Ball Balance

Ball balance is the key to a two finger release toward the basket.  When a shooter is still and the ball is balanced, the shooter can shoot the ball off of two fingers toward the basket.  If the ball is slipping to the left or to the right because of gravity, then the shooter will have a much more difficult time releasing the ball straight. Let's take a look at ball balance.

In the photograph below, can you see how balanced the basketball is in the shooters hand?  His body is falling away but his hand is as balanced as a waitress delivering a full tray of food.  From this position, the shooter can release the ball with two fingers toward the basket.

The process of maintaining ball balance requires that a shooter keep their THUMB and PINKIE FINGERS equal to each other as they elevate the ball.

For most shooters, the mental thought is "KEEP MY THUMB UP!"

All the way to the top...

In the photographs below, you will notice that when the THUMB drops, the shooter loses ball balance as gravity begins to pull the ball down and off line.

With youth players, ball balance is the most difficult aspect of shooting a basketball simply because their hand is so much smaller than an adult's let alone a professional basketball player.  There is very little margin for error with youth players.  Notice the size of the basketball in relation to their hands.

Remember, whatever the situation you find your self in, balance the ball so that you can shoot it straight!

AIM Dwight Howard

(Dwight Howard)  Imagine getting a phone call from Dwight Howard's people looking to have you work with him on his free throw shooting.   Then, imagine knowing that you will be boarding a flight from New York to Los Angeles and in 24 hours you will personally work with one of the NBA's most dominant players!  That is exactly what happened to me.  My heart was racing with excitement and my mind was racing with ideas.  My first thought was to go deep into my shooting archive and find my most advanced,  most complicated and unique shooting concepts because I really wanted to impress him with my knowledge.  Then, we started shooting.  I quickly realized that helping Dwight Howard get ON-LINE was not any more complicated than helping a 5th grader get ON-LINE.  Let's take a look at getting ON-LINE

READY...  (AIM)...  FIRE

Imagine that you are shooting a GUN and the basket is your TARGET.  Could you "AIM" that "GUN" and fire at the target?  Of course you can!

In shooting a basketball the "GUN" is your shooting arm and the bullet is the basketball.  You would need to "AIM" your shooting ARM at the TARGET before you release the ball.  As simple a concept as this is,  the ability to "AIM" ON LINE with the basket is a real challenge for many shooters including many in the NBA.  The reason this can be difficult is simple.

If your "AIM" is off even a fraction of an inch, you can push the ball to the left or to the right as depicted by Dwight Howard in the photo above.  We will look at other factors that contribute to a shot going OFF-LINE as we continue but first let's make sure you can visualize the concept of making sure you can have great "AIM"

In the photo above, you can see that the shooter has his arm "AIMED" directly ON-LINE with the basket.  The shooter is wearing a visual shooting aid that I developed so that while he is shooting, he can see if his "GUN" is ON-LINE and train his eye to recognize his "AIM."  This visual aide works just like the scope of a gun.  The ball will go in the exact direction that the the arm is "AIMED."  We will look at shooting aides like the one above later in this book.  Can you see that the shooter has perfect "AIM" in this photo?

In the photos below, you can see a very clear example of the shooter both "AIMING" ON-LINE with the basket and another that will clearly cause the basketball to miss to the LEFT and the other a miss to the RIGHT.

In this next photo below,  the shooter misses to the RIGHT but the error in her "AIM" is much more difficult to see.  The difference between "AIMING" ON-LINE with the basket and a slight miss can become harder to recognize as the shooter's skill level improves.  

Notice the shooter's index finger knuckle.  Because most shooters release the ball off of their index finger and middle finger,  the index finger knuckle will always point in the direction the ball will travel after release.  In this example, the index knuckle on the left is pointing straight toward the basket and the index finger knuckle on the right is pointing just off center to the right of the basket.

Finally,  the shooter above was in 5th grade at the time of this photograph.  

When I do clinics for youth players,  the single most effective way to help them improve immediately is to get them to "AIM" their arm like that "GUN" at the basket.  They may struggle with the more advanced aspects of the shot when they are younger but at least the ball will go toward the basket every single time.  In looking at this photo above,  is there really any doubt that this 5th grader's shot went straight toward her target?

This 5th grade shooter is now a junior in high school and has committed to a great program in the BIG EAST Conference.  

If she can "AIM" ON-LINE,  so can you!