I received this email today:
I purchased 180 shooter last spring and worked with my son intensely last off-season on phase one. Now that we are in the off-season again, we are into phase 2 and i am struggling with visualizing the 1-2 steps and inside foot. Do you have any links to video demonstrating or some additional pictures? Any help would be useful. FYI, my son was a 156 shooter this season (73-FT, 50-Field, 33-3pt) and they made it to the state championship game! He led his team in FG and FT percent and 2nd for 3-point percent.
The videos to explain the 1-2-step and inside-pivot foot are below.
However, this email caught my attention because of the dedication to the phases described in 180 Shooter. Few players have the patience to limit themselves to specific types or locations of shots. Instead, most players (and coaches and trainers) are content to progress with less than optimal form and accept mediocre results. It takes a special player to have the discipline to master one phase before progressing.
I trained a college player one summer who wanted to change her shot. She was playing in a summer league, and she was known as the designated shooter. She spent the summer driving to the basket because her new technique was not automatic, and she did not want to interfere with her learning process by shooting threes during the games. By the end of the summer, she had made her shot quicker and regained her status as the team’s top three-point shooter. It was her willingness to postpone gratification that enabled her to improve so quickly.
1-2-Step
Inside Pivot Foot
Hey Brian, I have a question about the inside pivot: why? I have always used my left foot as the pivot into a shot (I am right handed). I have heard this instruction to use the inside foot as the pivot foot into shots and wondered why that is taught. Is there a mechanical/physiological advantage to it? I have also heard others advocate using the same foot like I do, so I wonder if this is tradition or if there’s other reasons behind it.
I’ve been experimenting with using the inside foot (my right) when moving left and I can do it, but it feels a bit awkward.
Just curious. Thanks in advance.
The permanent pivot vs. inside pivot foot is one of the bigger disagreements in basketball. Here is my perspective:
1. The permanent pivot foot derives from a jab-step mentality. Players and coaches want to use the jab step and make a move and believe that jabbing with the left foot and then shooting (for a righty) is awkward. They are probably right. I do not come from a jab-step mentality, which I’ve written about before. I believe you catch to shoot or catch and go because you are most open when you first receive the pass: why wait for a defender to catch up to make a second move?
I worked an “elite” camp that spent hours teaching the jab step. I watched the top players play versus the college team at the end of the camp. I did not see one player make one of the jab step moves that was taught during the camp. It’s practiced far more than it is used in games.
2. I favor an inside pivot foot because I believe players need to use both feet as they can use both hands.
3. A jab and crossover move is the most common move for a jab step. Most right-handed player prefer to drive right. To use a jab and crossover move and drive right requires a right-foot pivot foot.
As for shooting, I think the inside pivot helps with balance. I see a lot of players who over-stride with their right foot step-in because they do not decelerate with their left foot (first step).
As for learning, any new method feels awkward at first. I was taught as a jump-stop shooter. I taught myself the 1-2-step when I finished playing. I use both methods due to habit and situation.
I worked a camp for a very prominent coach who is an adamant jump-stop proponent. However, I watched the team’s best shooter, and he shot with a 1-2-step. I asked another player why we spent so much time on the jump-step-shot with the campers if the best shooter used a 1-2-step. The player said that he was the best shooter, so the coaches let him do whatever he wants. I asked why we weren’t learning from the best shooter, as opposed to employing the method used by the average shooters. He had no answer.
With older players, we tend to use more permanent pivot. However, they have learned to use both feet first. There are times when each is appropriate. If you can use both feet, then I think that you have more tools in the toolbelt to use. Many disagree. I think part of the disagreement goes back to my education vs. training argument:
http://learntocoachbasketball.com/is-the-goal-of-coaching-to-educate-or-to-train
I am an educative coach; many create a training environment.
Brian
What about the little hop before the shot that many (seems like more and more) players are using today? They catch, hop and shoot. Other than the fact that its a walk (rarely called) any thoughts about effectiveness of this move?
First, it is not an automatic travel. If the player catches with one foot on the ground, hops, and lands on two feet, that is a legal jump stop. However, the player has no pivot foot in this case. That is the aspect of the rule that officials miss constantly. They must catch, shoot, pass, or dribble without moving either foot. If they catch with two feet on the ground, jump, and land, then it’s a travel.
Second, I think it is lazy footwork. Since it also leads to inevitable travels, whether called or not, when the player does not shoot, I dislike it. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. Coaches in the northwest must teach it because every player used it when I coached in Oregon. It’s lazy and poor footwork to me, and it’s a call that I wish officials would emphasize rather than ignoring.
Third, I also think it’s slow. I think it’d be most effective to lure a defender to blow past him or her, but that’s problematic because of the likelihood of a travel. It’s not something that I would teach or promote.