BALL-HANDLING: OVERLOADING TRAINING

Incorporate overloading into your ball-handling work. Only spend about three minutes per workout on overloading concepts, and remember to pay attention to your limits. If you start sacrificing form,
scale back, and work up to an overloading concept again.

• Ball-handling overloading work: combine the following concepts to create your own overloading       circuits, both stationary and on the move:
• Two-ball pound
• Two-ball alternating pound
• Two-ball crossover, between the legs, and behind the back
• Tennis ball toss-and-catch
• Tennis ball bounce-catch, toss-catch
• Tennis ball + ball-handling concepts (crossover, between, and behind)
• Tennis ball off-the-wall

your daily training template can be based on this outline:
• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at the free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of the key): 40 total shots
• Finishing at the rim: 60 total shots
• Curl, pop, and fade: 50 total shots
• Ball screen work: 10 minutes total (5 minutes left side and 5 minutes right side)
• Ball-handling overloading work: 3 minutes total
• Stationary ball-handling circuit

BALL-HANDLING: OVERLOADING

To become a better ball-handler, Stephen relies on drills that not only increase his physical endurance but also overload his brain cognitively. Such overloading exercises, like practicing with two
basketballs instead of one, or handling a tennis ball in one hand and a basketball in the other, make dribbling a single basketball during games seem easy by comparison. When overloading,
Stephen never sacrifices his mechanics for speed.

Stephen looks beyond the physical drill itself when doing overloading work. Sometimes, when Stephen stresses his brain trying to focus on the overloading exercise, he forgets to breathe. Making mistakes is natural and overcoming them is a sign that you’re pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone and becoming a better player. If you’re never making mistakes or if you don’t feel challenged by your workouts, you’re probably not improving or extending your abilities as substantially as you can and should.

OFF SCREENS: CURL, POP, AND FADE TRAINING

• Curl, pop, and fade: Set up a chair as the screener, and make sure you have a partner to pass the ball to you as you come around the screen. Focus on your footwork and catching the ball in a shot-ready position.

your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 40 total shots
• Finishing at the rim: 60 total shots
• Curl, pop, and fade: 50 total shots

• Curl to basket right: 5 shots
• Curl to floater right: 5 shots
• Curl to jumper right: 5 shots
• Straight line pop right: 5 shots
• Corner fade right: 5 shots
• Curl to basket left: 5 shots
• Curl to floater left: 5 shots
• Curl to jumper left: 5 shots
• Straight line pop left: 5 shots
• Corner fade left: 5 shots

• Ball screen work: 10 minutes total (5 minutes left side and 5 minutes right side)

CRUL TO FLOATER LEFT

CURL TO FLOATER RIGHT

CURL TO JUMPER RIGHT

STRAIGHT LINE POP

STRAIGHT LINE POP RIGHT

CORNER FADE LEFT

CORNER FADE RIGHT

OFF SCREENS: CURL, POP, AND FADE

Stephen shares five methods he uses to create space from his defenders and take shots after exiting screens. You can practice all of these techniques at home with a chair. Remember, you initiate each play by standing underneath the net.

On the curl to the rim, hug your screener as you power forward with your inside foot, meet the ball with all 10 fingers, curl back to the basket, then finish with a layup.

On the curl to floater, curl then align your knees to the basket while inside the key—stop your forward momentum then jump straight up to avoid fouling a defender. Finish high and get a good
spin on the ball as you release it.

On the curl jumper, remember to square your feet with the basket after catching the ball. On the straight line pop, square your body to the basket, load your hips, and lead with whatever foot lets you take a shot-ready position with the least amount of footwork (usually your outside foot), then shoot. On the corner fade, push off your screener’s body to get leverage to change your direction as you exit the screen. When you practice these moves, focus on your footwork.

