Tips for Using Hudl to Help a Slumping Shooter Find Their Groove
Check our tips for helping your struggling shooter rediscover their shooting stroke.
Following a 2-for-7 outing on Nov. 7, Klay Thompson was shooting a frigid 22.9 percent from 3-point land on the season. One of the best shooters in the league (and maybe NBA history), the Golden State guard had bricked his way to a worse 3-point percentage than Tony Snell, Marcus Smart and Emmanuel Mudiay, players routinely ignored by opposing defenses from deep.
It’s not that Thompson forgot how to shoot. He was just going through something even the game’s finest marksmen experience - a shooting slump. Not even the most prolific shooters are immune to slumps. The question is, how do you escape it?
Thompson clearly found his way. Since the rough start, he’s shooting 47.5 percent and is once again the force of nature that has foes wincing every time he pulls up. You may have some players who aren’t shooting as well as you know they can. Here are four ways Hudl can help get them back on track.
1. Pump up the Positivity
When a shooter is feeling it, the rim looks a lot wider than 18 inches - it appears as cavernous as the Grand Canyon. On the same token, a slump shrinks the hoop to the size of a pinhead, impossibly small to squeeze a basketball into.
This is the mental game that every athlete fights at some point in the season. Most of the time the player’s mechanics are just fine, but his head is in the wrong place. He just needs to be reminded of his ability, and the shot tends to come back quickly.
Be very positive with your players. Stress their talent even amidst some struggles. Create a playlist with clips of hot streaks from previous seasons to remind them of their ability. Pepper in some notes in the video to pump your shooter up.
“If you’re a shooter, you’re going to miss shots,” Ryan Vasquez, the head coach at Sterling High School (Ill.), said. “You still have to be ready to catch and shoot and be able to go. At the same time, kids have to understand, ‘Well, my shot isn’t falling, so what can I do to regain my confidence?’ We go through that on film.”
2. Get Them to the Right Spots
Every player has certain areas of the floor that he’s more comfortable shooting from. Maybe your struggling shooter isn’t finding these spots or you as a coach aren’t running plays that put them in optimum scoring position.
Take a look at your athlete’s shot chart to get an idea of where they’re most accurate from. Try to design plays that will get them more shots from their hot areas, and have them run drills in practice that will help them improve from the cold zones.
“This situation happened to us last year where one of our shooters was in a slump the first couple of games. I pulled up his shot chart and we watched it. We looked at good shots and great shots. Was it a good shot or a great shot? Then we figured out how many times he attacked the basket and got to the free throw line. We just evaluated it to let him know where he stands. They were great shots and they just weren’t falling. How can we correct those?”
“I think it’s just kind of feel thing with the kids. It may be five or ten minutes after practice working with a few extra shooting drills, just reinforcing ‘Hey, you’re a really good shooter. You just need to hit 75 percent today.’ For some kids, it’s, ‘You’re worrying about it way too much. Let’s not shoot after practice today and come back fresh tomorrow.’ That’s one of the intricacies of coaching. You have to get a read for each of your kids.”