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.

The Lower Body

The Feet – The lower body (feet, and legs) are very important, because if you don’t have them facing the basket, you aren’t going to come close to making the shot.  The first thing is the feet.  You want to have them even, and shoulder with apart.  In a perfect world, you would want them facing the basket, but if they are facing the general area of the basket (and are facing in the same direction) you are usually good.  5 of your shooters have their feet in the proper position, the one who doesn’t is Channing Frye.  Frye’s feet are pointing to each other.  The problem with that is now you aren’t on balance, so when you life off for your shot, you don’t get a consistent lift or landing.

The Legs -

Just as with your feet, you want to have your legs shoulder with apart and even.  The knees should be slightly bent (because you are getting yourself ready to jump).  Channing Frye again doesn’t have proper leg placement, and this all starts with his feet.  Because they are pointing in, his knees have to follow.  Which is why he has a bowlegged look when he shoots.

The Follow Through

The Wrists – Along with the hand positioning, the follow through is also key when you are talking about rotation.  You need to snap your wrist hard enough so you can get the ball really spinning.  As you do that, you need to keep your left hand from affecting the basketball.  Most shooters are able to keep their left hand at the side of the ball without it affecting the shot.  Some can’t though.  The solution, do what Danilo Gallinari does.  Notice how is left hand is lower than the others?  Well, this is because he slides his hand down as he begins his follow through.  My guess is that he does this because his left hand has the tendency to get involved with the shot.  I actually had this same problem growing up, and my AAU coach taught me the technique  to slide the hand down to prevent your off-hand from getting involved in the shot.  It worked pretty well.

The Landing

Set Shooters – All of the participants of this year’s competition are set shooters.  Most good three point shooters are set shooters, because if you are a jump shooter taking 5 or 6 threes a game (while participating in other basketball-related activities), you are going to tire yourself out pretty quickly.  So set shooters don’t go up and down landing in the same spot.  What they do is jump forward, landing slightly in front of where they take off.  The landing is pretty important in terms of shooting form because if you land facing the same direction as you took off in, that means there was no twisting of your hips during the shot, and that means that everything went smoothly.  Take a look at Cook though.  Notice that his hips are turned as he is landing.  Now this is probably just because of the contest (he seemed to be rushing to get another ball), but these turned hips mean he was pulling away from the follow through and that probably affected his shot.  As a matter of fact, that definitely affected his shot (I believe he had the lowest first round score).