SCORING AT THE RIM TRAINING

TRAINING:

• Finishing at the rim: Starting at the top of the key, practice different finishes from each side of the basket.

your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 40 total shots
• Finishing at the rim: 60 total shots

• Right-handed layups: 10 shots
• Left-handed layups: 10 shots
• Right-handed, cross-the-lane layups: 5 shots
• Left-handed, cross-the-lane layups: 5 shots
• Two-foot floater right: 5 shots
• Two-foot floater left: 5 shots
• One-foot floater left: 5 shots
• One-foot floater right: 5 shots
• Sidestep floater right: 5 shots
• Sidestep floater left: 5 shots
• Ball screen work: 10 minutes total (5 minutes left side
and 5 minutes right side)

SCORING AT THE RIM

To be a versatile and dominant scorer, you must have the ability to shoot with both your right and left hands. The rules for scoring are simple but require robust foundational skills and muscle memory that only come from dedicated and persistent practice:

• Rely on strong shooting mechanics.
• Be under control.
• Always be shot-ready.
• Protect the ball with your opposite shoulder.
• Check the game clock—the amount of time left on the
countdown will determine the pace at which you should
develop the play.
• Cultivate a proficient basketball IQ that helps you
overcome the defense’s strategy.

Remember, don’t develop the play without first accounting for and working around the defense’s position. If tall defenders are crowding the key, you might try shooting a one-foot floater to quickly release the ball before they have a chance to guard against your shot. The help defense’s position will often determine if you should attempt a layup or a floater.

On the two-foot floater, keep your feet shoulder-width apart. Stop your body’s forward momentum completely before you launch upward to avoid fouling a defender. The one-foot floater, similar to its two-foot counterpart, is more fluid and generally taken at a further distance from the basket. The sidestep floater is a clever tactic to create space from your defender. To practice it, hard-pound dribble the ball into your shot pocket, sidestep, then shoot. With all floaters, remember to square your body with the basket.

HOW STEPHEN CURRY UTILIZES THE BALL SCREENS SO EFFECTIVELY

Stephen reviews game footage to show the screening tactics he and his teammates use to score against strong defenses. To dominate the court with effective ball screens, it takes the quick
decision-making and keen awareness of an entire team, not just a single player.

As a ball-handler, the bulk of the work is on you to ensure a successful screen and driving lane to the basket. Simple tactics like pull dribbles and plyo steps can get your defender off balance, giving your screener a better chance at blocking them and opening up a lane for you to drive the ball to the basket. The dribble handoff is another screening technique, in which the screener starts with the ball and hands it off. Approach the dribble handoff like a ball screen: stay close to your screener as
they hand you the ball, giving them the best chance to block your defender. After exiting the screen, use your opposite shoulder to shield the ball from your defender as you finish at the rim or
prepare to take your shot from further out in the field.

A successful pump fake hinges on timing. Once your defender jumps—fooled by your initial pump to the basket—take your real shot as they start to fall back down. Since you’re on your way up as your defender is on the way down, there’s no way your defender can guard against your shot.

Stephen’s relatively short stature makes him a more nimble player, so he likes to match himself up against larger defenders who are less agile than he. Learning to read the defense to match yourself against defenders who can’t effectively guard against your strengths will help make you a more strategic and successful player overall. Keep in mind that you may have to adapt your winning strategy in the face of a dynamic defense. Defensive tactics may change over the course of an entire career, season, or game. Don’t let yourself and your team stagnate—adjust your offense accordingly to effectively beat an evolving defense.

Watch how ball screens unfold during real NBA games, and be on the lookout for them the next time you catch a game on television. Can you spot the techniques Stephen teaches during a live game? Look out for ball-handlers starting at the level of the screen, getting low and grabbing the screener’s calf, surveying the floor after coming around the screen, and rejecting the screen.

UTILIZING THE BALL SCREENS EFFECTIVELY TRAINING

• Ball screen work: Use a chair to stand in for the screener, and practice scoring off of the screen. Practice starting at the level of the screen, imagining different defensive reads, and:

• Stepping back into a jumper
• Going around the screen for a jumper from the elbow or nail
• Rejecting the screen and shooting
• Scoring at the rim
• (See diagram for chair placement suggestions.)

your daily training should look like this:
• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 40 total shots
• Ball screen work: 10 minutes total (5 minutes left side
and 5 minutes right side)

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF BALL SCREENS IN BASKETBALL

Every basketball player should master the ball screen, a key component to a successful offensive strategy As the ball-handler, it’s your job to set up the screen by directing your teammate to a specific location on the court. Keep level with your screener’s position to prevent your defender from shooting the gap between you and your screener. As you initiate the screen, stay tight to the screener by staying low and touching their shoulder or calf. Reject the screen if your defender shoots the gap around the screen. Alternatively, curl to the basket if your defender follows you through the screen.

