Guide Hand/Arm:
Coaches need to spend a great deal of time working on improving the shot mechanics of their players.  One of the areas of the shot that often needs attention is the movement of the guide hand and arm.

The following are correct movements of the guide hand and arm that will help insure a more accurate shot:
1. The guide hand should finish high. The guide hand should finish near the height of the wrist/forearm of the shooting arm.  This will ensure the shooter is taking the ball up with two hands for as long as possible, and therefore will have better control of the ball.

Watch the video clips and notice how Stephen Curry, Diana Turasi and Ray Allen all finish with their guide hand high. 

2. The guide hand must finish in front of the head/torso.  Another way to say this is for the shooter not to pull their guide hand back.  A common mistake young players make in their shooting motion is to rotate or pull their guide hand and arm back and down. This movement will usually cause a backward rotation of guide hand’s side of the body; and rotation of the body is very detrimental to good shooting. 

In the video clip of Stephen Curry notice how his guide hand/arm finishes only slightly behind his shooting hand.  The slight difference is because the right side of his body is slightly ahead of left side at the beginning of his free throw and remains this way as he takes the ball up to release.  In all of the video clips you can notice how the upper body’s of these three great shooters is perfectly still; there is no rotation at all.

3. The palm of the guide hand should be parallel to the shot line.  The shot line is the path the ball follows from the shooting pocket to the release of the ball. A common shooting flaw is for the guide hand to open to the basket as the ball is released.  When the ball is held in the shooting pocket the guide hand should be on the side of the ball.  When the ball is released the guide hand should not have rotated at all, it should remain in the same position it was on the ball, i.e. perpendicular to the shot line. 

Watch the video of Diana Turasi and notice how her guide hand is in perfect position and not opening to the basket. 

It is very common, particularly for young players, to shoot the ball with two hands.  This occurs because they can generate more power with two hands than with one.   However, is it much more difficult to be accurate with two hands than with one hand.  Two handed shooting is usually manifested with sidespin on the ball, rather than the backspin, characteristic of the great shooters.

Even thought the palm may be facing the basket after release, in many situations it may not be necessary to make any corrections.  To determine if corrections are needed, coaches should watch the rotation of the ball.  If the ball has true backspin then I don’t believe it would be necessary to make any changes – if the backspin on the ball is correct then the effect of the guide hand is minimal.  Watch how Ray Allen’s guide hand opens on his shot, but his rotation is true.  Not many people would suggest that Ray Allen needs to change his shot. 

If the coach finds the shot has sidespin then there are several ideas to help correct this error.  To find ideas coaches should refer to the “Skills and Drills” section of the March 2009 issue of The Coaches Clipboard (http://www.coachesclipboard.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=30&ed=18).

Defending Side Pick and Pops:

As players advance up the competitive ladder we see more and more big players with the ability to shoot from the perimeter.  Therefore, rather than just rolling the screener to the basket off a ball screen, a bigger player who can shoot, can also ‘pop’ to the perimeter.

This ‘pick and pop’ action puts tremendous pressure on the defence because they must prevent the dribbler from turning the corner, stop a duck-in by a post player on the weak-side, be prepared to cover weak-side players spotting up, as well as cover the ‘picker’ popping away from the screen for a shot.

To cover the ‘pick and pop’ the remaining three defenders must be in proper position and ready to rotate.  If the offence aligns, as shown in the diagram, with a big player, O5, low on the weak-side, and two players, O2 and O3, spaced out on the weak-side, the three defenders not involved directly in the screening action should form a “weak-side triangle”.  X5 will move towards the ball and be ready to rotate out to O4 popping to the wing.  X3 ‘sits on top’ of the low post, O5, to prevent the post, O5, from ducking in, and is in position to get out to O3; X3 must not get inside O5 and possibly get screened in.  X2 will be at the top and will help prevent O1 from penetrating the middle.

In the first video clip, the Gonzaga University forward hard hedges out on the ball screen and, as this is happening, Gonzaga centre and Handsworth Secondary grad, Robert Sacre, begins to move towards the ball screen. As the ball-handler comes off the ball screen, Sacre moves to rotate out to O4 popping to the wing, and X4 runs back to the rim to pick up O5.

