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Every basketball player who has attended a camp or received shooting instruction has learned the one-hand form shooting drill. One-hand form shooting is a warm-up for so many basketball players from youth to NBA. Below are a some videos from some respected websites.
Let me start by saying I am a huge, huge, huge proponent of one hand form shooting. I think it is essential to developing the skills required to make a player a consistent shooter with deeper range. However, after decades of teaching one-hand form shooting, I think it is important to make one MINOR adjustment because the traditional one-hand form shooting drill can create some problems that can be detrimental to a player’s shot development.
When selecting basketball drills, t is important to always look at the big picture for development. The ultimate goal of all players is to be able to make shots during a game. So we want to create a game-like environment for shooting drills.
Below are some variations of one hand shooter and a few of the problems with the traditional drills.
One hand form, shooting with hand behind back. It is very common for youth players to get introduced to this drill at an early age. I have never encouraged a player to have his hand behind the back. Usually the player simply has his hand to the side of his body, It is not natural to have a hand held behind the back and NEVER in the history of basketball has someone shot an open game shot with a hand behind their back.
Additionally, having a player have his hand behind his back will often result in twisting the body slightly. One of the biggest shooting problems is most players do not freeze the follow through with BOTH hands at the end of the shot. For these reasons, I strongly discourage completing one hand form shooting with a hand behind the back.
One hand form shooting with guide hand on the side of the head. One variation I have tried in the past is having a player place the guide hand on the side of his head. This is a huge step in the right direction. This variation can be very useful to teaching players to freeze both hands on their follow through. The hand on the head also keeps the shoulders square to the basket, which is very important. It also teaches the player to keep the hand up at the same time as shooting follow through. And for younger kids, this may be a teaching progression you might introduce.
Two hand form shooting with the guide hand slightly off. I must admit this is a recent teaching tool for me (2024). I have seen players train with this method and I was not a huge fan. However, after a little more thought and reflection, I believe this is the best option for one hand form shooting because it replicates nearly 100% what a game shot should look like. It is very, very simple to instruct a player to do make this small adjustment. Simply have the player prepare to take a shot and have him take the guide hand off the ball slightly. One to two inches. Now the player can shoot the one hand form shot that is so critical to becoming an elite shooter and practice freezing the guide hand too.
It should be stressed that the 22 follow through is the goal of all shooters. As you watch high school, youth, college, NBA and WNBA games, look at the really elite shooters and focus on their form and follow through, At times, it may not be perfect. There may be many professional shooters that don’t freeze both hands, but I would say the majority of elite shooters come as close to the 22 follow through as possible. There are always exceptions, but it is nearly 100% true that when there is not a 22 follow through or something close to it a player is a poor and inconsistent shooter.
Being a consistent shooter separates good players from average players. If a player can develop good shooting habits and can practice this drill consistently, the chances of success will improve drastically.