As you exit the screen, keep your eyes up and survey the floor to decide whether you should pass the ball or drive it to the basket. Look for your screener to be open for a pass if he or she rolls to
the basket. If you decide that driving the ball to the basket is your best choice, avoid drifting laterally on the court. Keep your shoulders squared with the basket to protect the ball from shot-blockers,
and don’t take your shot underneath the net. Instead, take off from a healthy distance in front of the basket so that defenders can’t reach the ball from behind, then lay it in.

Practice reading defenses with a partner. Set up a chair as a stand-in for a screen and, with a partner, alternate playing defense and handling the ball. The person who has the ball should start at the level of the screen and drive the defender towards the chair. Then, the defender decides to either run into the screen, fight over the top of the screen, or shoot the gap, and the ball-handler can read and react according to Stephen’s advice. See if you can notice any subtle clues in your partner’s body language that help you know which way he or she is headed earlier in the play.

HOW STEPHEN CURRY CREATES SPACE

Stephen reviews game footage to show how he and his teammates create space from their defenders during games. You can’t direct your defender—basketball isn’t choreographed—but you can watch for cues to predict what they might do next. Learn to read your defender’s balance, position, and intention. Knowing how to identify what they’ll do next in order to exploit it will make you a more versatile and strategic player.

Basketball IQ is a measure of a player’s intelligence on the court. A well-nurtured one can help any player analyze and predict what their opponents will do and how they’ll do it, helping gain the
upper hand on the court. As a shooter, Stephen relies on his and his teammates’ basketball IQs to read and break down the defense’s strategy so they can create opportunities to get the ball in the basket.

If you find yourself the target of a disrespectful defense on the court, don’t let them frustrate you. Stephen emphasizes the importance of confidence on the court. Being positive and not
letting a cruel and disrespectful defense eat away at the faith you have in yourself is crucial to a winning strategy. Remember that if the defense disrespects you, that means they consider you a
threat to their success. Wear that disrespect like a badge, keep on playing the game that you love, and continue to improve every day.

Review NBA game clips to see how some of your favorite shooters beat their defenders. Can you identify any of the techniques Stephen mentions like jabs, crossovers, and pull dribbles? What are their favorite tactics to create space from defenders? Write down the combinations that you see players use, and try building your own combinations based on their moves.

CREATING SPACE FROM YOUR DEFENDER TRAINING PHASE

Push yourself to get tighter with your mechanics, increase your accuracy, and try new combinations with your four-way pickup shooting.

your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 40 total shots

FILM SESSION: CREATING SPACE AND BEATING YOUR DEFENDER

Stephen reviews game footage to show how he and his teammates create space from their defenders during games. You can’t direct your defender—basketball isn’t choreographed—but you can watch for cues to predict what they might do next. Learn to read your defender’s balance, position, and intention. Knowing how to identify what they’ll do next in order to exploit it will make you a more versatile and strategic player. Basketball IQ is a measure of a player’s intelligence on the court.
A well-nurtured one can help any player analyze and predict what their opponents will do and how they’ll do it, helping gain the upper hand on the court. As a shooter, Stephen relies on his and
his teammates’ basketball IQs to read and break down the defense’s strategy so they can create opportunities to get the ball in the basket.

If you find yourself the target of a disrespectful defense on the court, don’t let them frustrate you. Stephen emphasizes the importance of confidence on the court. Being positive and not letting a cruel and disrespectful defense eat away at the faith you have in yourself is crucial to a winning strategy. Remember that if the defense disrespects you, that means they consider you a threat to their success. Wear that disrespect like a badge, keep on playing the game that you love, and continue to improve
everyday.

