The Splash Model: Appreciate Steph but emulate Klay

Norm Peterson · June 7, 2017

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/the-splash-model-appreciate-steph-but-emulate-klay/ar-BBCdsJr?li=BBgET5V&ocid=spartandhp

Indeed, to watch Curry in a game like this, bombing and twisting and swishing, is to understand why, as Hopla says, "Everyone wants to shoot like Steph."

This may be true, but there’s a difference between appreciation and emulation. That’s where Klay comes in.

Across the Bay from Oracle, Poser coaches youth teams, including his sons’, and runs occasional basketball clinics. A former big man at UCSB, then overseas, he understands the urge to mimic one’s hero; after all, he watched a Hakeem Olajuwon skills video so often as a boy that he knew it by heart. So when kids at his clinics want to drop in rainbows like Steph, Poser patiently demonstrates Curry’s form. Just as he demonstrates Michael Jordan’s shooting style, and Larry Bird’s. "And then," says Poser, "I make them all shoot like Klay."

Some of the reasons are obvious. While Curry is fun to watch, he is difficult to mimic-unless you also happen to have both world-class hand-eye and lateral quickness. He shoots from a variety of release points, contorts his body to get off shots, takes preposterously deep threes, and often fires at full tilt off the dribble. Klay? He is a jumpshooting metronome: plant, pop, release. If possible, one gets the sense he’d prefer never to dribble; when he scored 60 points in three quarters earlier this season, he did so in only 90 seconds of possession. His shot contains no wasted motion, especially from the waist up. It is replicable, if not always exciting. "I’ve even begun shooting like Klay myself," says Poser. "It simplifies everything."

Norm Peterson · June 7, 2017

Norm Peterson · June 7, 2017

Norm Peterson · June 7, 2017

No winging left elbow; no guide hand behind the ball; not a lot of extra motion in the shot. Just load and fire. Simple, compact, not a lot of moving parts.

What are you thinking about when you're in the zone shooting? Nothing? Good. Don't think; feel.

Is there a gap between the palm of your hand and the ball? Good.

Touch comes from the small muscles in the forearm and is felt in your fingertips and the snap of your wrist when you follow through.

royalfan · June 7, 2017

I have never seen anything like this in my life. I was thankful to happen to be watching it at the time.

royalfan · June 7, 2017

One of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA as well. Hell of a shooter, hell of a player.

hhcscott · June 7, 2017

42 minutes ago, royalfan said:

One of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA as well. Hell of a shooter, hell of a player.

I believe he only used three years of college eligibility. Maybe we can talk him into a transfer?

FredsSlacks · June 7, 2017

watson, petteway, white, shields, pitchford would have been our version of the warriors. unfortunately we didn't get to to see it happen.

Norm Peterson · June 22, 2017

The Reconstruction of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's Jump Shot

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/the-reconstruction-of-michael-kidd-gilchrists-jump-shot/

Charlotte Bobcats wing Michael Kidd-Gilchrist doesn't just have a hitch in his shot; he has a motion that almost looks painful to execute over and over. It's a shooting motion that should have been corrected a long time ago, but wasn't for whatever reason by previous coaches, probably because he's always been such a dynamic player all over the court. It's easy to overlook things like that when you have a do-it-all player.

***

It's such a lack of a weapon for Kidd-Gilchrist that he appeared to just not take shot attempts a lot of the time during his rookie season because there wasn't any confidence in his outside shooting. He shot 27.2 percent from the field on jump shots as a rookie and only took nine 3-pointers (he made two of them).

***

“Well, if they have a funky motion, you want to try and straighten it out," Hornacek explained. "Sometimes that’s difficult. Guys have shot a certain way for a long time; it’s a hard habit to break. If those guys want to become good shooters, sometimes you actually take a little step backward if they’re willing to do it. I did it, so it can be done. You want to just get that proper form because then it flows easier.”

Edited June 22, 2017 by Norm Peterson

Norm Peterson · June 22, 2017

Not trying to bash Isaiah at all. I want to see him get better. I think he has NBA potential if he fixes his jumper. But I do think it needs fixing. You can see in the top left pic from HS, it looks like he learned a sort of two-handed push shot, which sometimes kids develop when they're young and aren't quite strong enough to shoot the ball without using both hands. He's tweaked the shot somewhat since coming to NU, as you can see in the bottom photo. His shoulders are now rotated so that his right elbow is now more in line with the direction of the shot. But I still would like to see him externally rotate his left wrist so that his guide hand is more forward on the ball, and then get his left elbow in.

Most of the best shooters have their elbows no more than about shoulder width apart. Then it's just load and fire with their shooting hand as the guide hand moves forward and falls away. Not a lot of extra moving parts means a shot that is consistently repeatable. And that also speeds up the process from catch to shoot.