Basketball Free-throw Shooting - Your World is in Your Hands

Literally and figuratively when it comes to great free-throw shooting, your world is in your hands. In all the years I have been involved in basketball I have never, ever heard any coach talk about the significance of the hand in relation to the fingers as far as touch, feel, accountability etc is concerned. This does not mean that no coach has ever done this, its just that maybe I have not been in the right place at the right time and have missed the opportunity to ever hear any coach or player talk in depth on this very important subject.

The hands are a fascinating part of man and his anatomical makeup. Just look around you and just try to absorb all the great things you see that man has made. Separate what God has made. God gave man 'hands' so that he could possibly improve his 'lot' and try to have 'joy' in his life through his own 'handiwork'. Pun intended. Anytime we as humans create or make anything, do we not revel or feel pride in our accomplishments? It's a fascinating observation. You can use your hands to do 'good' which comes from "God" or "evil" which comes from the "Devil". I think this was part of God's divine plan, to have people take pride in their individual accomplishments. "Reap what you sow", it says in the scriptures. It's a saying that is about as old as man himself. And, reaping connotates working with the hands, but this can also refer to strictly mental applications, like inventions and creative thought processes which eventually leads to some kind of handiwork. In general I think it is easy to take for granted the blessings of our hands.

Why is it that anytime our kids do anything at all parents usually gleam with pride? What about ourselves? How do we feel when we do anything or make anything? We usually feel some personal pride or feeling of accomplishment. Doing usually basketball to use of the hands but not always. If you had to lose any appendage on your hand which one would you unwillingly give up? When it comes to shooting a basketball the world is symbolic of the ball in your hands. Your success on the free throw line relates directly to your personal mastery of shooting techniques and principles. The application of perfect knowledge to your physical capacity is very important because the ball has to get the consistent perfect information it requires. This does not come from the major muscles in the body (thighs, buttocks, lower back, shoulders) either. You can't feel any direction or finesse control with the major muscles.

This feeling of touch and directionality comes from the appropriate sensitivity and individual force from the wrist and fingers which are the finer muscles involved. Since about 75-80% of missed shots are crooked or not 'centered' on the rim, you can see that these are a result of poor directional management. Directional management (DM) comes from the hand placement on the ball and the finger pressure. That's right. This right here is the source of where great shooting happens. Mind over matter. Process over product. The beginning before the end. Just being in rhythm or in a 'groove' is not good enough. It is too nebulous and too hard to get a handle on. There needs to be more specificity, and one way of understanding this specificity is via shooting a deflated ball. This is a great teaching tool.

The reason for this drill is to create the mental connection between the pressure placed on the finger pads so we can more closely measure the accountability of force applied to the ball by each finger. Since the 'hand' is not perfectly balanced in its anatomical structure (in respect to shooting principles) we have to be cognizant of how to keep it as balanced as possible throughout the shot process. By 'imbalance' I mean that there are no fingers between the index finger and the thumb yet there are 2 fingers between the index finger and the pinky thus creating an imbalance which just naturally creates the hand in the cookie jar concept where all the fingers from the index to the pinky bend at the knuckles creating a type of squooshed up ball like look. (This will be illustrated better in my shooting Ebook). This fact alone is a big reason for 'crooked' shots. When the fingers all close up together as the ball is released our minds can't measure which finger applied how much pressure. The wider the fingers the easier it is to dictate the amount of pressure by respective fingers. In other words, the easiest way I found to teach this concept is by shooting a deflated ball.

As you shoot the deflated ball you will notice how finger pressure applied to the ball creates indentation in the ball before it moves forward. This indentation creates a time warp where you can mentally relate or measure how much indentation is created by which fingers. Ideally the index finger should take the brunt of the pressure on the ball. About 90%, while the thumb and pinky should feel about 5% each thus helping maintain width and stability to the shot. The index finger thus takes the lion's share of the burden and is also the rudder of the shot by forcing the accuracy issue (directional management) and guaranteeing the shot to 'go straight'. The mid finger and ring finger should have almost no involvement but to tag along.

They should have no involvement in directional management because they cause a sideways rotation to the ball. These two are strong fingers but are not centered on the hand and thus they have a strong tendency to compromise the perfect follow through by closing at bad angles or more towards a lateral movement which is always bad because this finger closure creates lateral movement and it is very difficult for the mind to process accuracy or (DM) with lateral movement. Remember what the captains of submarines used to say "All systems straight ahead", or something to that effect.

Ed Palubinskas
http://www.freethrowmaster.com
President of National Basketball Shooters Association, Inc.
http://www.nbahoops.com
1976 Olympic scoring Champion. 2 Time olympian
All-American, All-World selection
Led all Colleges and pros in free throw percentage in 1972 with 92.4%
Played at LSU
Still in top 20 all time NCAA Free throw shooters
Guinness book world record 2005 with 1206/1265 free throws made in one hour
LA Lakers shooting coach 2000-1. NBA Ring
You can get comprehensive detailed and scientific information from his shooting DVD's and Smartball basketball System from the websites listed above