How to get better at shooting the basketball?

Like the forehand in tennis, the swing in golf or the flat pass in soccer, the jump shot is a technical movement of paramount importance in basketball. According to some expert coaches in the field, acquiring mastery of this movement requires one essential element: repetition. But what exactly needs to be repeated to improve shooting skill?

This article covers many of the ideas found in Rob Gray’s books, How we Learn to Move and Learning to Optimize Movement, that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to know more about learning and movement.

How actually do we learn?

A new vision of repetition

First of all, it’s vital to deconstruct a preconceived notion that’s still omnipresent in the learning world today: the idea of the repetition of a single « correct » movement technique, which we would seek to reproduce identically every time.

In fact, a number of studies run counter to that thought. Nikolai Bernstein, among others, demonstrated a century ago that highly skilled blacksmiths did not repeat the same movement, but rather repeated the same result of action – in this case, striking a chisel with precision using a hammer – by performing a different movement each time.

It gave rise to the concept of « repetition without repetition », i.e. repetition (of a result) without repetition (of the same movement). To be able to reproduce the same result, you’d have to use a slightly different technique each time. Mastery would then come from the ability to repeat an identical result in several different ways.

Beyond being sub-optimal, repeating the exact same movement over and over again is merely impossible. Conditions are constantly changing, whether in the external environment (positioning, behavior and movements of teammates and opponents, equipment, playing surface, climatic conditions depending on the sport…) or in the internal environment (positions, joint angles, global and local fatigue, emotions, proprioception, interoception…).

Each movement is performed in its particular context, with a series of external and internal factors that are specific to it and differ to a greater or lesser extent from another movement. Thus, the same motor command sent to the nervous system and muscles won’t always result in the same movement.

Other studies (Gandon & al., 2013; Schollhorn & Bauer, 1998; Figueiredo & al., 2012; Horst & al., 2020) have also shown very different movements between several experts in the same discipline, further discrediting the idea of the existence of a single « correct » movement technique.

If this idea were true, how could we explain the efficiency of athletes like Tyrese Haliburton…

…Or Sandrine Gruda, both having a shot that could be described as « unacademic »?

The variability induced by constant changes in the environment requires us to develop a certain adaptability in our movements, so that we can achieve the same result under a multitude of different conditions. The skill level in a task – such as shooting – depends on the number of solutions available to achieve it.

An optimal movement solution is one that match optimally the conditions present during the said movement. We need to learn how to show variability in our technique to respond to the variability of the environment. Improving performance means increasing the « right » variability – the one that enables to achieve the same goal in different ways.

However, even if we don’t always perform the same movement, they’re not random either: they all shaped by the constraints of the environment. There are also invariants, i.e. elements that are found in all competent athletes, as well as in each execution of a specific movement for the same athlete.

In the case of basketball shooting, scientific observations highlight multiple particularities, which will be discussed in the second part of this article. In the meantime, we’re going to look into 2 training methods that use the concept of repetition without repetition: differential learning and the constraint-led approach.

Differential Learning

With differential learning, we seek to destabilize an athlete’s movement solutions in order to promote exploration of the possibilities, self-organization and variability in movement execution.

The goal is to optimize the « good » variability, which enables adaptation to the changing constraints of the environment, while reducing the « bad » variability, which doesn’t enable the desired result to be achieved.

For instance, to work on shooting, we can vary body positions, feet position, ball placements, ground surface, ball size and weight, speed and rhythm of movement…

Adding random variability to training amplifies the natural fluctuations in the human movement system. The athlete can thus take advantage of its own individual characteristics and find its own « solutions ».

The athlete is encouraged to explore a lot of possibilities, to achieve some result (in this case, making a shot) in a host of different ways, in order to become more able to adapt effectively to the changing conditions in competition. Offering challenges at least as difficult in training as they are in a game can then make things « simpler » in competition.

For differential learning to be truly useful, exercises must complement the athlete’s natural personal variability. The greater it is (e.g. for a novice), the less external variability needs to be added (i.e., there’s no need to provide something very complicated and original). Conversely, the lower the personal variability (i.e. when the athlete is truly competent at the task), the more you can make things random and suggest complex situations.