TAKE IT FURTHER

Review NBA game clips to see how some of your favorite shooters beat their defenders. Can you identify any of the techniques Stephen mentions like jabs, crossovers, and pull dribbles? What are their favorite tactics to create space from defenders? Write down the combinations that you see players use, and try building your own combinations based on their moves.

HOW TO CREATE SPACE FROM YOUR DEFENDER

Scoring against a defender is all about forcing them to make a decision, then reacting according to what the defender decides. Pay attention to your defender’s feet, hands, and nose: their positions can indicate how you should handle the ball and give you opportunities to create space using jabs, jab steps, and crossovers. Use your shoulder against your defender’s chest to leverage more space, making your body a shield between your defender and the ball.

A pull dribble is a simple tool for making defenders react, so you can read them and counter. If, when you pull dribble, your defender doesn’t guard you tightly enough, you can use a plyo step to explode past them. If the defender squares you up, you can step back into space to shoot. If the defender overcommits, you can counter and beat him or her in the opposite direction. When creating space from a tight defender, Stephen has three main goals: disrupt their balance, protect the ball, and create a driving lane to the basket.

TRAINING: PHASE

your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 40 total shots

HOW TO SHOOT THE BALL OF THE DRIBBLE- TRAINING

Add movement and ball-handling to pickup shooting

• Four-way pickup shooting: Move into space while dribbling into your pickup shot. Start by adding moves with single-pound dribbles: toward the basket, away from the basket, and laterally. Then start to incorporate the basic ball-handling moves and various combinations as you move to your shot.

• As you add ball-handling concepts to the four-way pickup shooting, continue to pick a concept to focus on each day. One day you might focus on the crossover for both stationary pickup shooting and four-way pickup shooting; another day you might focus on a dribble combination for each.

Your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• Moving ball-handling circuit
• Angled ball-handling circuit
• Pickup shooting (at the free-throw line): 20 total shots
• One-ball pound left + shoot: 5 shots
• One-ball pound right + shoot: 5 shots
• One-ball pound left + shoot: 5 shots
• One-ball pound right + shoot: 5

• Pickup shooting + ball-handling concepts (at
free-throw line): 10 total shots
• Crossover left to right + shoot: 5 shots
• Crossover right to left + shoot: 5 shots
• NOTE: Each day, focus on a different move
here—Monday might be crossover; Tuesday,
between the legs; Wednesday, behind the
back; and Thursday and Friday, a different
combination each day.

• Four-way pickup shooting (at free-throw line/top of
key): 30 total shots
• Right-hand pound toward basket: 5 shots
• Left-hand pound toward basket: 5 shots
• Right to left crossover step-back: 5 shots
• Left to right crossover step-back: 5 shots
• Lateral right pull dribble: 5 shots
• Lateral left pull dribble: 5 shots
• NOTE: Similarly, work on different
ball-handling moves or combinations each day,
focusing intently on your mechanics.

HOW TO SHOOT THE BALL OFF THE DRIBBLE

As you begin to combine your ball-handling and shooting foundations, I advise you to remain in control and maintain confidence. Don’t whip your body around when you move sideways—instead, keep your hips and shoulders squared up in a straight line to maintain balance. When moving laterally, never move toward your defender, this will affect your driving angle. When stepping backward, keep your nose behind your toes. Most importantly, when you have the ball in your hands never take your eyes off the basket to look at the ball. A confident shooter instinctively knows where the ball is at all times, and can coordinate it without watching it.



Watch how some of your favorite players shoot off the dribble, paying close attention to their footwork and shooting mechanics, and how they combine the two. Do their mechanics change when they shoot off the dribble versus when they shoot off the catch? Can you notice ways they could become more efficient ball-handlers to develop a quicker release? 

HOW TO HANDLE THE BASKETBALL ON THE MOVE

Becoming a confident ball-handler will give you the skills to create space from your defenders, pave driving lanes to the basket, take contact from any defender, and make effective shots at the rim without losing your grip on the ball. Controlling your body in tandem with the basketball is key when ball-handling on the move.

