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and respect your privacy. 1. Welcome from the Coach Articles are written about this dilemma,
and people are looking for an answer. I feel I can provide that
answer. If you agree with what I'm saying, please help me get
my coaching methods out there. Refer people to my Website and
be in communication with me. Thanks. Pure Shooting is the purest form of shooting jump shots and free throws. It's the kind of shooting that results in high arching swish shots, not shots that rattle around and drop, or shots that just barely make it over the front rim. I see a lot of shooters who, when they make shots, hardly ever get a swish. That's because they shoot so flat the window of opportunity for a shot that doesn't catch at least some of the rim is very small. I remember showing my method to an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota 6 years ago. He listened politely and was somewhat impressed that this old guy (I was about 56 then) could make shots so effortlessly. He told me he was considered a very good shooter, too. I watched him shoot and his shots were going in consistently but they were very flat. When I suggested we play a few games of H-O-R-S-E while waiting for the head coach to appear, he was thrilled, thinking, I suppose, he would show this old guy how to shoot. I suggested we add one thing, that you could call out "Swish" if you wanted to and the shot had to be a swish for it to count. He agreed. I then started calling them out and making them. He couldn't swish a shot to save his life. I beat him easily for 3 straight games. Even when I called that off, I still drubbed him, though I guess his confidence was so shattered it affected his performance. At the end, he was exasperated, though impressed. He said, "NO ONE ever beats me at H-O-R-S-E!!!" I tell that story because I am what I would call a "pure" shooter and he was not. He was a flat shooter, using more the arm, wrist and hand to propel the ball and less the leg power. I am almost entirely a leg drive shooter, getting my energy and stability from the upward action of the legs and middle body. Pure shooters are ones whose shots fly very high, coming down softly into the basket with great control and repeatability. The NBA used to have a bunch of those guys, Downtown Freddie Brown, World B. Free, Bob McAdoo, Calvin Murphy, Oscar Robertson, to name a few. Today we have only a few, two of whom just retired in the last two years, Jeff Hornacek of the Utah Jazz last year and Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors this year. I fear Detlef Schrempf of the Portland Trail Blazers has retired, too, as his name is not on the player roster anymore. I loved watching those guys shoot. Active players who fall into this category would be Alan Houston, Ray Allen, Steve Kerr, Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Penberthy, Michael Dickerson, Danny Ferry, and a few more. When you watch them warming up, you'll see high arching shot after high arching shot and lots of swishes. I think Mike Miller, the Rookie of the Year last year for Orlando, is in this category, too. Observe your own shots or those of your team and see if any of the players could be considered "pure" shooters. See what kind of height is there with the shots. Are you/they shooting upward or horizontally? Note the wrists and hands. Are they relaxed or tight. One tell-tale sign of a flat shooter is the tight wrist and hand. A coach who tells a player to "wrist flip" or "drive with the hand or fingers" is creating this kind of shooter. If you shoot at the top of the jump, all you can do is arm and wrist/hand stuff, and the shot has to be flat. Let's bring back pure shooting again. It's
really a lot easier than you think to shoot that way. CELTICS LOSE BY 3 WITH MISERABLE FOUL SHOOTING In an Oct. 31 game against the New Jersey Nets, with 15 seconds left, Kenny Anderson missed two free throws that could have given the Celtics the lead. Then Todd MacCollough made his two for the Nets for a critical swing of 4 points. A desperate three pointer missed and it was over. Boston shot just 15 for 31 from the Line for the game (48%)!!! How can a team of talented athletes shoot so poorly? I also noted that Antoine Walker of the Celtics shot only 6 for 29 from the floor (21%) in that game against New Jersey, which they lost. He was 2 for 11 from the 3 Pt range. Paul Pierce, also of the Celtics, did better, shooting 12 for 28 and scoring 36 points (7 for 9 from the 3 Pt line, which probably kept them in the game), but his overall percentage was only 43%, including dunks and layups. The two of them shot 57 of the 88 shots the team took. Wouldn't it be great if, in the NBA and college game especially, they would keep stats on shots outside of 5-6' and inside the 3-Pt line? That is, the short and medium ranged shots. If we could see that some of these players are shooting jumpers at a rate of 15-20%., it would wake them up, wake up everybody to the state of shooting. You see some big men with stats like 50+% for Field Goals, but if their non-dunks, non-layups, non-4 foot bank shots were recorded, I'll bet their FG stats would be 20% and less consistently. In my opinion, the way most players shoot these days, many of them could have a bad day and shoot 50-60% from the Free Throw Line at any time. When they're relaxed and get some confidence in practice, then everything works together pretty well and they can make 70-80% or even 90% of their shots for a spell. But in games, when the pressure is on, the little flaws and the inconsistencies come to the fore and all hell can break loose. Once you miss a shot, there goes the confidence. And if you miss it "badly," then doubt and fear have a heyday. FINDING STATS ON GAMES & PLAYERS If you want to see the box score of any
NBA game, here's how you can do that on the Internet. This is
an example of a game on 10/31 between the Nets visiting Boston.
