1. Balance and Your Stance

Your feet need to be shoulder-width apart. Your knees should be slightly bent.

If you like a stance that’s more open, then your shooting foot should be forward and your non-shooting foot trailing behind. If you like a stance that’s more square, then both of your feet should be facing the basket.

2. The Set Point – Shooting form

Your shooting arm should form an L with your wrist cocked back.

3. Analyze Your Grip

Your fingers need to be spread apart enough to balance the basketball in just one hand, and the ball should sit right on your finger pads. Leave a bit of space between your palm and the ball.

4. Place your guide hand on the ball

Your guide hand should be placed on the side of the ball.  As the shooting arm extends the guide hand should fall away.

5. Give Smooth Delivery

When you shoot, the ball should start going right up with no dipping. Your elbow needs to be right under the ball, and your shooting hand needs to be in direct line to the rim.

The ball needs to stay in front of you and should not go behind your head at all. Your body should release all with the shot: your legs, your core, and your arm all coordinated with one graceful movement. Your elbow and wrist should expand in a straight line to the basket.

6. Follow Through

Your wrists need to be very relaxed, and your fingers need to be pointed at where you shot the ball. You should be able to see your fingers at the top of the backboard. Make sure you hold this position until the ball hits the target.

7. Use your legs - Pay Attention To Your Upforce

Make sure the ball is released before you reach the top of your jump. Your legs generate upforce, so use them! You should always land in the same spot that you left.  

8. Keep Your Eyes On the Target

Many players will focus on the flight of the ball. Don’t. Find the target as early as you can, and keep your eyes focused on that.

9. Shoot with Arc

Many players will shoot at the rim not over the rim.  Make sure the player finds the target (the rim) and shoot over it not at it.

10. Always Correct Your Shot

It’s easy to slip into bad habits. And the more you do a bad habit, the deeper ingrained it becomes in your mechanics. If you see a problem with your mechanics, then work on fixing it immediately. It’s the only way you’ll avoid turning one mistake into a bad habit!

• Shooting Drill 1 - Practice shooting mechanics
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  • Each player should have a ball.
  • Line them up so each player is facing you.
  • Using the technique they just learned, have them shoot the ball into the air.
  • Correct mistakes.
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• Shooting Drill 2 - Practice shooting mechanics while taking shot
  • Use one ball.
  • Line your player up around the foul lane as if they where lining up for a foul shot.
  • Have each player take two or three shots demonstrating good shooting mechanics.  Have the other players play attention, rebound the basketball and make a proper bounce pass back to the player shooting.
  • Each player should get a turn.
  • Correct mistakes.