How to Use Proper Shooting Form in Basketball

Every basketball team needs to have good shooters. To be a good shooter, though, you have to know and use proper shooting form. This, along with a lot of practice, will lead you to become a star on your team.

Instructions

1. Open your legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart and feel in balance with your knees bent.

2. Square your shoulders to the basket. To test this, make sure the center of your chest is pointed at the center of the basket.

3. Cock back the wrist on your shooting hand -- it should look like you are holding a pizza or like a waiter carrying a tray.

4. Rest the ball on the top pad of your shooting hand with your middle finger in the center of the ball. The top pad of your shooting hand is the part of your hand just below your fingers and above your palm.

5. Tuck in your shooting elbow. In other words, if you drew a line from your shoulder through the elbow, it will go toward the basket.

6. Align your guide hand (non-shooting hand) on the side of the ball. The thumb on your guide hand should make an "L" with the thumb on your shooting hand. These thumbs should not be touching, though.

7. Focus your eyes on the back of the rim until you see the ball go into the rim. You should not follow the flight of the ball. Some people prefer to focus on the front of the rim. It is really up to you which to focus on on -- the key is to be consistent and to stick with one or the other.

8. Bend your legs, then rise up to shoot. The strength of the shot comes from your legs.

9. Extend your arms so that your hands are at or above your forehead as you are rising up to shoot.

10. Release your guide hand from the ball.

11. Propel your shooting hand forward by releasing your wrist from the cocked position. The ball is shot with this wrist release -- it is not shot with your arms.

12. Follow through after releasing. Your follow-through should look like this:
    1. Shooting hand is at or above your forehead (finish as high as is comfortable for you).
    2. Shooting hand is pointed right at target with hand pointed slightly downward (looks like a fish hook).
    3. Guide hand is out to the side with palm facing you.
    4. Eyes are focused on the back or front of the rim.
    5. Ball should have backspin (spinning back toward you).

    To check this, freeze your body after releasing the shot and have your partner check to make sure you have followed these five rules.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice shooting technique while lying on your back by shooting the ball up in the air and catching it.

• Shooting technique does not change as you shoot from different distances -- the only thing that changes is the amount of leg strength you use. To shoot a longer-distance shot, simply get more bend in your legs and more explosion when you rise up to shoot.

• Be sure to release the ball as you are nearing the height of your jump -- you do not want to shoot as you are coming down. Younger players may need to shoot on the way up to maximize the power to get the ball to the hoop.

• Have your shooting technique reviewed by a qualified basketball/shooting coach -- even slight technique errors can lead to poor shooting performance.

• Shooting is as much mental as it is physical -- BELIEVE that every shot you take is going in the basket and forget about the shot you may have just missed. Good shooters believe that every ball is going in.

• Never practice using bad technique -- shooting with the incorrect technique is a waste of time and encourages bad habits.

• Younger players can develop bad habits playing on a court in which the basket is too high for them. They have to heave the ball up to the basket and in the process they begin developing poor shooting form. To avoid this problem, have them practice on a basket that is adjustable so the player can practice proper shooting form at a height from which they are comfortable.