In the second video clip, Butler University defends Georgetown’s ‘pick and pop’ action in a similar way by rotating a defender out to the screener popping.  However, a weak-side triangle is not formed because O1 is cutting to the top off a down screen.

Against this action X4 again hedges out hard on the ball screen, not allowing O2 to get to the middle of the floor. At the same time, X5 moves towards the screening action.   Because X1 has to defend O1 coming off the down screen he does not have any help responsibilities.  X3 moves into the lane as the ball screen is being set and must be in position to guard two players, O3 and O5. X3 will guard O5, if O5 cuts to the basket.   When X4 recovers to the middle then X3 can be released from the responsibility to guard X5, and will be responsible for O3.

Step Backs:

As defensive play becomes more physical and ball pressure increases players must learn to create space with their dribble. One of most common techniques used is the step back move.

The step back move can create separation from the defender to either: 1) get a shot away, 2) create a passing lane or 3) go back into an attacking dribble move.  At higher levels of play the step back is an extremely common move.  All of the step backs in the accompanying video clip were from a recent Duke University vs. University of Wisconsin game. 

The first step back created space for the offensive player to attack the defender off the dribble again.  The next three step backs were used to create shots.

There are a few key points to the step back move into a shot:
1. Drive the inside foot (foot nearest the basket) towards the basket or at the defender.
2. As the inside foot drives toward the basket the inside shoulder does the same thing – often there will be some contact with the shoulder into the defender’s chest to knock the defender onto his/her heels and take away the opportunity to recover.
3. Step back at a 45 degree angle with the outside foot (foot furthest from the basket).
4. Land with a quick 1-2 stop (outside foot first, inside foot second) and flow into a smooth one piece shot.

When practicing the step back a good strategy is have the players go through the footwork of the step back without dribbling.  To see this demonstrated go to click on the Basketball BC Video Library link below and see Tara Watts, Rice University, and Canadian National Team member, Teresa Gabriele demonstrating the “step back”:
http://highperformancebasketball.ca/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=196&id=23

One of things to notice in the Duke/Wisconsin clip is that all the players were right-handed and made the step back going to their left.   Right-handed players will have an easier time making the step back move going to their left because their right shoulder is already in proper position to shoot when they step back.  Going to the right the left shoulder is nearer the basket and therefore when the player makes the step back move he/she will need to get their right shoulder slightly ahead of the left shoulder.  Athletes do this by dropping their left foot back behind the right foot which in turn brings the left shoulder behind the right shoulder.  In the video clip notice how Teresa Gabriele, a left-handed shooter, drops her right foot back behind her left foot. 

First Big – Rim Run:

Establishing position is the key to scoring in the post. One of the most important tactics used to acquire great position is the “rim run” – the run from the defendsive end of the floor to basket at the other end.  By sprinting down the middle of the floor a post player can put immediate pressure on the defensive team to cover the basket.

In defensive transition, most teams will assign guards to protect the basket until a post player recovers and can replace the guard.  The race is for the offensive post players to out run the defensive posts.  The offensive post should attempt to establish deep position right at the front of the rim.   At higher levels of play the “rim run” should take the post about 4 seconds with the first three steps being the most important.

A common mistake is for the posts to run to one of the blocks on the key rather than running to the front of the rim.  Running to the block does not put as much pressure on the defenders because defenders can simply stay behind the post to take away the quick score and other defenders are then not forced to help. 

In the first video clip, Robert Sacre contests a shot on the perimeter and then sprints down the middle of the floor.  Sacre runs right to the front of the rim and receives a pass over top for a dunk.  In the still frames at the end of the clip notice that the four perimeter defenders who were back for Michigan State matched up with the four Gonzaga players running wide.  However the hoop was not covered, as the 5th defender, a post, was late in transition.

In the second clip, Canadian National Team member, Tamara Tathum sprints down the middle of the floor and gets ahead of the defender.  She then stops in the middle of the lane, and ‘seals up’ against the Cuban defender to establish great position for a post feed.  Tathum read that her defender was above her and, rather than running right to the hoop, she stopped early to take up more space between her and the basket.

Coaches would want to see their post players competing against each other to see which one would be the ‘first big’ down to the front of the rim.  However, it is not an advantage to have two posts at the front of the rim.  Therefore, the posts need to communicate and only have one should run to the rim and the other space out high.  This spacing will may enable the offence to create high-low opportunities.