In today’s blog post, we are continuing our discussion of 3 Point Shooting Workouts, and shooting drills to maximize your players performance!“ “ Below you will find four great shooting drill suggestions that focus on the catch and shoot, jabs, shot fakes and more!
Shooting Drill: Baseline 3-point shots
This is the corner or baseline 3-point shot. This is a spot on the floor that is often neglected by players in their practice routine. You can practice baseline shots by using any of the shooting techniques – from the catch and shoot, to the shot out of triple threat, to the jab, step back, and shoot.
You want to make sure your players always have their hands up and ready near their shoulders or chest – not only to shoot the ball quicker, but also to give their teammates a target to pass to. This is a great fundamental for shooting.
3-point tips for shorter players:
I’ve talked before about the importance of shorter players mastering the technique of the catch-and-shoot. However, I want to re-emphasize the value of this drill.
Shorter players can make themselves one second quicker and get their shot off much faster if they will learn the catch-and-shoot technique. This can be an invaluable weapon in your quest to become a great basketball player.
For shorter players, especially guards, another invaluable shot for 3-point shooting is the shot off the fast break. The shot off the fast break is a great shot to practice because it is a rhythm shot. It’s easy to master and simple to take. The reality is, if you can shoot in practice 80% from the floor on this shot off the fast break, the chances of your coach giving you a green light are very high.
Shooting Drill: Shot fake and into the lane for a jump shot
An alternative shot to a 3-point weapon has to be a jump shot into the lane. Although this is a 3-point shooting workout, we’re also showing you how to be a more effective player.
In this drill, the player is passing to himself, making a jump stop in a triple threat, then coming back to a catch and shoot with a shot fake, and going to a jump shot in the lane. With this drill, we’re just trying to develop game habits while we work our way out to the perimeter.
Once you get the rhythm of this drill, it’s very easy to do. Incorporate a jump stop and pivot into our practice setting before you actually go through the move. Everything we practice is game situation.
Shot fake into the lane for the jump shot. Now we have him pass to himself using reverse spin on the ball so that he can shot fake out of a catch-and-shoot. We do this because we’re trying to emphasize the catch and shoot whenever we can.
Next, we’re going to add a degree of difficulty to the drill. You can do this with the coach passing to a player or players, as a team drill, passing to each other. As we pass the ball, we’re using a catch-and-shoot and then the players are having to decide which way they need to go depending on where the defender is charging at them – if it’s on the right side or the left side. It’s a faking drill, but it also provides game situation.
You can incorporate this drill only three minutes a day into your practice time and have great results in a game situation. Practice at different baskets and different spots. When you practice 3-point shooting, practice at a different basket on days one, three and five, than you do on days two, four and six. Try to rotate every day to get a feel for shooting on different courts.
Shooting Drill: Shot fake, slide sideways, and shoot the 3
This drill is used to practice a lateral slide for a 3-point shot. There are going to be many situations in games where you have to get a 3-point shot or you’ll have the opportunity to get a 3 when a defender runs by you.
You’re doing a shot fake out of the catch-and-shoot, taking a side dribble to the right, shot fake, side dribble to the left, in order to improve our 3-point shooting opportunities.
Developing a shooting rhythm
If a player is having difficulty in making a shot to one side of the floor or in making a shot out of a specific shooting drill, then they should go and practice an extra set or two sets of that drill every day for a week or even up to a month. At the end of team practice, take an extra set of 10 or even two sets of 10 in order to develop a greater shooting rhythm from the weak spots or shots that you have from the 3-point line.
Shooting Drill: Jab, step back, and shoot
This drill helps your players work on a fake to move the defender backward and then step back and get off a 3-point shot in critical situations.
The player begins in triple threat, makes a good strong jab fake, then steps back and shoots the 3-point shot. When the player jabs forward with the foot, they don’t want to go more than 6″ on the jab.
We don’t want to overextend on our jab because if you overextend, you’re going to give time for the defender to recover and you’re going to take yourself off balance for your shot. When performing a jab fake, you always want to jab low – not long.
As with any fundamental, you want to practice the jab, step back, and shoot, slowly at first and then you can develop rhythm and speed. Make a quick, short faking movement, step back, and shoot the 3.
Do not toe the 3-point line. An important principle to follow when practicing is to give yourself a little bit of extra distance when shooting the 3-point shot. Never toe the 3-point line! This will help you to keep from looking down and breaking your concentration on the shot. The degree of difficulty is no higher; it’s more a mental habit than anything else.
Be sure to check out my previous blog post “Principles & Drills to Improve Your Three-Point Shooting” for more great 3 point shooting drill workouts for your practice!“ And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where you can discuss these and other great shooting drill ideas with other coaches and players!
If you’re a coach looking for practice ideas to develop your team’s skills, check out our complete directory of basketball drills. Or, if you’re an athlete looking for workout ideas, check out our basketball training drills.