A Conversation For Great Shooting

This is the first in a series of articles on the art and skill of shooting a basketball for this website.

Matt & Dave have invited me to contribute a 500 word article each month, which they will feature here.

FIRST “ARTICLE” AN INTRODUCTION
As I go to write this first article, I thought to introduce myself and the subject, and list some of the many resources on my website where further information is available.

Then, each successive month, I’ll select one topic and write a new piece or edit something from the many writings I’ve already done.

MY GIFT IS TO SEE SHOOTING LIKE FEW HAVE SEEN IT

From my history of being an outstanding high school shooter in Minnesota a long time ago, then losing my touch and confidence in college, and then rediscovering it 32 years later at age 50, I’ve been given a tremendous gift of seeing how great shooting is possible and how to break it down.

During these last 16 years I’ve also been trained in how to coach, so now I can offer both the technique of extraordinary shooting and a way of learning and coaching it.

In 1997 I created my first shooting video called “Swish” and started my website, http://www.swish22.com. You can read about more of my background there.

SHOOTING IS STILL IN THE DUMPSTER!
As I watch games in person and on TV, I continue to see poor to mediocre to “streaky” shooting at all levels. Exceptions exist, like the extraordinary J.J. Redick from Duke and Adam Morrison from Gonzaga, but most players are lost when it comes to shooting.

A team just lost to Duke by 10 points while shooting 6 for 21 from the Line, 29%. Before they made their last two when the game was already decided, they had shot 4 for 19. Let’s see, lose by 10 points, miss 15 free throws. There seems to be a correlation there, don’t you think?

Duke, meanwhile, made 29 for 36, 81%. If this losing team could have made just 75% of their Free Throws, they would have made 16 and theoretically won by 2 points!!!

From the games I see, many high school teams don’t even have one great shooter. A Division I college team from the east scored only 21 points in a 41-21 loss recently.

Missing free throws is so common it hardly generates a stir. In the NBA, it seems to me most of the few great shooters now are the international players. I’ll write about that next month.

I’VE WRITTEN A LOT ON THE SUBJECT
Let me refer you, in this first article, to the body of work I’ve written over these past 9 years. I’ll be delving into these archives often to pull out and edit articles for this series.

NEWSLETTERS
Refer to the monthly Shooting Newsletter page on my website to see the archives of 80 back issues and a simple way to subscribe for yourself. There are over 4,000 subscribers at this time. The Dec. issue of each year indexes all the prior issues by subject/category.

ARTICLES & REVIEWS
Refer to the Articles/Reviews page to see articles by me and about me and my coaching.

TESTIMONIALS
On my Testimonials page at http://www.swish22.com you will see hundreds of testimonials I’ve received over the years. I’ll be adding comments pertaining to Swish 2 at a fairly quick rate. Before they appear on this page, I often publish them in a Shooting Newsletter.

ENDORSEMENTS
Go to http://www.swish22.com and click the endorsements link for for some of the top coaches and players who endorse the Swish Method.

A CONVERSATION “FOR” IMPROVED SHOOTING
This series will focus on the positive, what’s possible, more than on the current state of affairs. The most wonderful thing is how “simple” shooting can be. When you understand it, you’ll see the technique in the few shooters you encounter … and the absence of it in everyone else.

IT’S HOW THE GREAT SHOOTERS SHOT/SHOOT
What I coach can be seen as the way the greatest shooters have always shot. Players like George “Iceman” Gervin shot this way in the 70’s and 80’s, and Chris Mullin, Steve Kerr, Detlef Schrempf more recently, to name a few. Diana Taurasi, from UConn and the 2004 “Rookie of the Year” in the WNBA, shoots this way now for the Phoenix Mercury.

What I teach is not something new or weird. It’s how most of us would have evolved in our shooting progress if coaches didn’t tell us to “Square up,” “Flip your wrist,” or “Point the elbow at the target.”

It’s how a young kid would naturally learn to shoot if he or she wasn’t obsessed with the 3-pt shot or the dunk and instead spent time observing and correcting the stroke.

I TEACH PLAYERS TO COACH THEMSELVES
Bottom line, my coaching prepares players in how to coach themselves when they go onto a court.

That’s how it’s eventually going to work.

Being dependent on someone to tell you what to do is a dead end. Coaching can inspire and demonstrate, but the learning comes from within, through awareness of experience and lots of practice, not from being told what’s right or wrong.

“SWISH” CAME OUT IN 1997, “SWISH 2” JUST LAST MONTH!
I now have two shooting videos out. The first one, Swish, released in early 1997 and 56 minutes long, is a “classic,” an inspired video that presents the “Basics” of this way of shooting. It’s been highly acclaimed by coaches and players from around the world.

Swish 2 is the “Application” of the Swish Method, two hours long, showing in detail how to learn and coach this simple-yet-powerful Method.

The two together form a wonderful package, a complete system, for player and coach alike. We offer this “package” for a discounted price. See my website for the order form for the information on how to order them.

Thanks for reading this. I look forward to writing and editing these articles and sharing my ideas in this new venue. Thanks, Matt & Dave, for the opportunity!

– – Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach