Big C said:
SFCityBear said:
GMP said:
I think he does need to adjust, and I think there's a pretty easy fix. Here's what I said during the season:
Quote:
Sueing has a very soft shot, and this causes the ball to often go in even when not perfect. However, I noticed during the UCLA game that Sueing's off-hand is way out in front of the ball before he shoots. This likely gives the ball a bit of a side-spin, and makes his shot less consistent than it otherwise could be. He needs to bring that hand back behind the ball more. It's a simple fix, but one he should begin working on as soon as possible. His release is also a bit of catapult motion - which doesn't seem perfectly repeatable. Still, others have been successful with such a motion and he can be too, especially if he fixes his offhand placement.
Here's a picture of him shooting a free throw. It's the same now.
Look how far in front his right hand is. That is poor form. This is true on his jumper, too. I think it's a simple fix that doesn't require a complete reformation of his jumper.
I agree with you that his hand placement is unorthodox, and so is sidespin. I still believe his problem is the exaggerated cocking of his wrist (what you describe as a catapaulting motion). That also makes him take longer than average to release the shot, so he has to have more time to shoot, unlike a Jordan Mathews, for example. Sueing has more difficulty getting his shot off when he is closely guarded than does Mathews. By cocking his wrist in this way and catapaulting the shot, Sueing is letting the less reliable small muscles of the body (fingers, wrist, and forearm) control more of the shot, instead of the more reliable bigger muscles (upper arm, shoulder, and legs). The problem is that wrist. It can turn and move in several directions, and throw the shot off line, and with a long wrist cock, bending it full backwards, it has even more freedom and time to turn off line.
To take a lesson from golf, nearly all golfers have abandoned the very wristy putting strokes of yesteryear for the more reliable shoulder stroke of today, where wrists and fingers remain relatively quiet and almost immovable during the stroke, and the arms and shoulders and back muscles control most of the stroke.
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I always thought it WAS the wrist that fires off jump shots and free throws, with power coming from the legs. Aren't you supposed to MINIMIZE the role of the elbow and shoulder? That way you are using fine motor skills of the wrist and hand to control the release of the ball. When kids start learning how to shoot, don't they stand right under the basket with their arm up straight and try to "wrist" the ball into the basket, then try and replicate that farther and farther out?
I don't know about the golf analogy, but how about writing? One holds the pen in the fingers for control (fine motor), as opposed to if one held it in their fist and tried to write using their arm (gross motor).
Just based on Sueing's jumper as it is imprinted on my mind from this past season, the problem with his form was that he would get his shooting arm under the ball (for power) and release it too low, a problem typical in kids that form their outside shot before they have the strength to shoot it properly.
I'm not quite following this, with all due respect. I haven't watched any kids learning to shoot. I only know how I did it. When I started to learn, I stood under the basket in a crouch, with legs bent, and my arms down, not straight up, and I held the ball at waist level and tried to reach the basket by using all the strength I could muster, primarily from my legs and arms. If I couldn't reach the basket, I would crouch lower and try and summon up more strength. My dad, who played for Cal, tried to teach me to use a two-handed shot, with both hands applying the same force to the ball. I failed at that, because he had started to teach me to play tennis a few years before, so the muscles in my right arm were so much stronger than the left, that it threw the shots off line. I taught myself to shoot one handed, putting the right hand under the ball and the other hand on the left side of the ball just as a guide. in the early years, I still had to crouch some, but as I got older, I didn't need to crouch as much. I did try to replicate the same shot from farther out that I used closer in.
In the 5th grade, we all began shooting jump shots. I tried to copy other good players and pull the ball back behind my head, and there the elbows get more into the shot. It wasn't that accurate for me. I began shooting with a release from about forehead level, which did not require as much elbow motion and was more accurate.
In the 9th grade, our varsity was led by Tom Meschery, the great All-American, and his jumpshot looked a little like the one I had back in the 5th grade, releasing the ball from behind his head. By the next season, Meschery had completely changed his jump shot, to where he would jump and stretch his arms straight up and release the ball way above his head, mostly with his wrists and fingers, I would guess. I tried that, but I was not strong enough. Still I was a short player who did not jump high and I needed the extra height Meschery's style would give me. I developed a different grip where I spread and stretched my fingers out as far as they would go (like I was going to palm the ball), and that stiffened the wrist somewhat, and took both fingers and wrist out of the shot, except that touch is still in the fingers. I still released the ball way above my head, but with a smaller amount of elbow rotation than when I released the ball from lower levels. Of course, the farther from the basket, the more the elbow had to rotate. Another advantage of this method was the ball was in good position at the release to apply a little sidespin, which was effective in shots off the glass. I am surprised so few young players have much skill off the glass. Wilt Chamberlain shot all his perimeter shots off the glass, and was deadly. The schools only kept statistics on us one season and the same for CYO, and that year, I shot 67% in high school, and 68% in CYO, with most of my shots from beyond what would have been the three point line, with a few pull up jumpers and hook shots thrown into the mix. I shot 100% on free throws in my last year in HS, on a small sample, 24, using a one hand push shot. My methods worked well for me, even though I was constantly tinkering with them, and trying to invent new shots. I always practiced many shots from farther out than I would ever attempt in a game. If I could make 28 footers in practice, then I was more convinced that I could easily make 23 footers in a game.
I can't comment on your handwriting analogy. I have always had terrible penmanship.
I haven't seen Sueing in person, only on TV, but on TV it looks like he shoots with a high arc, which I would expect if he has his shooting hand under the ball.
