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what I know about shooting. I see the game in deep trouble because
there are very few great shooters any more, and few people know
how to coach great shooting. Coaches and players everywhere lament
the decline in this master skill. Wonderfully designed plays
are run to perfection, a player is opened up for a 10-15' shot
or a 3, and then the shot is missed. It even happens so often
that coaches and players aren't surprised when the shot is botched.
Failure is kind of expected, but it's still disappointing. Articles
are written about this dilemma, and people are looking for an
answer. Great shooting is both the way gaps are created and the way gaps can be overcome. If a team has one great shooter, they can sometimes catch up, but if they have 2 or 3 great shooters or the team as a whole is a pretty good shooting team, they can make up differences in a hurry. More typically, though, teams don't have that good outside shooting or the team movement to create the openings for good shooters. Strong defenses can shut down a team with good-to-great shooters if (1) the shooters are catch-and-shoot type shooters and don't shoot well off the dribble, or (2) if the team doesn't run picks and screens well to free them up for shots. I heard Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett say after their win against Purdue that if a young man would agree to learn how to set good screens, he could get a scholarship to play ball at Wisconsin. Coach Bennett knows the value of well performed screens and picks, a skill that is in decline in the game today along with good shooting. Defenses are very tough these days, maybe too tough. I think the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the defense. When I played in the 50's, the offensive players had the advantage and it was very hard to draw charging fouls and to get steals. If you just touched the guy, the referees would call a foul. Today I see guys slapping and grabbing, pushing and shoving and getting away with it. I see a guard dribbling fast and a defender can just jump in front of him and get the call sometimes. This favoritism for the defense hurts shooting and scoring. DEFENSIVE STRUGGLES WITH MEDIOCRE SHOOTING The game, as I see it, has evolved into a massive defensive struggle with mostly mediocre shooting and occasionally brilliant shooting. If a team is tall and well conditioned, can both play defense and move the ball well on offense, and has a couple of players who shoot well, they will be very tough to beat. Most teams that make it to the Sweet Sixteen or better have all or most all of those qualities. The skill I see most lacking, however, is the shooting. As you know, that's my focus and I want to say a few things about it here. I've been watching some of the games in the NCAA tournament, mostly the men. What I'm seeing is that because "shooters" are rare, games tend to be decided in short spurts as mentioned above, usually in the second half. When one team makes several field goals in a row or some key three's and can also stop the other team during the run from scoring, they wind up with a 10-12 point lead at the end of the spurt. When the opponent can't "up" their shooting punch then to counter the spurt, the game is often pretty much decided. What seems to happen thereafter is that the two fairly balanced teams go nip and tuck the rest of the way, separated by that same margin of score, and the team with that lead in the last few minutes wins -- if they can make free throws! NORTH CAROLINA VS. TULSA I observed two of the final Eight games this weekend with this same scenario. In the North Carolina-Tulsa game it was a low scoring struggle. With 9 minutes left, the score was 41-41, a dead heat. But then in the next four minutes, Tulsa did not score and North Carolina was able to make 4 free throws, a layup off a steal, a nifty 15 footer by Forte, and a jump hook by Haywood, all the while Tulsa was missing shots and giving turnovers and steals. At the end of the 4 minute period, the score was 51-41, and the rest of the game was a seesaw. Tulsa made some runs, getting as close as 55-52, but each time North Carolina pulled back to a lead and finally won by four. The gap was too much to overcome without brilliant shooting, and North Carolina's defense was tough enough to prevent that from happening. FLORIDA VS. OKLAHOMA STATE The spurt in the Florida-Oklahoma State game happened in the first half. From 7-7 at about the 17 minute mark, in seven minutes Florida opened up a 15 point lead to 33 - 18. They made their shots while Oklahoma State missed theirs and had several turnovers. O/S made a small run at the end of the half to close it to a 9 point differential, but then Florida quickly jumped back to the same 15 point lead in the first couple minutes of the half and the game was over. The teams played pretty evenly from that point on. The closest O/S could come was about 10 points and the final score was 77-65. STANFORD VS. NORTH CAROLINA Stanford lost to North Carolina when the Tar Heels made a spurt in the second half. After starting slowly in their usually fine shooting department and falling behind, Stanford worked very hard to get back even in the middle of the second half. But then in a few minutes, N.C. made a couple threes in a row and other shots and Stanford missed their shots and had a shot blocked and suddenly they were down 8-10 points. Their streaky, but "not that streaky" shooters, as Mike Montgomery put it, couldn't sustain a rally, and from then on it was catch up and North Carolina was able to hold them off and win 60-53 in a low scoring total. As a game like this winds down, pressure increases if you're behind, and the outside shooting Stanford was known for couldn't rise to the occasion. AN EXAMPLE OF A BREAKDOWN IN THIS USUAL SCENARIO I happened to see the last half of an NIT game between Virginia and Georgetown this month. It was a big struggle between two well coached and balanced teams, but late in the second half UVA built a small lead with some good shooting and was able to hold on to it. With about a minute to play they had a 5 point lead. Then the fouling