Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Emergency Shots

Watch any high school game and some "intermission" shots by young players. They're taking out-of-range and half-court shots for their amusement but NOT improvement. Jay Bilas reminds us "it's not your shot, it's our shot." 

But situations arise where "emergency shots" come into play, especially at the end-of-quarter/half/game and shot clock. What are "emergency shots" for most players? They are the outliers, the 'violations' of good VDE (vision, decision, execution). 
  • Fallaways
  • Turnarounds
  • Distance runners
  • Pump fake threes
  • Double pump jumpers
You can add more but you get the drift. 

As part of individual shooting as a youth, I'd take maybe five percent of these "bad shots" (my coach used alliteration). You know, these are "driveway fantasy" with you the ball and the imaginary clock, "three, two, one...". We've all done it. Note, I do not advocate using team practice time for this. But at the playground or driveway, if you're taking several hundred shots, it's a small investment in your total shooting development. 

Of course, balance is better.