A Coach's Diary

Notes from one of the best shooters of all time - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf teaching how he shoots! 1 - Follow Through 2 - The arc of the shot 3 - The feel of the shot - Hand is not too close; fingers comfortable and natural, not too spread out - Finger tip control - have a gap so you aren't palming it - Off hand guides the ball; not too close and not underneath; be comfortably strong so it feels good but they can't knock the ball away - Its good at the beginning to line up the seams to help with your follow-thru - The follow through softens up the shot and lets it hang around the rim - Legs shoulder width apart to create a balance - Elbows in so your elbow and follow-thru is aligned with the basket - Index finger to the basketball and the rim - Backspin on the follow-thru - Focus on a target - right over the front of the rim Find what is comfortable for you and repetition.  Do it over and over again and pay attention to details.  The best shooters shoot the same s...

- Great article on Ernie Hobbie – ‘The Shot Doctor’ - After the article, there are two videos showing him teaching shooting. THIS GUY GIVES YOU A SHOT AT MAKING FREE THROWS PETER IACOBELLI, Associated Press Mar. 18, 1989  2:58 PM ET PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) Ernie Hobbie has brought the schoolroom to the schoolyard and has many of basketball's biggest names as willing students in the elusive art of free throw shooting. Hobbie, an elementary school principal currently helping the New Jersey Nets, has also worked with the New York Knicks and major college programs like Syracuse and Georgia Tech. Hobbie has tinkered with the shots of the Nets' Buck Williams and Roy Hinson; the Knicks' Gerald Wilkins and Sidney Green; Ralph Sampson of the Golden State Warriors; Mark Price of the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Rony Seikaly and Dwayne ''Pearl'' Washington of the Miami Heat. But, according to Hobbie, you don't have to be NBA caliber to have a shot ...