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An observation about Brady Heiman's shooting, for the good of the order


Norm Peterson

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Strength and power come from your big muscles; fine manipulation and adjustment come from the little muscles.

 

When you're shooting a jump shot, touch is based on the smaller muscles in your forearm that control your wrist-snap and your finger movement, NOT based on the power generated by your tricep and the muscles of your shoulder girdle.

 

Brady, you take the ball back way too far over (behind?) your head when you shoot.  You're engaging your larger muscles in your shoulder and not giving the smaller muscles in your forearm a chance to do their job.  That's why you're bricking your shorter shots off the back iron.  When you shoot, your whole upper arm is moving at your shoulder joint.  You should not have that much forward motion of your upper arm.  Sure, your forearm should be hinging (or un-hinging, as it were) at the elbow, but you should not have that much motion in your upper arm.

 

Make your shooting stroke a little more compact, please.  At it's furthest point back in your shot, you should still be able to look up and see your hands and the ball.

 

Try standing on the blocks and shooting some short, one-handed shots and try to swish them.  You'll see what I'm talking about.

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Here is a thought or an observation; a basketball is heavy for a seven or eight year old.  As a result, they do have to leverage their big muscles to shoot the ball as a child.  Especially if the child is trying to hoist 3-pointers.  As the child grows older, these old habits become more difficult to break.  These bad habits become the norm.  

 

Pressure is being put on youth basketball players to play the game the same as an adult plays it.  How many of these kids are watching Curry launch 3's and believe they can do it as well.  We have to convince or coach kids that the bad shooting habits they form as a child, will create shooting issues as they mature.

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I don’t believe it is as quite as simple as Handy says, but it’s a big part. Actually the newest shooting guru’s don’t like the one-handed shooting. They feel it takes away from a natural one motion and puts a hitch in the shot. They want a high bounce so you have to do the footwork, catch, dip and then form shot hopefully ending in a swish. Regardless of what method is used, form shooting is a huge part of learning to shoot correctly and I’m sure Brady has done lots of it before. It just takes lots of continuous hard work. It’s more mental than physical work and if they are choosing to go through the motions they are not getting better. 

 

Many leagues use the junior ball and an 8 or 9 foot hoop to enable the younger players to shoot with proper form. The problem is kids imitating Curry by throwing up 3’s. So I don’t think all or most coaches are pressuring kids into playing like adults, the kids want to. Where I think coaches are letting the kids down is they allowing them to play that way without saying, “Stop .it”  Players  have always done whatever their coaches allow them. 

 

It’s not just the youngest, I officiated a summer league JV game where the two teams went 3 for 26 combined from behind the line. And some of them were way behind the line. You don’t need to be the real Dean Smith to tell kids to “knock it off,” and teach the concept of shot selection beyond “I have the ball and I’m now selecting to shoot it.” 

 

The three is is a very important part of today’s game but it takes lots of work to get to where that shot is effective. Many kids don’t want to do that work but that’s nothing new either. 

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5 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Here is a thought or an observation; a basketball is heavy for a seven or eight year old.  As a result, they do have to leverage their big muscles to shoot the ball as a child.  Especially if the child is trying to hoist 3-pointers.  As the child grows older, these old habits become more difficult to break.  These bad habits become the norm.  

 

Pressure is being put on youth basketball players to play the game the same as an adult plays it.  How many of these kids are watching Curry launch 3's and believe they can do it as well.  We have to convince or coach kids that the bad shooting habits they form as a child, will create shooting issues as they mature.

Been saying this for years.  When I was coaching CH-JR and CH-III I told the kids to move in and work on proper form.  That making 4 of 10 from 2 point land beats 3 of 10 from 3 point land.  Unfortunately, the baskets that could get lowered and raised came out and the kids spent more time working on the dunks ESPN was showing them.

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11 hours ago, colhusker said:

Been saying this for years.  When I was coaching CH-JR and CH-III I told the kids to move in and work on proper form.  That making 4 of 10 from 2 point land beats 3 of 10 from 3 point land.  Unfortunately, the baskets that could get lowered and raised came out and the kids spent more time working on the dunks ESPN was showing them.

 

I get your point on working on form but I will take the 3 - 3 pointers over 4 - twos if we are keeping score ?

Edited by Art Vandalay
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Youth girls start playing with a full size basketball in 5th grade. Boys don't use a full sized basketball until 9th grade. Its crazy. I've pleaded with our youth league to only use a 26.5 inch ball for boys and girls until junior high. They all look at me like I'm stupid, yet I am the one with the exercise science degree. Youth girls especially develop bad habits because they are using a full women's ball at too young of an age. 

