I love basketball. High school, college, pee-wee, it doesn't really matter to me. Just give me players with passion for the game, competing their hardest against each other, and I'm good to go. However, that slightly changed this past weekend. I went to check out the local high school play-offs and was shocked by the overall poor shooting. In the four championship games I watched, all of them featuring players that will play college basketball next year, the best offense was "chuck and chase": throw the ball in the general direction of the rim and fight like a crazed dog for the offensive rebound and put-back opportunities. I know the big arena and the reliance on the three-point shot were partly to blame for the poor shooting night, but it resulted primarily from players' poor hand positioning on the ball when they shot it and their failure to catch the ball ready to shoot.

The main areas that most coaches concentrate on are the shoulders and elbow when correcting a player's poor basketball shooting techniques. But the problem in most of these cases tends to be that the hand positioning negatively impacts the player's shot, regardless of the shoulder or elbow. The first thing to do is make sure the player correctly positions his shooting hand on the ball; in order to do this, players should have their shooting hand centered directly under the ball when they shoot. Now when you shoot, the index and middle fingers should be the last two fingers to leave the ball; that's why it makes sense to have these two fingers centered.

There are three ways to make this happen: first, you can split your index and middle fingers with the ball's nozzle (the ball's center); or, you can align your middle finger with the ball's center; or, put your index finger in the center of the ball. All three work and make sense: if the goal is to shoot with your index and middle finger leaving the ball last, then both of them should be equally centered; but, if you are centering your middle finger toward the rim in a shooting motion, it's your index finger, not your middle finger, that points straight to the rim, while your body's physiology points your middle finger slightly to the right for a right-handed shooter.

My shooting philosophy is pretty simple; make the player confident and comfortable when shooting the ball. So I go with one of the three approaches that is most comfortable for the player. The only problem is when the player has his shooting hand on the side of the ball. The shooting hand has to be centered using one of the three approaches.

The next hand placement issue is pointing your hand at the target. Again, most coaches and trainers focus on getting the elbow straight or the shoulders squared to the basket first; but, many players already have their elbow in naturally, but must twist their wrist to the target as part of the shot. When the player's hand is properly under the ball, with a "wrinkle in the wrist," you'll notice a small indentation at the base of the palm when you're getting ready to shoot. As the player lifts the ball to shoot, the indentation should be directed toward the target. This ensures that the ball is shot straight towards the target. If the player twists their hand and wrist as they shoot, they add another variable, and decreases your shooting consistency.

These simple elements will improve a shooter's technique and turn them into a consistent shooter. But, to be a great shooter, players also have to improve the base of their shots. The base is the foundation for a successful shot, plain and simple. If a player has a poor foundation, his shot will be really inconsistent. In order to improve the foundation, teach him to be ready to shoot when he receives the pass. So many bad and poor shots are taken because the player takes too long to catch and shoot, and ends up letting the defense recover; when the player is receiving the pass, make sure that his feet are wide (about shoulder width apart), knees bent, and hands up and ready.

Furthermore, players have to use their leg drive to power their shot. Most players shoot a jump shot, but they tend to shoot the ball on its way down, eliminating the power generated by the players leg drive. When the ball is shot on the way up, earlier in the jump, the player will harness the power generated by the leg drive when jumping, and increase the player's power. This will help to increase the arc on the ball when it's shot; most inconsistent or streaky shooters shoot a very flat shot, one that has little room for error. When a player shoots with more arc, they player has a better chance of making the shot into the rim from above.

Improving these three areas will not automatically make you a great shooter, but they will instantly help a player to create a more consistent shot. Change is difficult at times, and players who have taken hundreds of thousands of shots have built and reinforced bad habits that are difficult to change. However, for a player to reach his full shooting potential, he has to learn to shoot consistently. The game is really simple; whoever puts the ball in the hole the most wins. By tweaking a player's hand placement when he lifts the ball into his shot, concentrating on receiving the pass prepared to shoot and then using a solid leg drive, a player's shot will become more consistent, creating a better overall offensive player.