Once you build a solid stationary foundation, begin introducing simple footwork drills into your workouts to practice ballhandling in motion. Keep your heels lifted and remember to step
on the balls of your feet to make yourself as mobile as possible. To avoid hitting your foot with the ball, avoid dribbling too close to your feet. Instead, push the ball out in front of you and follow it with your body. Remember to keep your eyes up at all times to continually survey the court, and train yourself to resist the urge to glance at the ball in your hands. Above all, when in motion, always let the ball guide your footwork: lead with the ball, and follow it with your feet.

TRAINING: PHASE

• Moving ball-handling circuit: Start at the baseline and walk while dribbling the ball to the free-throw line. Then walk backward as you return to the baseline.

• Angled ball-handling circuit: Starting at the baseline, zigzag towards the free-throw line. Take two steps at an angle to your right, then two steps at an angle to your left. When you reach the free-throw line, walk backward at an angle to the baseline.

• Only add the angled movement circuit when you can comfortably move forward and backward in a straight line for the entire moving ball-handling circuit.

your training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• Stationary ball-handling circuit (3 minutes total)
• Moving the ball-handling circuit:
• One-ball pound left, forward and backward:
30 seconds
• One-ball pound right, forward and backward:
30 seconds
• Crossover, forward and backward: 30 seconds
• Between the legs, forward and backward:
30 seconds
• Behind the back, forward and backward:
30 seconds
• Angled ball-handling circuit:
• One-ball pound left, forward and backward: 30
seconds
• One-ball pound right, forward and backward: 30
seconds
• Crossover, forward and backward: 30 seconds

SHOOTING OFF THE DRIBBLE, PART 1

When shooting off the dribble, the goal is to be as efficient as possible. Confident shooters rely on strong mechanical foundations. All the work their bodies do to make successful shots is second nature and embedded within their muscle memory.

Keep your eyes trained at the basket as you move your body into shot-ready position. Remember your ball-handling foundations. Be aggressive when you pound the ball into your shot pocket. If you’re dribbling with your nondominant hand, never reach for the ball with your shooting hand to bring the ball into your shot pocket—that’s inefficient. Instead, bring the ball across your body with your nondominant hand into your shot pocket. Let your mechanics take over from there!

Every shooter experiences bouts of disappointment in their career. The key is to not let a streak of misses damage your confidence as a player and to remember that you’re only as good as the amount of training you put in to fine-tune your mechanics.

BASKETBALL HANDLING TRAINING WITH CURRY

• Add ball-handling into your training. Set a timer for 30 seconds for each move: one-ball pound, crossover, between the legs, and behind the back. Don’t worry about counting reps, just focus on your form for those 30 seconds.

• If possible, spend some time practicing your ball-handling in front of a mirror. Notice your stance, ball position, and dribble height. Remember to keep your eyes up, and don’t look down at the ball.

Your daily training should look like this:

• Warm-up and stretching
• One-ball pound right: 30 seconds
• One-ball pound left: 30 seconds
• Crossover: 30 seconds
• Between the legs (alternating): 30 seconds
• Behind the back: 30 seconds
• 1-2 step (straight up and down): 5 shots
• Toward the basket: 5 shots
• Away from the basket: 5 shots
• Lateral left: 5 shots
• Lateral right: 5 shots

WATCH STEPHEN CURRY"S BALL HANDLING SKILLS

• Watch some of Stephen’s highlights, paying attention to his simple yet effective dribble combinations. What basic moves do you notice?
• Who are some of your favorite NBA ball-handlers? Watch some of their game highlights and observe how they effectively handle the ball. What dribble combinations do they use? Try breaking down their dribble combinations into the individual moves that they most commonly use and stack together. • As you practice your ball-handling, film yourself dribbling and note parts of your form where you can improve. Upload a video of yourself doing each of the basic moves (pound right, pound left, crossover, between the legs, behind the back).

BASKETBALL-HANDLING: FOUNDATIONS

Mastering the art of ball-handling is essential to becoming a great shooter. Luckily, all you need to fine-tune your ball-handling is a solid surface and a basketball. Practice one-ball pounds with each hand, and the three basic moves: crossover, between the legs, and behind the back. Once you build a solid foundation with them, start creating combination dribbles that you can utilize during games. Most of Stephen’s ball-handling is simply a collection of combinations of those few simple moves.