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On 11/15/2018 at 6:47 PM, Dean Smith said:

I don’t believe it is as quite as simple as Handy says, but it’s a big part. Actually the newest shooting guru’s don’t like the one-handed shooting. They feel it takes away from a natural one motion and puts a hitch in the shot. They want a high bounce so you have to do the footwork, catch, dip and then form shot hopefully ending in a swish. Regardless of what method is used, form shooting is a huge part of learning to shoot correctly and I’m sure Brady has done lots of it before. It just takes lots of continuous hard work. It’s more mental than physical work and if they are choosing to go through the motions they are not getting better. 

 

Many leagues use the junior ball and an 8 or 9 foot hoop to enable the younger players to shoot with proper form. The problem is kids imitating Curry by throwing up 3’s. So I don’t think all or most coaches are pressuring kids into playing like adults, the kids want to. Where I think coaches are letting the kids down is they allowing them to play that way without saying, “Stop .it”  Players  have always done whatever their coaches allow them. 

 

It’s not just the youngest, I officiated a summer league JV game where the two teams went 3 for 26 combined from behind the line. And some of them were way behind the line. You don’t need to be the real Dean Smith to tell kids to “knock it off,” and teach the concept of shot selection beyond “I have the ball and I’m now selecting to shoot it.” 

 

The three is is a very important part of today’s game but it takes lots of work to get to where that shot is effective. Many kids don’t want to do that work but that’s nothing new either. 

Spot on, Dean. You have to put in the work so that you are not "thinking" when you are shooting in game circumstances, but trusting your mechanics and form. One of the trends I've noticed in the teaching of shooting mechanics is foot placement. Instead of lining up completely square (head on) to the basket, many popular shooting instructors are teaching kids to stagger their feet at 10 to 11 o'clock (for right-handed shooters, 1 to 2 o'clock for lefties) in relation to the basket. The reasoning behind this theory is that this set-up will naturally align your elbow and shooting hand towards the target, as well as take away a sight/line obstruction of your hands interfering with your eyes on the target during the shot. 

 

For an example of this watch Steph Curry and James Harden. I have bought in to this method, but whatever foot method is being taught, good shooters simply have to have their elbows and hands aligned towards the target at release. Perhaps a shot guru can work with Amir during the off season to work on making some fundamental mechanics changes. 

Edited by Coaches kid
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1 hour ago, Coaches kid said:

Spot on, Dean. You have to put in the work so that you are not "thinking" when you are shooting in game circumstances, but trusting your mechanics and form. One of the trends I've noticed in the teaching of shooting mechanics is foot placement. Instead of lining up completely square (head on) to the basket, many popular shooting instructors are teaching kids to stagger their feet at 10 to 11 o'clock (for right-handed shooters, 1 to 2 o'clock for lefties) in relation to the basket. The reasoning behind this theory is that this set-up will naturally align your elbow and shooting hand towards the target, as well as take away a sight/line obstruction of your hands interfering with your eyes on the target during the shot. 

 

For an example of this watch Steph Curry and James Harden. I have bought in to this method, but whatever foot method is being taught, good shooters simply have to have their elbows and hands aligned towards the target at release. Perhaps a shot guru can work with Amir during the off season to work on making some fundamental mechanics changes. 

I teach the 10 o'clock to get the shooting shoulder in line with the basket, dip on the catch, shoulders back to get more arch so you don't go straight up and down on the jump shot, follow through is index finger to the thumb, one finger down - three fingers up, reach into the cookie jar but grab that cookie with your index finger. I was sold because I had already been doing some of this for myself but it pushed me over the edge when I was shown video of shooters who did this, Michael Jordan, Kobe, Chris Mullen, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Ray Allen, Larry Bird (toes at 9) and even the Big O and John Havlicek. I taught hundreds of kids a crappy way of shooting simply because that's what I was taught. I don't know about Tim Miles but I do know that Coach K and most D-1 coaches teach the 10 o'clock now. 

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I did the same thing teaching youth basketball over the years. After being around the game all of my life, I didn't think there was much new to learn about shooting technique, but after doing research, watching training video and trying it out myself, I am now convinced. Interestingly, I had noticed over the years that I shot it much better with my right foot staggered forward, and now it makes sense why that was the case. Shows that even old codgers like me can learn something new. 

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