“I’m already a good shooter for my age, I know I have some bad habits, but I make shots. Do I still need to change my form?”
This question really gets down to the heart of everything.
No one is a perfect shooter. EVERYONE misses shots and everyone can get better. But at what point do we say “the way you do it is the best way for you”?
Let’s start with this… you NEVER know the answer to that question. There is no threshold or definitive landmark for when you are done working on your shot.
The question becomes even more important when player progress through different age levels. They might be a good shooter for 14 years old, but they are going to moving to high school and need to figure out if they should change their shot or whether their shot will hold up at the next level.
The reality is that every jump in level means the defenders got bigger, smarter, stronger, and faster, and the windows that shooters have to shoot through got smaller. Sometimes this jump in speed exposes flaws in jump shots. A player can execute a decent shot when they have X amount of time, but they move up a level and the amount of time gets shorter and they now aren’t able to get decent results.
Now, the jump in level that a player is about to experience next might not be the level that exposes the flaw. In fact, the player MAY be so talented that they never get a a level that exposes them. (Steph Curry has a far from perfect shot, but he hasn’t been exposed yet). So the answer is never cut and dry, but that doesn’t mean we can ignore the question.
We have a couple of choices.
First, we can just accept that improvement is always possible, and always be trying to get a little bit better.
Second, we can take an educated guess. To do this, all you have to do is play against better quality competition. Find the type of competition you’ll play against at the next level and start playing against them. If your form holds up, great. If not, you’ve got your answer on whether you need to change your shot.
This can just be pick-up games against players a year or two older than you. But be aware of the intensity level. Sometimes you play pick up games against better competition and they don’t really try that hard, then you get into a season and you really learn what intensity is really like.
To summarize, we never really know if someone’s shot will hold up. All we can do is investigate and take educated guesses. But since everyone needs to continue to improve, why wouldn’t you continue to refine your shot?
