02-14-05

It's Valentine's Day, time to remind Little Baby Spalding how much she means to you. I, of course, have renewed my vows to my own special someone, Reet Petite Rawlings.

The coming All-Star break affords a great opportunity for a mini-training camp, which we missed out on when Shaq had his in October. Our best bet to move ahead of Shaq is to lay out a plan to review from the ground up your stance, address, grip alignment, grip pressure, stroke and routine, then put the whole package back together with a delivery that forces you to follow through in a smooth, rhythmic, non-punchy way. Good mechanics will get the directional accuracy back on track, and a rhythmic, repeatable routine and delivery will improve the distance control. There are different ways to coordinate your arms and legs in a rhythmic fashion, and a little experimentation might be necessary to find what will work best for you. Additionally, certain styles are better suited for ironing out a directional problem. Depending on what works, we might be able to find you a perfect pro or college role model. (The guy who shot indoors at the end of your 7 for 20 session has a nice "crouching riser" form that is very directional-friendly.)

Anyway, we need to talk about these things, preferably when you've got the ball in your hands and a full-length mirror close by, so you can try stuff and see how it looks and feels, and tell me "This works" or "That feels awkward" or "That grip causes a funny rotation."

Incidentally, one thing that can cause shots to drift rightward is "thumbing" with your guide hand. It happens when, subconciously, there's too much grip pressure in your left thumb, which messes up an otherwise perfect stroke by pushing the ball to the right maybe 8-12 inches. One reason players shake out their hands, spin the ball and do other loosy-goosey things as part of their pre-shot routine is to remove any tension in their fingers, hands or arms that would take away fluidity and possibly causing thumbing or some other problem. No doubt you've seen Reggie Miller powdering up his hands before free throws. You can't squeeze the ball with powdered fingers. One aid in self-diagnosis is to film practice shots with the camera directly facing you, so you can see how the ball is coming out of your hand. The camera would stay on you throughout the stroke, and you could say on camera that the shot has gone straight, left or right. Maybe you'll see something that you're doing that causes a left or right miss. Just remember, things could always be worse: You could be Shaq.

Coach

 

Jan. 4.

Lee

Before you match Shaq's 15 attempts from Monday night, you might want to experiment with some fine-tuning to enhance your directional accuracy. That seems to have been a problem, above and beyond the difficulties of shooting in the wind and cold. No one shoots the ball perfectly straight every time, but you‚ve been wide left and right a bit too frequently of late.

Twice in the past week you‚ve gone to a new camera angle, behind your right shoulder. This has given me my first extended look at your release point vis-à-vis your face. A directly-facing or directly-behind camera angle would provide a more precise picture
(diagonal angles can be deceiving), but it looks to me that your release point is a tad too centered. That is, the ball APPEARS to be directly above your nose, as opposed to, say, over your right ear or even over your right shoulder. (You can test this yourself by taking your upswing in front of a mirror, pausing at the top of that upswing.)

Having a slightly right-of-center release point makes it easier to keep your shooting elbow under your shooting wrist. That makes it easier to consistently shoot an on-line shot. Your worthy opponent, Shaq, has struggled the past two seasons as his release point has gradually moved from the right of his head to directly above it and maybe even over his left eye. It doesn't make success impossible, but it increases the degree of difficulty. Who needs that?

Some players do fine with a dead-center release point, but they usually have some other distinctive feature about their delivery that makes that release point work for them. It looks like you‚d have better luck right of center. A little experimentation in practice should indicate if an adjustment will help. (Sometimes a slight adjustment can make all the difference in the world.) If you fiddle around with this, when you do so remember to concentrate solely on improving your directional accuracy; don't worry about rhythm or distance control. Once you've got your directional accuracy where you want it and feel comfortable with any change, then you can return your practice focus to the rhythm of your swing/stroke.

You looked a little herky-jerky going 2 for 5 Monday. Remember, the free throw is a swing/stroke, not a punch shot.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

Coach

 

12.17.04

Lee -

I heard your distress signal following your 2-for-9 effort, but before I could answer you went 9-for-16 in 30-degree weather on an outdoor rim far less forgiving than those soft, accepting rims Shaq gets to shoot at. There is no greater b-ball feat than to have a hot hand with frozen fingers. I salute you.

Under such conditions, that 9-for-16 is tantamount to your 14-for-17 masterpiece on that balmy November day. Speaking of which, you should keep handy the video of that 14-for-17 day, to help with visualization.

This FT racket is all about having a rhythmic, repeatable, fundamentally sound delivery, and you had it all that day. I have noticed on a few of your so-so days that your rhythm and timing comes and goes. A quickreview of your 14-for-17 form can help you recapture the feel of that groove, should you lose it.

 

11.10.04

Several of the attempts had an aborted follow through, as if you were trying to take a little bit off the shot because — right there in the middle of your shot — you had a sinking feeling that the shot was about to go way too far. What I’d like you to do is tap into Lee the Golfer and think of the free throw as a putting stroke or 7-iron swing. You don’t want to be someone who hits AT the ball (like Barkley); you want to be the guy who swings the club THROUGH to the finish, as if the ball wasn’t there. You might want to consider pantomiming (without the ball) a practice stroke or two, perhaps with your eyes closed, to concentrate on the FEEL of a completed, smoothly accelerating follow through.

Like Shaq, it is very easy and comfortable for you to shoot the ball 17 feet. Shaq’s got a bad release point that leaves him with too much shooting arm to unwind. Thus, his accelerating arm motion (a good thing) produces a shot that frequently goes much too far. You’re problem might resolve itself with a little bit of practice while visualizing a stroking or swinging motion, and achieving a smooth follow through and holding that follow through. (The thing to do when practicing is to have just one thought in your head at a time — e.g., some attempts where you focus on a rhythmic stroke; when that feels good, try some where you’re focused on completing the follow through. On such attempts, don’t worry about the result; focus on what it FEELS like to stroke the ball, or to follow through. It’s all about building good muscle memory.)

Our long-term goal is to develop a precise, rhythmic stroke/swing and routine that naturally produces — without requiring a bit of thought on your part — a shot that goes 15 feet (give or take a few inches) every time. If missing long continues to be a problem, at some later point we might want to modify your release point just a tad. That is, from the profile angle, the spot where you begin the forward arm motion would be a few inches closer to the basket. As your arms come up into shooting position, you’d want your right forearm to be closer to perpendicular to the ground (straight up and down) than it presently is. You’d be a little bit more like Eric Snow, Jason Kidd or Rip Hamilton, and it would make for a shorter arm motion on the forward stroke. The shorter the motion, the easier it is to achieve an accelerated stroke and completed follow through.

An alignment tip: Line up your right front in the dead center of the FT line, rather than straddling that dead-center mark. (It’s possible you’re doing that already. I can’t tell from the profile angle). The idea is to have your shooting arm, rather than your navel, aligned with the center of the rim.

It’s always darkest before the dawn!