Constraint-led Approach

A constraint is an element that eliminates certain action possibilities and points towards others. It doesn’t push for a movement to be carried out in an extremely precise way, but it reduces the number of options while leaving the athlete to find its own movement solution to carry out the task.

There are 3 types of constraint:

• Individual, i.e. a person’s physical properties (height, weight, strength, speed, mobility…),
• Environmental, i.e. the general properties of the outside world (gravity, wind, terrain, temperature, light levels…),
• Task-related, i.e. factors specific to the skill being performed (rules, equipment, space…).

Constraints make certain solutions ineffective, promoting the athlete to find other, more effective ones. The goal is not to provide « the » right solution, but rather to let the athlete self-organize to find its own. With this method, learning a skill emerges in the face of imposed constraints, without pushing a movement technique through repetition.

The constraint-led approach also favors the development of « good » variability by allowing exploration; the athlete has a certain freedom of movement despite the constraints. Once the movement characteristics of highly skilled shooters have been identified, environments can be set up to facilitate the acquisition of similar attributes in less-skilled individuals.

Through strength & conditioning, we can also manipulate individual constraints to offer an athlete a better action capacity*, thus changing his/her perception of the outside world and potentially enabling him to expand his/her field of possibilities.

*Action capacities refer to the physical and psychological aptitudes that influence the field of possibilities for a given task.

Cues

There are 2 main types of focus:

– Internal focus, where attention is directed towards the body (in terms of position or movement). For instance, in basketball shooting: « raise your elbow », « point your elbow at the basket », « use your legs », focusing on the placement of your hands on the ball or on the action of your wrist at the end of the movement…

– External focus, where attention is directed outside of the body (often indicating the body’s effect on the external environment). For example: « lift the ball high before shooting », focusing on the trajectory of the ball or on the hoop…

Today, scientific data is clear: numerous studies show that an external focus leads to superior performance and better learning, with a better transfer of training.

By focusing on information present in the external environment, attention is directed outwards, which probably improves information gathering. The use of constraint also facilitates the adoption of an external focus when performing a task.

On the other hand, internal focus disturbs self-organization: we focus on the action of the body parts indicated by the cues, instead of letting them coordinate with the rest of the body – leading to disrupted muscular activity.

Even highly skilled athletes encounter great difficulty following detailed instructions on how they should change their technique. In the rare cases where explicit cues seem to work in training, they however transfer very poorly to competitive situations, with the athlete often going back to its basic technique (especially in situations involving high pressure).

In Learning to Optimize Movement, Rob Gray offers 4 tips for using instructions:

1. The last instruction given should include an external focus (be it something physically present in the external environment or an analogy**), to promote information gathering and self-organization.

2. There’s nothing wrong with using internal instructions to explore movement solutions and try out different things, as with differential learning for instance; it can even be useful. However, the last instruction given should always be external.

3. We should try to find external versions of internal cues often used, whether in the form of a precise instruction or an analogy.

4. Athletes should be allowed to participate in the process, so that they can find the cue that suits them best (without it necessarily being very specific nor describing the movement with precision).

As an example, constraints can be used to guide the athlete towards certain solutions, letting them explain how they feel about the movement, then using their own words afterwards. According to research, holistic instructions (describing the movement as a whole) are particularly interesting.

**Analogies are useful for conveying the key elements of a movement without trying to give an exact solution to the problem, getting the athlete to focus on the movement of his/her body without evoking it directly (thus avoiding worries about internal focus). They make up a task constraint that enables self-organization and variability.

Performing under pressure

It’s not uncommon for some athletes to experience a degradation in performance in high-pressure situations. The most common reason for this is a shift in focus from external to internal. When there’s a lot at stake, the brain tends to want to control the body’s actions to ensure that everything is done correctly, which can have a negative impact on movement control.

However, we can learn to fight this tendency – and thus optimize performance under pressure – by integrating self-regulation processes into training (i.e. by avoiding giving lots of instructions all the time) and by exposing ourselves to pressure situations in which we make a voluntary effort to focus on the external environment. 

So offering an athlete exercises involving a certain level of anxiety in training can help him/her learn how to better manage stress in competition, in addition to potentially getting higher-quality workouts (by implicitly inducing better focus). Emotions also form an individual constraint that can movement solutions.

