With the All-Star game tied, the Eastern All-Stars had the ball on the side and Stan Van Gundy drew up a play.  The play was designed to get LeBron the ball and let him work out of an ISO set.  To the disappointment of the East (and to the 108,000 in attendance) the play was well defended and LeBron wasn’t able to get his buzzer beater attempt off:

The play is designed for LeBron to come up the middle and off of a Dwight Howard screen.  As this happens, Dywane Wade and Paul Pierce switch.  The purpose of this is to prevent their defenders from helping on LeBron’s drive after he makes the catch.

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The three point contest on All-Star Saturday brings 6 of the best three point shooters in the NBA (and one of the best shooters in the history of the game, depending on who you believe), and I think this contest is the perfect chance to break down some shooting forms.

Despite every shooter in the NBA having a different shooting form, there are four basic things that should be the same (and that are the same among the best shooters in the NBA). They are the hands, the lower body, the follow through, and the landing.  I thought it would be interesting to put these shooters side by side, and break down their shots at these four points.

The Hands

Hand positioning – Hand positioning is key because this is where your rotation comes from (maybe my favorite part of the three point contest is watching the competitors shoot the money ball.  Seeing the almost perfect rotation is fun to watch).  Rotation is important on your shot because this is what helps a shooter get some good bounces.  I am sure everyone has heard of the saying “shooters roll.”  Well if you think about it, this is only said about good shooters, and this is because they put the proper rotation on the ball.

As you can see, all of the players hand positioning is basically the same.  You have the right hand right in the middle of the basketball, and the left on the side, supporting it. Cook’s form is a little funky (he takes his left hand off the ball super-early), but he still has his right hand in the center of the basketball, so it works.   The only shooter who doesn’t have the right hand positioning is Channing Frye.  His left hand is too much on top of the basketball, and his right isn’t in the center of the ball.  The result can be seen in Frye’s rotation.  Instead of the perfect end over end rotation you usually see, Frye’s balls have a side-winding type of rotation, with the ball going end over end, but it also spins from right to left.

Release Point – Now everyone’s release points here are different, but that is ok as long as the hands are in the right spots.  I just thought it was interesting to look at how the taller guys (Danilo Gallinari and Channing Frye) have higher release points.  This helps get their shots off, because if they keep it high, nobody contesting the shot would ever be able to block it.

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