started, and UVA shot 1 for 9 from the Line down the stretch. This allowed Georgetown to tie them and eventually win in three overtimes, an amazing game! But one for nine from the Line!!! Superior shooting and team play got them to the point of a win, but then free throw failure doomed them. SHOOTING IS CRITICAL Shooting is critical, and if you can help your team improve in that skill, you have a chance to be one of the elite teams in your conference. My Method shows how great shooting is possible for most players. Unreliable shot motions will fail under pressure. You need shooting motions that are constant and predictable. If your free throw motion is a "guess" each time, a guess as to how many muscles to use, it's going to fail when there's any doubt, when pressure is applied. A little too long, a little too short, a little left, a little right... And when you start to miss, your mind goes crazy and makes it worse. The best shooters are always good shooters. They've figured out a repeatable motion, even under great pressure. Most shots I see are not repeatable, and their trajectories are so low and the target correspondingly so small, the slightest doubt or trying and the shots have little chance of success. IT'S NOT HOPELESS This does not have to be a hopeless situation. My articles refer to the principles I'm talking about. Shooting is really a simple act ... if you know what to need to learn to control the flight of the ball. The few great shooters in the game today can serve as models, the Jeff Hornaceks, Detleff Schrempf's, Steve Kerr, etc. Watch Dirk Nowitski from Dallas or Michael Dickerson from Vancouver. Rodney Rogers of Phoenix shoots this way, I believe, and Matt Bullard from Houston. Watch how they use their bodies, how their motions are relaxed and repeatable. As far as I can tell without talking to them, my Swish Method spells out exactly what they are doing. And the video shows how to learn and coach it. I look forward to the time when shooters abound in the game again, when referees stop allowing the physical grabbing and slapping and muscling they do today, and high arching jump shots are ringing through the nets all over the country again. Bring the beauty back, the beauty of deadly, high arching swish shots. My Mission is to help bring about that transformation. WISCONSIN VS. PURDUE AND A GREAT SHOOTER There are a few great shooters around, and one I saw for the first time this last weekend was Jon Bryant of Wisconsin. In the game against a tough Purdue team, he hit his first three 3's early and helped his team off to a nice lead. Though he was ferociously guarded thereafter, he was able from time to time to get open and drop additional field goals, winding up with 18 points. Watch him when he shoots. He shoots early, on the way up, with a totally relaxed wrist and hand. If you watch his Follow Through, his hand bounces, it's so relaxed. The result is a soft, high arching shot that's very predictable. Purdue was courageous in their attempt to come back against the Badgers, but they couldn't quite make up for the balanced Wisconsin scoring and tough defense, once a gap was built. A COMMENT ABOUT THE WOMEN'S GAME Most of my research has been with men's games in the NCAA Playoffs. Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to watch the women's game, but I value it as a great example of team basketball. There isn't as much of the physical stuff, the grabbing and slapping, the fouling that isn't called, that there is in the men's game. You won't see the aerial moves, spectacular dunks, etc., but you will see good, basic basketball. Though there is some of the one-on-one individual displays of quickness and speed attacking a basket, mostly the women rely more on screens and picks, sharp passes, and great team movement to get open shots. I taped the last half of the UConn vs. LSU game and watched it carefully. There was terrific team movement and passing for both teams. It was a shame one of them had to lose. LSU shot 52% from the field and April Brown made 7 for 8 in the first half, including 4 for 4 with threes and finished with 23 points. But UConn lived up to its rating by shooting 57% and answering the charge of LSU time and time again. Gradually their great athletes wore LSU down and they won 86 to 71. As one of the TV commentators said, UConn has 5 players who could average 25 points a game. These were superbly conditioned and talented athletes going at a high pitch. It was a joy to see the clean, high energy game they played. My favorite player was Svetlana Abrosimova, who scored 25 points. Her poise and court sense is terrific, and she can score when the opportunity arises. Shea Ralph is a fine shooter for UConn and Katrina Hibbert and Brown were lighting it up for LSU. I recommend you invite kids to study the women's game to see how the game used to be played on the men's side, and the way I hope it will again be played. The Wisconsin men's team that has made it to the Final Four for the first time in 59 years, will be demonstrating that style of play, too, with unselfish team movement and good shooting. A RECOMMENDATION The one thing I notice about girls and women's basketball is that they could use more leg drive (what I call UpForce) to power their shots. Not having the jumping muscles that men do, they do not try to jump over people (except for some of the strong, athletic centers and power forwards when working inside). Mostly girls and women do little jumps to shoot, shooting more like set shots than jump shots, but often the energy is more horizontal than vertical. The ultra strong women in this game were an exception, shooting more often from strong leg action, but most girls and women do not. I would like to recommend to them that
they develop this upward power. They don't have to jump off the
ground a great distance, but just remember to give more emphasis
to making a powerful, upward drive of the legs and lower body
as they go to shoot. If they then shoot early in this upward
motion, it will give them more range, a quicker Release, higher
shots, and more "stability" in their shooting. All
of us have a lot of power in the legs and lower/middle body.