Expect lesser-than-usual results with this, which isn’t a problem as the purpose is to learn to better control emotions for future performance. However, anxiety should not be part of every exercise, as it can be mentally exhausting and reduce the ability to perform under less stressful conditions.

There are many ways to bring pressure to training:

• Manipulating the demands of training (the task to be performed and environmental stressors),
• Manipulating the consequences of training (reward, sanction, judgment, evaluation…),
• Using vignettes, i.e. describing a situation in which there is pressure,
• Modulating the intensity of play, i.e. reducing the space or distance of play to emphasize temporal constraints.

Rob Gray also gives a few principles for adding pressure to training:

– It doesn’t have to be specific; the pressure doesn’t have to be the same as in competition,

– It doesn’t have to be directly linked to the sporting task either; you can just get the athlete to do something stressful before training,

– You don’t want to end on a failure or have only failures in the exercises, you need to adjust the conditions so that the athlete have some success (while indicating that lesser-than-usual results are not a problem),

– Manipulating the consequences of training (with rewards and incentives) seems more effective than manipulating demands.

The eyes

Visual acuity corresponds roughly to the ability to see details. Its importance tends to be overestimated in the sporting world, with scientific data indicating that athletes seem to use mainly their peripheral vision, whose acuity is relatively poor.

Most of the information used to control sporting actions doesn’t require high resolution, and details are unnecessary. You still need to direct your gaze to where the relevant information is located in the environment, in order to obtain as much useful information as possible to control your actions.

Trying to get novices to adopt the specific gaze behavior of experts in a task requiring to scan the environment is pointless – it doesn’t work. However, simply training novices to keep their eyes as fixed as possible (quiet eye training) can be effective.

Being able to control the gaze is essential, as we generally have very little time in sports. An inability to take in information quickly and effectively is gonna affect performance.

It’s possible to develop this quality in training by accentuating time constraints, which help the athlete to become more efficient with his/her eyes (with a better and faster self-organizing control of his/her gaze).

Challenge

The effectiveness of methods such as differential learning and the constraint-led approach depends largely on how the athlete respond to challenges, and his/her willingness to accept failure. The exercises proposed (and their difficulty) must take this into account. The athlete must also understand that training is designed to perform well later, in competition, and not to succeed in the moment.

There are 2 types of difficulty:

– Nominal difficulty: the demands of the task itself, regardless of who performs it or the conditions under which it is carried out.

– Functional difficulty: the degree of challenge of the task in relation to the level of the person performing it and the conditions under which it is carried out.

Both must considered when designing an exercise. The lower the skill level, the less complicated the nominal task should be (in terms of speed, distance and variability). For children in particular, this may require adaptation of equipment and playing conditions.

If the functional difficulty is low, performance will be good but learning will be weak: if you get everything right, there’s no reason to change anything, and you quickly lose interest. If the difficulty is too high, performance and learning will be low, as the athlete will struggle to identify what needs to be done to improve his/her results.

Between the two lies the optimal point of challenge, with the best possible learning, located at a different point for each athlete.

Encountering difficulties in training promotes learning and progress over time, even if you prefer the activities in which you are most successful. However, we don’t want difficulty to be random: failures should steer towards a better movement solution.

The conditions must also allow for a certain degree of success, so that the process doesn’t become discouraging and doesn’t lead to a diminished sense of competency (which can affect efforts in training).

When an athlete is ready to be challenged and is presented with a task that is just beyond its current capabilities, i.e. one that can only succeed by giving it their all, this stimulates attention, focus and commitment to the task. The purpose of using difficult exercises is not only to improve success in difficult conditions, but also to make other situations « easier ».

Psychological aspect

Confidence is a prerequisite for effective shooting. The development of such a feeling stems from some tenets:

– Train your shot in a multitude of conditions, to better « control » it,

– Allow your body to self-organize during the task, without thinking  too much about cues or the movement; it’s better to adopt a holistic focus (i.e. paying attention to the fluidity and smoothness of movement, focusing on the trajectory of the ball…),

– Think about the positive side of making a shot, on the joy of scoring, instead of being afraid to take a ‘’bad’’ shot and thinking about all the negative of a miss,

– Accept the misses, and focus more on the overall feelings of the shot (smoothness, fluidity, having a beautiful movement) than on the result alone (hit or miss).

