Shot Development

Much can be said about shot development.  Throughout the years as we have continued to develop players that played above their athletic set and achieved goals that the outside world deemed impossible.  OtterBasketball has developed many of the best prep shooters in the country while building a shot development program built of our foundational concepts efficiency with consistency.  The system teaches players how to use exercise science and todays most popular teaching concepts to reroute movement mechanics.  There are major reasons we have placed a major emphasis on the shot.

OtterBasketball preaches to players about the importance of shot development and how it is one of 5 major aspects that allow players to play above their athletic set.  The ability to shoot makes the game much easier for a player facing a better athlete.  It forces players to guard us tighter which negates an athletes length and makes it easier to create space, passing angles, penetrate to the rim, it even makes the ball screen game much easier as well.  We like to point out three essential traits that all great shooters should have to shoot well Rhythm, Line and Release Point.  We find if players can find all three of these aspects while shooting with efficiency and consistency as our program calls for they will then find success.  One aspect that must be talked about in the consistency realm is gate.

We often tell players sloppy feet lead to a sloppy shot and inconsistent shooting.  Too often players gates fluctuate depending upon the situation and the amount of balance needed to shoot a particular shot.  This is where we again can identify hip placement inside the realm of shooting.  Obviously there are many factors that cause average and even above average players to shoot the way they do (which is inconsistent).  There is also a reason why our players have had so much success on a national level when it comes to shooting.  The first thing is attention to detail this attention to detail leaves the player with a solid understanding of the importance of each particular detail and how to route their mechanics to achieve their goal.

One thing players understand is the importance of balance and their ability to establish balance by shooting the same gate.  We identify to our players that balance is established in their hips and when calling for consistency in high momentum situations they must identify and reinforce proper hip placement to shoot with a consistent gate.  Look at the example in these two shots a catch and shoot compared to a shot where I am creating space, which usually means shooting with some momentum away or across the rim.  Both shots are the same from the floor up but one can see the difference in hip placement from the catch and shoot to the step back where more stability must be gained when moving across or away from the rim to shoot on balance.

Once players understand this concept alone he or she will find their percentages go up because they are able to shoot the same shot in whatever situation may arise in the game.  Is hip placement the be all end all in shooting absolutely not but it is one crucial aspect of being a great multi-purpose shooter and should be identified in any player looking to play above his or her athletic set so think about it and work on it.