Summer is the best time to improve basketball shooting skills and percentages

There is an old adage, “Basketball shooters are born, not made”. My basketball experience as a player and coach over 70 plus years tells me that that is not necessarily true.

What is true is that you can take the shooting skills the great shooters are born with and  analyze those skills. Learn to use them yourself and then teach them to others.

However, here is the problem, very few coaches at any level have ever taken the time to do this and that is why many of their players do not shoot as well as they could if they had.

I was considered a pretty good shooter in my college career at Husson University from 1955-58 as my career shooting field goal percentage of 54% and a career foul shooting percentage of 76.0%.

As a college player  never got much of what is called “Garbage” in shooting.

Garbage is when a shooter’s ball hits the rim and still has a chance to go in. What I used to get as a college player was when my ball hit the rim was a “Brick” which is what is called when the  ball that hits the rim and bounces away from the rim without much of a chance to go in.

When working with some of my players in improving their shooting skills early in my coaching career I found out while teaching shooting that why I never got much “Garbage” when playing in high school and college.

That secret that I discovered that I was not doing changed my shooting skills so much that if I had used this secret skill could have been a 90% foul shooter instead of 76% and would have shot over 60% from the floor instead of 54%.

It is really interesting that I can shoot a basketball once I discovered what I was not doing so that even today at the age of 78 I can shoot better than when in my teens in college.

The reason that I can do this is that I get a lot more “Garbage” today then I did yesteryear and a lot less of “Bricks”. That is the difference and how to do this to improve shooting percentages especially with the 3 point shot being used today, you don’t want to get “Bricks” that fall or bounce far away from the basket which allows the defense to start their fast break and eliminates you or your teammates to get offensive rebounds for put back scores.

In one simple adjustment in your foul shot, jump shot, three point shot, etc. which can be corrected in an hour or less, provided your other shooting skills are done correctly.

Like receiving the ball correctly, holding the ball correctly in your hands and shooting positioning , aiming for the correct shooting target of the basketball rim, releasing the ball at the correct time and following through correctly, etc.

All these skills can be taught and learned and improved upon by any basketball player at any level from the middle school level right through high school and college and even to the NBA.

I have run basketball shooting day camps throughout Maine from Bangor to Mars Hill, to Rockland, To Skowhegan to Mount Desert Island, etc., have given many shooting clinics throughout the State at Basketball Camps, Coaches Clinics, YMCA Clinics, etc.

Very few  high school, college or even NBA coaches work with their players to improve their shooting percentages and skills. This is either overlooked or the coaches do not have the skill themselves to demonstrate the correct shooting techniques. In today;s world, it is not do as I do, but do as I say, not as I do or cannot do.

I do all the demonstrations myself step-by-step for each basketball shot.

I have found that talking about skills is not very effective. what gets players attention is when you can demonstrate what you are talking about it as you are doing it is a very effective teaching tool.

When officiating after I retired from Coaching and ADing in 2000 until 2015 at all levels be it elementary, middle school, high school, college, men’s league, semi-pro basketball and the old CBA (Continental Basketball League equivalent to today’s NBA’s Developmental League) I saw poor shooting fundamentals/techniques that could be corrected in a short time.

Also, watching D-1 college basketball and the NBA basketball, I see the same poor shooting fundamentals. Some players making millions of dollars cannot shoot more than 40% from the foul line could be corrected in an hour’s time in most cases, because, like I didn’t know and, they do not know the secret of getting “Garbage” instead of “Bricks”.

Having  made it a life long objective to keep my shooting skills updated and working successfully so that I could demonstrate them (AND THE SECRET). This is one of my ways of giving back to the “GAME”, that gave so much to me throughout my entire life since the second grade at age until today at 78.

I also wrote a step-by-step self teaching/learning book on Shooting entitled “Basketball’s Simplified & Scientific Methods Manual for Improving Perimeter Shooting Percentages”, which has photos and a step-by-step written and illustrations  AND OF COURSE THIS INCLUDES THE SECRET I DISCOVERED TO IMPROVE SHOOTING PERCENTAGES.

This book is used at the shooting camps and was written and published in 1988.

Currently I give one hour individual shooting lessons from the middle of June to the end of October right here at my home in Bangor.

This is the best time period to learn to improve your shooting skills as you have the time available to take the lessons and to do the assigned homework between the lessons.

Usually 4 or 5 separate one hour lessons is all a player needs to improve their shooting skills and shooting percentages regardless of their individual skill level.

If you are interested in anything in this BLOG  or you would like to know how to learn this “Secret” then give me a call at your convenience at 207-357-6787.