What should we learn to get better at shooting?

Scientific research provides further clues as to the components of an effective shot. There are 4 main areas: biomechanics of movement, gaze, defensive pressure and fatigue.

Biomechanics

From a biomechanical standpoint, science makes numerous observations:

– More energy is transferred from the torso to the shooting arm through the shoulder joint in midrange conditions than in close conditions, while the lower limbs provide a greater effort in long range conditions (3pts) than in midrange conditions – probably in order to keep a more or less « constant » movement of the arm (Nakano & al., 2020),

– In 2-point conditions, skilled shooters have a higher elbow, place the ball higher, and have more shoulder and elbow flexion during the preparatory phase of the shooting movement than non-competent shooters. During the release phase (i.e. when the ball leaves the hands), they also reach higher angles when the ball leaves the fingers (i.e. release angle) and when it reaches the hoop (i.e. entry angle).

Under 3-point conditions, skilled shooters have a higher elbow, higher ball placement and lower hip flexion in the preparatory phase than non-performance shooters. During the release phase, they also have higher heels, release the ball higher, with a higher ball trajectory (Cabarkapa & al., 2021).

In addition, other studies report a higher entry angle in successful shots than in unsuccessful shots for 3-pointers (Vencurik & al., 2021), a significantly greater release height with less forward torso tilt when releasing the ball (Cabarkapa & al., 2023) and a greater vertical displacement during the release phase for successful shooters (Cabarkapa & al., 2023).

– In general, a 3-point shot involves a lower elbow, more knee and hip flexion, with a lower release angle and an increased vertical displacement compared to a 2-point shot or a free-throw (Cabarkapa & al., 2022; Cabarkapa & al., 2023).

– Shooting efficiency is greater when the lower and upper body are used in « sequence » rather than simultaneously (Matsunaga & Oshikawa, 2022).

The gaze

As mentioned earlier, the eyes are critical. Expert level shooters start to stare at the rim earlier, staring at it for longer, with a « calmer » eye (i.e. less sensitive to external distractions) than lower level shooters (Giancamilli & al., 2022; Rui & al., 2023).

Simply learning to better control one’s gaze on the hoop is more effective than having precise technical shooting training when it comes to people at beginner or intermediate level (Vickers & al., 2017).

Work in 2017 on the analysis of over 1 million shots (R. Marty & S. Lucey) showed that it was preferable to target the back of the hoop (the part in front of you) rather than the middle (swish) or the front in order to optimize the probability of the ball entering the basket (that’s a matter of angle) – it is therefore possible to focus your gaze on the back of the hoop (the part in front of you) when shooting.

Just training with a visual target , without additional instruction, improves shooting accuracy (Gou & al., 2022), even if it takes time (in the study, 90 minutes a week for 5 weeks was not enough to achieve significant gains, which were however present after 9 weeks).

We then need to learn how to maintain this optimal control in situations of defensive pressure (Van Maarseveen & Oudejans, 2018) and mental pressure (Giancamilli & al., 2022) to be able to remain effective in competitive conditions. When under pressure, it’s crucial not to  »rush » and to keep long fixations on the hoop (especially for free throws).

Defensive pressure

Studies report changes in shot execution when there’s a defender contesting the shot, decreasing accuracy compared to conditions without defensive pressure (Van Maarseveen & Oudejans, 2018; França & al., 2021; Kambic & al., 2022).

The presence of a defender contesting shots is thus a relevant constraint to add to training exercises, if we want to improve performance in competitive scenarios (ideally using a defender slightly taller than the shooter). It makes sense: shots are very often contested in games, and to perform better in those times, you need to train under similar conditions.

In general, the level of success in training doesn’t necessarily reflect the level of skill in competition (Porter & al., 2020), hence the interest in incorporating constraints representative of competitive conditions (defense, time pressure, mental anxiety…).