For any game played, you need to know when
it was played, who was the home team, and the three-letter abbreviations
for the two teams. The visiting team is listed first, then the
home team. The date is 2001MMDD. Here are some example abbreviations: To see the stats for any player in the
NBA, you can call up his personal profile page, as follows. Just
change the name, as shown. Keep it in lower case. For the WNBA, here is the format: But that's not true! Even a complicated, variable motion can sometimes work perfectly. It's just luck! And it can throw you off because you think your technique is okay. If you miss 4 or 5 shots, some of them badly, and then swish one, which do you believe is the real you? Our optimistic selves like to point to the one great one and say "That's me! I can do it. I 'am' that shot! That's who I really can be, there's the proof!" But if we're realistic, we'll admit the 4 or 5 poor shots really indicate better who we are, not the one exception. I think this is what's going on in the heads of players today. They keep doing the same stroke over and over, hoping for better results. They don't ask for coaching. Teams buy devices that can return the balls to shooters so they can get "more" practice. Repetitions! That's what's needed! More shots! I've seen coaches' discussions where they trade their routines for 3,000 shots over the summer, or 6,000 or even 9,000 and more, thinking that repetition is what their kids need. But more of what doesn't work isn't going to lead you anywhere. I stress the value and necessity of "awareness" in my coaching. Awareness leads to growth. One shot taken with great awareness is worth a hundred with no awareness. Rote repetitions don't lead to anything except, maybe, more strength. (Rote is a good word here. It means, "A fixed, mechanical way of doing something; by memory alone, without thought." I might add, without awareness to that. And make that "by 'muscle' memory alone.") Coaches are exasperated because many of the great athletes they work with don't seem to get any better after a certain point. There are exceptions, of course, but they're few and far between. In the old days, I've heard, players would talk about shooting, exchanging ideas, constantly honing their shots. These days, the study of shooting seems to be ignored. Players take lots of shots, but they are not with much awareness or examination. There is little if any "inquiry" about how to shoot, what works best, what doesn't work, etc. To be a truly great shooter, you have minimized
the variables and found a shot that works all the time. I doubt
Jeff Hornacek had any truly "bad" days. Sure, some
days his body might have been a little achy or feeling funny
and it took him a little longer to get in his groove. Or he might
miss 4-5 shots in a row or more just from lack of focus for a
short time. But he could always, I'm sure (because I can do it,
too), get back on track and get his brilliant shooting back right
away. Most of today's streaky shooters might have a great game
here and there, but more often they're mis-firing. Scottie Pippen,
a 33% 3-point shooter last year, made five for five 3's against
the Warriors in the season opener this year. He scored 25 points.
The game before he got only 2 against the Lakers. This variability
in his performance is because there's variability in his stroke.
When he finds a way to minimize the variables, then he'll be
a dangerous shooter in every game. "Dear Coach Nordland, "I want to take this opportunity to thank you and let you know what a great and powerful system you have developed. Your program has not only helped me personally, but I can take my experience and be better able to coach the best shooting method around for my players. "Growing up and going through programs, I became known as a shooter. I practiced day and night on my shooting skills but never really felt very confident. My shots seemed to be sometimes on sometimes off without any real notion as to why. I always felt it was a matter of practice before and focus during a game. Coaches tried to assist by making the usual comments = square up, point at the rim, etc. But these comments did not mean anything to me and I did not feel they made a difference in my shot. "I expanded my love of the game by becoming a coach (at many levels both boys and girls). When I first began coaching, I would teach shooting by lengthy shooting drills especially from the foul line. Based on my past experience I felt it was a matter of practice and focus. I used some of the gimmicks such as BEEF (Bend the knees, Elbow in, Eyes on the target, and Follow through), but I never really felt this was particularly helpful. I would instruct my team to "think it in" in hopes that they would focus on putting the shot in. "As I was still playing in men's leagues and coaching, I kept up with anything I could on drills. In my search I discovered the Basketball Highway and read some articles from a shooting Coach named Tom Nordland (you). It was like a revelation. Everything I read was like an answer to my prayers. The articles explained what exactly makes a good shot and how to improve your shot, not some silly notion like 'BEEF' with no further explanation. I waited in anticipation for each new article to come out to learn more. I incorporated all of the techniques as best I could into my own shot and had immediate great results. Not only did my feeling towards my shot improve, but I could also measure directly an increase in my free throw shooting. I would say I went from a 75 percent shooter to a better than 90 percent shooter from the line. The method also made intellectual sense. The physics of launching a ball had never crossed my mind until these articles. But think about it, the size of the target and the angle of approach are very much related. I will never forget the best notion for shot correction = 'Shoot through the sun roof, not the windshield.' After the last article, I was hooked. I immediately called Coach Nordland and asked for the tape on the SWISH method. This method is THE most powerful tool for developing great shooting habits. I had been using the method on my own shots from the articles, but the video made the method even clearer. "I used all the techniques in the video and began to share my new knowledge. I have held a number of clinics with my own teams and younger