#4) Advice from a Shooter
- jayren
- Aug 9, 2020
- 6 min read
Hey guys. Hope you are doing well :) I love basketball, and I think I'm quite alright at it. This blog post therefore is pretty self-indulgent (forgive me) about the ins and outs of the game, talking about an experience I had recently at my local court where I received a bit of advice from a 'shooter'. Note: basketball terminology is interspersed through the writing. Words and phrases that are coloured green are defined in the glossary at the very bottom, so check that out if you'd like. Enjoy!
A few days ago, I went to the basketball court in the evening with Aidan to get a little exercise in. There, we met one of our mutual friends from the neighborhood whom often frequented the court. Let's call him Aiv. He's a little older than my brother, roughly around his mid-20s.
Aiv is by trade an excellent shooter, his technique sharp and controlled with the whetstone of dedication and experience, while in contrast I am an openly atrocious practitioner of the art of the shot. Desperately inconsistent and unfailingly erratic, my poor shooting has been a constant source of pain in all my years of playing basketball. There are few feelings more demoralising in sports than an opponent exhorting you to shoot and leaving you an acre of space for your troubles. I know I can't shoot, but now they know it too. Just focus - drain it in their faces!
A lot of the time, the below happens.
And so in the presence of a certified marksman like Aiv, it is fair to say I was more than unwilling to put up shots in front of him. Perhaps, on another day, in serene solitude and without the peering eyes of others would I be able to work on my broken jumper.
Aiv set up shop in the left corner: one of the two closest positions along the loci of the three point line to the basket. He was going to take as many shots as necessary in order to get to his end goal of 50 successful threes. Setting his feet, right foot slightly ahead of his left, he slightly bent his knees and sprung up fluidly, body and ball rising upwards together until the latter was stroked from his fingertips, arching its way towards the basket.
The rim, clinging onto the backboard courtesy of two rusted screws and two non-existent ones shuddered as ball met metal, then made its way towards me at the apex of the three-point line for a visit. Not shooting, thank you, giving a firm chest pass back to Aiv. He steadied himself and leapt upwards once again, his arm, elbow and wrist extending, almost identical to a child reaching for a cookie jar on the top shelf.
This time, the rim suffered in silence. The ball flew cleanly through it - and then proceeded to continue on its journey to the other side of the court, for not only was the hoop unstable and unsteady; it was bare naked of the netting necessary to decelerate the basketball. He made the shot, yes - but how is he going to make 49 more if he has to run up and down the court? I jogged over to grab the ball and threw another pass to him.
From that point on, we blurred into a cycle of shoot and pass, shoot and pass. Not that I minded of course: if I wasn't going to be working on my shot, I might as well get in some passing reps. With every throw I focused on delivering the ball at as constant a rate I could. Trying to keep a shooter in rhythm during a drill is pretty important: it gives them the chance to process and capitalize on internal feedback that can be lost in seconds.
It was also useful to work on my rebounding. Height is something I haven't really been blessed with, so by no means will I ever be the tallest person on a basketball court. But the more shots you observe, the better you can get at predicting where the ball might end up, and consequently alter your positioning accordingly, which gives me an extra bit of advantage in retrieving a prospective board. And with every different orientation I ended up with the ball, I tried to vary the type of pass I made in alignment with what I might do in a game.
Dennis Rodman, member of the famous Chicago Bulls team of the 90s and absolute madlad, talks about the things he picked up on that helped him lead the NBA in rebounds in 6 seasons. If what he's saying doesn't make too much sense... don't worry, that sounds about right :)
It was therefore pretty good, stimulating fun for the next 10 minutes or so to act as rebounder and passer-in-chief.
When Aiv had made basket No.50 he sat down, the cumulative fatigue of the 100+ shots he had to take to score the previous 49 weighing on him. My part-time job was done, and now I was free... to not attempt anything beyond 10 steps from the hoop. The free throw line! That's always a decent idea. I guess I could work on my form and technique without worrying (too much!) about completely missing the rim. I took my position, shifting my right foot directly opposite to the basket, A deep breath, a spin of the ball, a bounce or two - all part of a routine to mentally feel myself into a window of readiness to take the shot - and then a flick of the wrist as the leather left my grasp.
I cringed as the ball reached its apex, and then clattered onto the right portion of the rim, the heavy vibrations repulsing through the air. A classic run-of-the-mill brick. Well done m'lad.
A voice cut through the rattling. "You've got to angle your body to the side."
I looked to my left. Aiv was standing up now, surveying me intently.
It seems I was about to attain a shooting lesson.
So... we have now gotten to the part of the story where I could have simply started all along and is most relevant to the title, save for my getting carried away. Regardless, here is a list of pieces of advice that I received from Aiv from this point on. Feel free to make of them what you will.
A Collection of Advice from a Shooter
"Make sure your arm, elbow and wrist are all aligned with the basket. Shift your left foot slightly backwards to create an angle; this makes it easier to keep your shot straight."
"Where do you aim for when you shoot? Just the hoop in general? Focus on the closest part of the rim in relation to where you are on the court. That way, there's an increased chance of the ball softly bouncing in, as opposed to hitting the back of the rim."
"I notice that you tend to close your palm during the follow-through of your shot - that is why your attempts are often wayward or weak. You're not allowing yourself to generate more lift on the ball, plus your thumb can get in the way and alter its path. Try to flick your entire arm as opposed to just your wrist and keep your palm open."
"You're doing better. Now let's try something: I'll pass the ball straight to you, but you can't set your feet or adjust your positioning: this is called 'catch-and-shoot', and will test whether your form has been well-learned."
"It's much harder, isn't it? Don't worry about it, just keep going."
"What are your plans now? No plans - taking a break? That's cool, you know. It's better to take a break, rest, and figure out what you really want to do first."
"It's fine if you're feeling lost: what's worse? Not realising that you're lost."
"There was a period of my life where I also felt uncertain; when the days kept passing by with the same monotonous routine of work and waiting for the weekend. I asked myself then if that was what I wanted in life."
"If you're passionate about medicine, then go for it. But if perhaps there's still a bit of doubt in your mind, or fear that you might regret it, think about it hard before jumping in."
"You'll be fine man - you're still young. There's a lot of time for you, whether you realise it or not. Don't worry too much about where you're headed and when. You'll get there eventually."
I just realised how all over the place this blog post was ;-; but thank you for reading :) It was definitely a tad too long-winded but it feels good to finally get a piece out after a while. The glossary is down below by the way! Hope you have a good day: make sure to subscribe if you haven't already.
Sincerely,
A Glossary of Basketball Terms and Slang
drain it - successfully score. Used to depict the manner in which the basketball sometimes exits the bottom of the hoop in a straight, constant motion after making contact with the back of the hoop, as seen in the GIF below:
put up shots - take a number of shots. Don't think the lexicon is applicable when drinking.
jumper - slang for the official term 'jump shot'.
reaching for the cookie jar - a metaphor used by some to depict the 'ideal' arm, elbow and wrist position in the follow-through after a shot, as shown by Kobe below:
rebounding - the skill of retrieving and collecting the ball after a missed shot; "collecting a rebound (which in slang is referred to as a board)".
free throw line - the line whereby a free throw (think, penalty in football) is taken, as seen below:
brick - refers to a badly missed shot.
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