Fatigue

Heart rate, when it exceeds 80% of its maximum value, is linked to a decrease in shooting accuracy (Padulo & al., 2018; Ardigo & al., 2018), probably partially explained by a decrease in eye muscles efficiency (Zwierko & al., 2018). Mental fatigue leads to similar results (Daub & al., 2023).

Several conclusions can be drawn from these observations:

– In competitive situations, to perform at best, it’s necessary to maximize rest time and avoid performing cognitively demanding tasks that are not related to the activity,

– During training, the athlete should be exposed to shooting exercises under fatigue conditions (both physical and mental) to improve accuracy in competitive scenarios (Marcolin & al., 2018). In particular, we can focus on gaze control in this kind of exercise,

– Through physical preparation, the development of cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory capacities can have a direct impact on technical performance.

Other information

Finally, the research also highlights other parameters:

– Training to aim at a smaller target (e.g. by reducing the size of the hoop or shooting on the side of the board) can improve shooting accuracy, through useful biomechanical changes (release angle, ball speed and height, shoulder angle…) (Khlifa & al., 2013),

– There is no significant relationship between maximum strength abilities and shooting performance for either men or women (Cabarkapa & al., 2022), but jumping, throwing and anaerobic endurance capacities positively influence long-distance shooting skill (Pojskic & al., 2018),

– The further you are from the basket, the less accurate you are (which is logical), so you need to train to shoot from the same distances you’ll shoot from in game (Van Maarseveen & Oudejans, 2018),

– Sleep duration before and after training affect the retention quality of shooting skills (Miyaguchi & al., 2022),

– In the NBA, offensive efficiency is greater in possessions involving a shot fake, which are very often advantageous to the offense (Meyer & al., 2022); shot fakes are therefore an effective tool that should be incorporated into training.

Exercise ideas

Here are a few ideas for you:

– To train a fluid & efficient movement:

• Shooting fast (beginning with more speed than usual, then trying to shoot as fast as possible – or at least lifting the ball as fast as possible),
• Shooting into the air, as high as possible, without trying to score (one can alternate between 1 shot into the air as high as possible and 1 normal shot trying to score),
• Shooting without the ball as quickly as possible (kind of ‘’air shooting’’),
• Shooting from long distance.

– To train the ability to balance quickly in a variety of conditions and shoot, in order to be more efficient at balancing quickly in game scenarios:

• Shooting after different types of run (forward run at various speeds, backward run, shuffle steps, curved run, run with changes of direction…),
• Shooting with different types of support (varying the position of each foot or their orientation, with a 1-2 rhythm or with both feet contacting the ground at the same time, with different angles…),
• Shooting after a jump (vertical, lateral or horizontal),
• Shooting after performing a spin move or just after a jump after having spun around.

– To challenge the shooting ability itself:

• Shooting directly after different dribbles or dribble combos,
• Changing the spot between each shot, varying distances and using the board on certain shots (randomly),
• Shooting with different balls (varying in brand, size, weight, inflation…),
• Starting with the ball in different positions (changing height and laterality) then shooting,
• Shooting after a (voluntary) bad pass.
• Shooting with a reduced-size target (by having one foot on the baseline or by shooting to the side of the board, trying to get the ball to come back to the same spot after the shot),
• Beginning from the side and shooting, with your back to the basket and shooting, with a lateral jump where you try to go as far as possible and then shooting…

– To reproduce conditions representative of competition:

• Shoot with a defender in front of you (who just raises his arms),
• Shooting while a defender is closing-out,
• Shooting just after a tiring physical or mental exertion,
• Shooting with something at stake (reward or pledge),
• 1v1 in which the offense has a limited number of dribbles or a limited time, while not allowing finishes at the basket.

By taking up the concepts discussed throughout this article, we can encourage certain behaviors in the execution of those exercises:

– Shoot in a variety of constraints, without thinking about specific instructions, just focusing on the sensations of the move (fluidity, ease, trajectory…) while trying to use as little energy as possible,

– Try to look at the front of the hoop early, and continue to focus on it despite external visual distractions,

– Let the result of the shot correct the move without too much conscious thought, letting the body adjust naturally.

Ultimately, « good » shooting ability can be defined as the ability to remain effective under a wide range of conditions, with varying constraints, while managing to not be disturbed by distractions and stimuli present in the external and internal environments.

