as hitting a baseball. Ask a basketball player, what the diameter of the ball is and the rim. Most do not know. That is like a surgeon not knowing the difference beteen a scapel or a forcep. The rim is twice the size of the ball and the rim is stationary.You have a large margin of error as the basketis 18 inches in diameter and the ball is 9 inches in diameter.

Now hitting a baseball, that is tough as there is very little margin of error. the ball and the bat are the same size and both objects are moving.

Shooting a basketball giveds you a large margin of error in fact ypou can be off to either side, front or back by 8 and 7/8’d inches and still not have the ball hit the rim. Now that is a large margin of error.

Also, very few players get “GABAGE” (ball hitting rim softly enough to still go in basket) There is a secret to that, and we have already mentioned it. Guess what is????

now those are my reasons for the poor shooting percentages or we could just blame it on the open shooting backgrounds at the old Bangor Auditorium or the Augusta Civic Center.

Pure shooters, using the right techniques can shoot a basketball for 50% from the floor, 75% from the foul line and 45% from 3 point land anywhere, in a high school gym, outdoors, Alfond Arena, The Pit. the Bangor Auditorium, ACC, CCCC, in their backyards, etc.