I'm pretty average at basketball. I'm nothing special, but I'm pretty athletic overall so that helps. I'd like to improve my basketball game. I'm afraid if I just start practicing without getting advice I'll develop bad habits. I've never been formally taught anything, I just picked up all the skills the way they felt natural. While it does work for me, and I can sink a few shots now and then, I'm afraid I'm being handicapped by my lack of form/skill/etc.

Let's say I've got an hour or two a day and I want to improve my basketball skills. Be as specific as possible please, because I'm not sure if I'm doing anything right; feel free to explain how to shoot, dribble, etc properly.

I made my highschool varsity team my sophomore year so I know what I'm talking about. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty fucking good. You say you can sink a few shots. This is a good start. If you can already make shots, all yoo need to do is practice your form on shooting. What you want to do is shoot the exact same way every time you shoot.


I'm assuming your on the high school level? Your always gonna come across teams with sorry players because the school has to let them play. What you do is single this kid out and make him look silly. Once you do this, others will be nervous of getting schooled too.



When you dribble, it is important to keep your head up. Only look at the ball when absolutly necessary. Like if someones reaching for a steal or something. If you keep your head up, your gonna see the court and whats going on. You can see what the Defense is doing, what your teammates are doing, and will help you make plays a lot easier.

I'm at the college level.

I try to just practice over and over again, but I don't really see too much improvement (it's got some sway left and right).

I'm shooting with most of the ball on my right thumb, index, and middle finger. The rest are just for guidance. I'd have my wrist back (about 45 degrees), then spring it forward all the way with a quick follow through.

Sounds a little stupid but make sure that your index finger is the last thing to touch the ball and that it's the only finger pointed on your release. Not that I like Kobe but when you see his release his index is pointed at the hoop and his other 3 fingers are relaxed.

When you do shoot just focus on things you know you let slide, a elbow pointed out, that finger I just talked about above, your feet not being squared.

Not that I was ever too great at basketball, but I did have a few coaches who if I bothered to listen to I could have got there.

Sketchy gives some good advice on shooting.
Remember that it takes years of practise to become a really good shooter.

But practise isn't all there is to shooting, it also has a lot to do with confidence. Now here's the catch, I can't just tell you to be confident, neither can your coach, or your family, or anyone for that matter. Real confidence has to come from within.

The way to build it is through successful repetition, the more shots you make, the better you will feel. In practise my method is to treat every shot as a victory, to make a habit of feeling good every time I hear the splash of the ball on the net. Positive reinforcement. Don't punish yourself if you miss a shot, so long as the technique was good that's all you can ask for.

The basics of shooting start at the free throw line. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

- Make sure your feet are positioned shoulder width apart, and are pointing straight at the back board.
- Have your knees bent and your bump out, keep your back straight.
- With your shooting hand gripping the ball in front of you, and your supporting hand at the side of the ball, bring it up so that your shooting arm forms a 90 degree angle at the elbow, cock your wrist back.
- Raise up from your bent knee position, as you're raising up, push the ball forward and up towards the goal with your shooting arm, making sure you flex your wrist forward in a full motion as the ball leaves your hand. As stated above give emphasis to the index and middle finger when releasing.
- You want to make sure you're releasing the ball when your legs become fully extended so that you're transferring the maximum amount of energy to your shot.

Because shooting has a lot to do with hand/eye coordination, you need to know which eye is dominant. A little excersise you can do to figure this out is to outstretch your arms with your hands together. Point your hands inward and make a little hole between your index fingers and your thumbs. Now focus on something through this hole, notice how you can only see through one eye at a time? Which one did you automatically see through? Which ever eye your mind chose to see through first is your dominant eye.

- If you're a left eye dominant player, that is the eye which should be focussed on the centre of the goal when you shoot.

- If you're a right eye dominant player, it will be the right eye.

The important thing to remember is that if you're left eye dominant and right handed, you shouldn't be shooting the ball from your shoulder as you will see some players doing. The same applies if you are right eye dominant and left handed, you will need to shoot from the dead centre of your body to have maximum accuracy. However, if you are a player who is right/right, or left/left then it's a matter of personal preference whether you shoot from the shoulder or from the centre above the head.

As far as your general game is concerned, how many games, casual - pick up, or official do you play in a week? By the sounds of your first post you're new'ish to the game, are you in a team?