REFERENCES

1. How we Learn to Move, Rob Gray (2021)
2. Learning to Optimize Movement, Rob Gray (2022)
3. ”How can ten fingers shape a pot ?”, Gandon & al., 2013
4. ”Identifying individual movement styles in high performance sports by means of self-organizing Kohonen maps”, Schollhorn & Bauer, 1998
5. ”Individual profiles of spatio-temporal coordination in high intensity swimming”, Figueiredo & al., 2012
6. ”Can individual movement characteristics across different throwing disciplines be identified in high-performance decathletes ?”, Horst & al., 2020
7. ”Motor and Gaze Behaviors of Youth Basketball Players Taking Contested and Uncontested Jump Shots”, Van Maarseveen & Oudejans, 2018
8. ”The Jump Shot Performance in Youth Basketball: A Systematic Review”, França & al., 2021
9. ”Biomechanical Adjustments of the Basketball Jump Shot Performed Over Differently High Opponents”, Kambic & al., 2022
10. ”Learner-adapted practice promotes skill transfer in unskilled adults learning the basketball set shot”, Porter & al., 2020
11. ”High-Pressure Game Conditions Affect Quiet Eye Depending on the Player’s Expertise: Evidence from the Basketball Three-Point Shot”, Giancamilli & al., 2022
12. ”Visual Information in Basketball Jump-Shots: Differences between Youth and Adult Athletes”, Rui & al., 2023
13. ”Quiet eye training improves accuracy in basketball field goal shooting”, Vickers & al., 2017
14. ”Study on eye movement characteristics and intervention of basketball shooting skill”, Gou & al., 2022
15. ”The effect of increased shooting distance on energy flow in basketball jump shot”, Nakano & al., 2020
16. ”Kinematic Differences Based on Shooting Proficiency and Distance in Female Basketball Players”, Cabarkapa & al., 2023
17. ”Biomechanical characteristics of proficient free-throw shooters-markerless motion capture analysis”, Cabarkapa & al., 2023
18. ”Kinematic Analysis of 2-Point and 3-Point Jump Shot of Elite Young Male and Female Basketball Players”, Vencurik & al., 2021
19. ”Kinetic and Kinematic Characteristics of Proficient and Non-Proficient 2-Point and 3-Point Basketball Shooters”, Cabarkapa & al., 2021
20. ”Impact of Distance and Proficiency on Shooting Kinematics in Professional Male Basketball Players”, Cabarkapa & al., 2022
21. ”The Effect of Heart Rate on Jump-Shot Accuracy of Adolescent Basketball Players”, Padulo & al., 2018
22. ”Effect of Heart rate on Basketball Three-Point Shot Accuracy,” Ardigo & al., 2018
23. ”Visual control in basketball shooting under exertion conditions”, Zwierko & al., 2018
24. ”Impacts of mental fatigue and sport specific film sessions on basketball shooting tasks”, Daub & al., 2023
25. ”Different intensities of basketball drills affect jump shot accuracy of expert and junior players”, Marcolin & al., 2018
26. ”Muscle synergy during free throw shooting in basketball is different between scored and missed shots, Matsunaga & Oshikawa”, 2022
27. ”Effects of a shoot training programme with a reduced hoop diameter rim on free-throw performance and kinematics in young basketball players”, Khlifa & al., 2013
28. ”Relationship between Upper and Lower Body Strength and Basketball Shooting Performance”, Cabarkapa & al., 2022
29. ”Increased movement accuracy and reduced EMG activity as the result of adopting an external focus of attention”, Zachry & al., 2005
30. ”Association Between Conditioning Capacities and Shooting Performance in Professional Basketball Players: An Analysis of Stationary and Dynamic Shooting Skills”, Pojskic & al., 2018
31. ”Sleep affects the motor memory of basketball shooting skills in young amateurs”, Miyaguchi & al., 2022
32. ”Shot fakes as an indicator of successful offense in basketball”, Meyer & al., 2022
33. Instagram account @bobbywhyte
34. Instagram account @coach_ross_dpt
35. Instagram account @hoopin_mitch
36. Instagram account @alexsarama