teams in our program (I coach at the High School level). Players really get a good sense of this method because they are required (and allowed) to figure out the concepts on their own. They make the changes and see the results as we conduct the clinic. I know this is a powerful coaching method because of the kids who ask me to help them with their shots. Also, an even better indication are when players tell other players that 'I shoot so good because Coach Thomas taught me'. "So once again - thank you so much for providing the secrets to great shooting!" --- Coach J. Thomas, Rochester, NH A young American boy whose parents are in the military living in Germany wrote me this after seeing my website: "Hi, It's Zach again. I checked out your whole page. It's pretty cool. My parents said I could get your video for Christmas. I have a feeling this will really help me out. Most of the things you said people do wrong, well I think I've been doing those. And all of the other #1 players on our team do those. If they saw your video they would REALLY be good. Thanks a ton. See ya later!" My response to Zach: I just re-read your original memo to me and it's great! It is really wonderful that you can "see" what I'm talking about in yourself and your teammates and other players. That's the first step to "owning" it yourself. They say, "If you can see something in others, then you already have (or are) it yourself." That's another way of saying the potential is very real for you. It may still need development and practice, but the potential is definitely there. To distinguish something in another person ("distinguish means" to perceive clearly), you have to have a certain knowledge or physical awareness that permits that to happen. Like "color" is what we call a "distinction," something that is distinguished. If we didn't have the distinction "color," you wouldn't know the difference between blue and red. You could see two differently colored objects and tell there is something different about them, but you wouldn't be able to describe it to someone else or repeat the distinguishing. But once we have the distinction "color," then all kinds of possibilities come forth. Blue, red, green, blue-green, violet, canary yellow, etc. (And canary yellow isn't possible without the distinction "canary.") With distinctions, communication is possible. In regard to shooting, when you distinguish what I call "UpForce" (also called leg drive, leg lift, etc.), you'll be able to see it in others and then you'll be able to feel it and use it in your own shots. I also talk about the relaxed wrist and hand, which lead to a "flopping" or "snapping" hand when you shoot. It's the same thing. Let's call "snap" a distinction in shooting. When you can see the snap in the shooting of others, then your own shot has or will soon have that same sense of relaxation. (Note that I say there is a "snap" to a great shooter's Release, but he or she is NOT doing the snapping! I know a lot of coaches say to "Snap the wrist!" That's a completely different thing. That's snap as a VERB [to do something], whereas the snap I'm talking about is a NOUN. Is that clear? I should probably use a different word [and I often use "flop"], but I like the word snap. When you watch a team warming up, look for the "snap." You'll see it in the few better shooters. Awareness is the key skill here, and distinctions give a structure or goal to the awareness. Learning happens when there is a perceived goal -- where you want to get -- and you then simply observe what happens, relative to that goal. If you don't have a goal, awareness will still lead to learning (learning what feels better, what goes longer, what goes straighter, etc.), but when you add specific goals (like making the Release a pushing action rather than a throw or flip), then the awareness and practice can really result in something effective for your shooting. Look at it this way: Awareness is developmental! Awareness leads to learning and growth. In fact, I believe that in a physical sport, awareness is the ONLY THING that is developmental! Great ideas or concepts don't lead to physical learning. When you were learning to ride a bicycle, the key distinction you had to learn was balance, but when your parents tried to help you learn it by saying such things as "Lean to the left," it didn't mean much. You had to experience (with awareness) falling left and right yourself. To much left, too much right, over and over, falling this way and falling that way, until, finally, one day you did something or felt something and BAM! ... you "got" balance!!! It had to be learned by you through experience. The words of your parents did little to help, and they might even have interfered. But when you paid attention enough times, you finally "got" it and you never lost it. Distinctions are like that, you never lose them. I haven't ridden a bicycle in 10 years, but if I got on one tomorrow, I could ride it effortlessly. Once skiers learn to ski parallel, they never forget it. Shooting can be like that, if you practice awareness. And with the clear goals or intentions that you will get from a good coach (or from my video), you will learn like crazy. So... go forth and be aware! Have fun,
too! Don't forget learning is enjoyable! Learning is incredibly
enjoyable! I invite you to bookmark my Website (Swish22) so you can go there easily to catch my latest comments on shooting. You can read about my video there (including endorsements, testimonials, reviews and an Overview of the video), my coaching, and the many articles on shooting I've written. You can see archived back issues of this Newsletter and, of course, subscribe, if you're not already getting this on a regular basis. Please tell others about my site and my
video. Send them the URL (http://www.swish22.com) and let them
know there's a proven method for better shooting. See my Website for the latest news about Clinics, Camps and Private Sessions. If you'd like to organize some clinics or camps with me, call or email me. Here's a direct link to the Clinics
& Camps page (2) Go to the Swish website, click on the link to "Free Shooting Newsletter," and follow the instructions there. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter, just send a blank email to the following: Unsubscribe me ------------------------------------------------------------ |