The key to ball-handling is a balance. Start in a centered athletic position: keep your nose behind your toes and your hips loaded, being careful not to lean forward. To maintain balance, keep your body static and in an athletic position, and move the ball around your body—don’t move your body around the ball. When handling the ball, dribble aggressively and to the side of your foot, maintaining a bounce height that reaches between your knee and hip. Dribbling at that sweet spot keeps the ball near your shot pocket, helping you become a more efficient shooter. Keep in mind that the more power you put behind each dribble, the more control you’ll have over the ball. The idea behind aggressive dribbling is to minimize the ball’s airtime so you can prevent defenders from deflecting or stealing it.If you’re struggling with ball-handling, you can make positive adjustments to your foundation by asking yourself, “Can I take a shot from my current position?” If you can’t, then you need to concentrate on correcting your stance, dribbling, or foundation. Remember, don’t be loose when ball-handling, and always take a position that lets you maneuver the ball into your shot pocket at a moment’s notice.

SHOOTING OFF THE CATCH TRAINING: PHASE

Add four-way form shooting to your practice. Continue the 100 form shooting shots from Phase 1 in your practice every day. Form shooting and four-way form shooting are the two foundational elements of the training program, and you’ll repeat them every single practice.

• During Phase 2, continue the 100 form shooting shots from Phase 1 in your practice every day. Track your practice and improvement in the Shot Tracker.

• Add some catching practice. Get a friend to pass you the ball and practice moving to the ball so you can catch it shot-ready. Remember not to reach for the ball.

• Also, add four-way form shooting to your practice. Starting at the free-throw line, move into space, catch, and shoot. Take five shots in each of the five directions on the Shot Tracker, and use the Shot Tracker to track your makes and improvement.

• So, your training should look like this:
• Warm-up and stretching
• Form shooting progression: 100 total shots
• Four-way form shooting: 25 total shots
• 1-2 step (straight up and down): 5 shots
• Toward the basket: 5 shots
• Away from the basket: 5 shots
• Lateral left: 5 shots
• Lateral right: 5 shots

BASKETBALL SHOOTING OFF THE CATCH

To put yourself in a shot-ready position when catching a pass, keep both hands open with all 10 fingers spread. This position lets your teammates know you’re ready to take the ball. Rather than extending your arms to catch an imperfect pass, move your whole body to the ball so you can catch it inside the frame of your body. Once you have the ball in your shot pocket, immediately square your toes with the rim, then bring the ball into a straight line from your hip to your eyebrow through your release. Keep in mind that even Stephen misses some shots. With a willingness to learn from your mistakes and move beyond them, you can overcome your misses.

• Find a game clip online and watch it 10 times, paying attention to a different player each time. What is each player focused on? What are they trying to do as individuals? Where are they looking? What don’t they see? How do the players interact and fit together?

BASKETBALL FORM SHOOTING PRACTICE

• Start just a few feet from the basket, and shoot until you hit five perfect makes. Record how many shots it takes for you to get to five. Then take a step back, to the middle of the lane, and shoot until you hit five more perfect makes. Repeat twice more, moving backward after making five in a row.

• Once you’ve hit five perfect makes from each of the four spots in front of the basket, start adding the other spots on the above diagram to your form shooting practice. • First, shoot five form shots from each of the 20 spots, and record your makes. Once you can comfortably shoot 100 total form shots in a training session.

• Then, push yourself to take as many shots as it takes to hit five perfect makes from each of the 20 spots. This may take a few weeks or even months. But stick with it!

• Use the Shot Tracker to record your makes and track your improvement over time. Push yourself to improve every time you’re on the court.

• Remember, when form shooting, if you’re not perfect directly in front of the basket, it’s going to be impossible to be perfect as you move away from the basket. Each time you miss, pause and notice whether you missed short, long, or to one side. What can you do to correct your misses?

BASKET BALL SHOOTING MECHANICS TRAINING

TRAINING PREP


• Without a ball, practice your form in front of a mirror. Focus on your foot positioning and lower body alignment, loading your hips, bringing your shooting hand up through your eyebrow in a clean line, and releasing with your elbow above your eye and a gooseneck finish.

