A few years ago I was watching a women's professional ABL basketball game and I was struck by how ineffective were the shooting styles of most of them. Only a few were what I would call good or great shooters. I see the same in the men's game, at all levels, still today. Few really understand how to shoot "lights out" ... all the time! The thought occurred to me that, though I can see what the problems are, probably most coaches are not seeing what I see. This article is an attempt to describe what to look for. If you see these danger signs, realize your team needs to work on shooting because the flaws I point out are probably going to lead to missed shots. Missed shots at crucial times will lose games.

Suggestions for improving your basketball shot. Not the usual kind of coaching, but you'll find it's the way of the great shooters.

Let me ask you some questions, and then I'll respond. First remember that shooting is at a low ebb in this country, and we need to question all the coaching out there, including mine!

Recently I had a chance to coach a group of kids in two sessions, two to three weeks apart. When we had some competitive games during the second session, I could see that some had really started to incorporate the new teaching into their shots and others had not. I could see where the shot breaks down after some learning has taken place. Of course it's because old habits are hard to break. And some had done more practice than others. But I thought to comment on what I feel can be done to keep the new learning up front rather than slipping into the background.