It's where our strongest muscles are. Use that power to shoot
from!!! Most people, when watching a player shoot a basketball in person or on TV, follow the flight of the ball to see what happens. They want to see the result of the shot. If you're interested in learning about shooting and how different players shoot, may I suggest a different focus: KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE SHOOTER, all the way through the Follow Through! Resist the temptation to follow the ball. Here's what to look for: Watch each player's motion! Observe when, in the shot motion, the player
releases the ball! Observe the height of the shots! Observe the Release and Follow Through
carefully! For Free Throws, observe the following:
These are some of the clues as to whether
the shooter is a great shooter or not. The better shooters in
my view, You'll often see a "snapping" motion with the better shooters, which means they're not doing anything with the wrist and hand to power or guide the ball. And you can see in the Follow Through that they are very "connected" to the basket throughout the motion. See if you can observe these things in
other players, and you'll learn a lot. And then start to watch
yourself shoot. Let me know what you find out. I'd love to get
an Email from you and hear of your discoveries. (Send to "tom@swish22.com")
Thanks! -------------------- This team last year started out 0-6 and
struggled to shoot 30% of their shots. At the beginning of the
season I started using your methods to evaluate the kids each
day. We would divide the squad in two lines and have each kid
shoot a jump shot from the free throw or 3 point line. Every
shot would be evaluated for its UpForce, arch to the basket,
etc. Our shooting percentage continued to increase until the
team percentage was 44.8% from two point range and 41.5 % from
three point. Keep in mind that most of these two point shots
were not layups and it is a high percentage for middle school.
One athlete set the school scoring record and shot 51% from 3
point range. We won our conference tournament for the first time
in school history and were 11-4 at this writing. Keep up the
good work! -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Now I have implemented it with my team and I can see that we are going to have high percentage shooters this year because of it. They all seem to like what I am doing with it, as does my assistant. I am going to put you on my web page if
that is ok (http://www.eteamz.com/stanne). It was good to hear
from you. <<< Note from Tom: He did put it there. Go
look at it. It's terrific how he identified it. >>> -------------------- It was real doubtful he would make his JV team the following year, knowing they carry fewer players. After three private lessons with you over the summer and practicing what you had taught him 2 days a week, by the time tryouts began Joe's shot was looking incredibly good to me. There was still doubt in Joe's mind he would make the team. After final cuts today, he made the team. The coach noticed the first day of practice that he had changed his shot. With the confidence in his shooting ability, his whole game has improved; in fact not only did he make the team but he has been rotating in and out of the starting 2 guard position. His coach told him he might not get to play at one of the schools because he has "too much arch" on the ball and it might hit the ceiling, it is so low. Looking forward to this season and will let you know the outcome. Once again thank you very much, and if
any of your readers want a reference, don't hesitate to give
them my e-mail or home phone number. I wish there were more coaches
with the gift you have. -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Call or Email me for dates and times. They'll also be put on my Website and in this Newsletter as they become firm. BAY AREA COACHES/PARENTS: I'm available to coach half day shooting clinics in the Bay Area of northern California. If you have 10 or more kids and a gym, contact me and we'll design a clinic. The cost is $35/player* for a 3 1/2 hour experience in becoming a Great Shooter ($50 including a Swish video, a $30 value). OTHER AREAS OF THE COUNTRY: I'd love to come to your city to put on Clinics. My rate for 2-3 days of coaching is $2,000 plus expenses. If we do 5 Clinics of about 18-20 players at a cost of $35/player*, that would pay for the visit. The Clinics would be 3 1/2 hours each, giving enough time for lots of individual coaching in addition to the powerful group exercises. Call for details and to set up such coaching. (*Price includes an administration fee for the organizer(s).) Keep checking my Website at http://www.swish22.com or call or Email me if you'd like more details. I'll update the schedule on my Website when it changes. TRAINING COACHES: PRIVATE COACHING: VIDEO ANALYSIS: Go to the Swish Website, find the section about the "Shooting Newsletter," key in your Email address and click on the "JoinList"graphic. An Email will be sent automatically back to you asking that you confirm that you want to be on the List. Reply in the affirmative and you will be added to the list and receive a password. There is no need to save or record the password because ListBot will always quickly Email it back to you when asked. It's needed only to change your Email address or to Unsubscribe. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter: If you ever want to Unsubscribe, please
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