• Spend 15 minutes walking around the basketball court, keeping your eyes on the rim. Familiarize yourself with the rim hooks and how many hooks are facing you from different angles or distances. Without a ball, practice running to a random spot on the floor, stopping, and finding the rim hooks with your eyes as quickly as possible.

• Practice your hand alignment on the ball. Put the index finger of your shooting hand on basketball’s air valve, like Stephen does, and let the ball rest in your hand to feel the center of the ball. Standing just a few feet from the basket, take 10 shots by finding the air valve first. Then take 10 more just by finding the center of the ball with your hand, not searching for the air valve.

FORM SHOOTING PRACTICE

The only person you should compete against is yourself. Resist the urge to compare yourself to others, and instead, focus your mind and body on improving upon your previous training session. Set reasonable goals for yourself before each workout, and be sure to track your accuracy so you can watch your stats improve. Stephen wants to start his workout with perfect make to build up confidence. He suggests focusing on reps close to the basket, which will build your range and confidence and help you identify problems with your shot. Begin each practice by shooting easy baskets from the paint, concentrating on your mechanics. Every time you miss the basket, diagnose what went wrong with your mechanics, adjust accordingly, then try again. For Stephen, shots that come up long or short tend to be a matter of finding his rhythm through more reps, and regaining his feel for the ball. However, missing left or right usually indicates a problem with his core mechanics, requiring a more detailed analysis and adjustment of his shot to correct it. As practice goes on, gradually increase your distance from the basket, taking different and more difficult shots until you’re shooting from the three-point line. Stephen encourages you to keep building up your endurance until you’re able to make 100 perfect shots over the course of a single practice session. Persist through fatigue, and do your best to prevent it from altering your shooting mechanics.

BASKETBALL SHOOTING: STANCE, ALIGNMENT LESSON

Great shooters rely on solid mechanics. Every part of their bodies works together to become the foundation of their shots.  For Stephen, every good shot begins in the lower body. Begin by
pointing your toes in the same direction, first squaring them with the rim and then working through practice to find the most natural stance for your body. Your legs, not your arms, give you power and consistency, so load your lower body by pushing the arches of your feet into the floor. Keeping your knees behind your toes, concentrate on letting power and energy flow from your feet up through your hips and glutes. Square your toes, knees, and shoulders, and remember to flex your legs on every shot.  Hand positioning is key to becoming a consistent shooter: it affects the feel, proper spin, connection, and control through your release. To find proper hand position, place the index finger of your dominant hand on the air valve of the ball. Take a few form shots to get used to the centered feel of this position. Always hold the ball with your finger pads, being sure to leave some breathing&nbs room between the ball and your palm. As you line up your shot,  aim your eyes at the two or three rim hooks that are facing you,  and think about dropping the ball just over the front of the rim.  Don’t release too low! A higher release point makes it harder for a  defender to interfere with your shot. As you release the ball, keep your elbow and wrist in line with the basket, extending your arm fully so that at the point of release your elbow ends above your eye. A real game’s complex moving parts might make it difficult to recall these steps, but remember that improvement comes with sustained practice. Stephen spent an entire summer restructuring the mechanical foundation of his shot in high school, and he hasn’t stopped perfecting it since!

ABOUT STEPHEN CURRY

Stephen Curry was born in 1988 and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stephen’s father, former
NBA player Dell Curry, imbued him with a love for basketball and inspired Stephen to pursue the
game professionally. After a meteoric college career with the Davidson Wildcats, Stephen went
to the Golden State Warriors as the seventh overall pick in the 2009 draft. Stephen exceeded
expectations for a player of his size, shattering numerous NBA records during his first five years in
the league. He scored more three-point field goals during the 2012–13 season than any individual
player in league history and broke this record again during the 2014–15 season, working to become
one of the most accurate and consistent shooters in the league. He won his first NBA championship
in 2015, his second in 2017, and earned back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards in the 2014–15
and 2015–16 seasons, the latter by unanimous vote—a first in NBA history.