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The Steph Curry Shooting Form: How To Shoot Like Steph Curry
Now I want to raise a subject that I’ve always strived with as a player – shooting the ball.
Shooting is the most apparent waypoints are being made in the game; therefore, it’s an utmost vital skill to have, if not THE most utmost.
But generating an efficient jumper is not an easy task… many people grapple with their form and suffer from bad mechanics.
Fortunately, today, we have a lot of NBA players in the limelight to learn of.
One massive star that appears in mind is Stephen Curry, who set a single-season record for most three-pointers ever made and is ranked 3rd on the NBA all-time 3-point list.
He has grown a reputation of a consistent, “pure” shooter, and it looks like every shot he gets is going to whisper right into the net.
But what prices Curry’s shot aside from everyone else?
Well, here are a few things we could discover by looking at the below footage:
ALIGNMENT
Steph Curry holds his shooting shoulder, elbow, and hip aligned.
You can notice that his shoulder is right behind his elbow, in line with his hip.
His forearm is lightly tilted away from this line, holding the ball over his shooting eye.
The Turn
We’ve all listened to this expression from our coach:
“Square your feet to the basket, keep ’em shoulder-width apart!”
An old error
When I was a teenager, I was regularly told to do that.
Nevertheless, it plays out oppositely in Curry’s case.
While most players were shown to keep ten toes looked straight to the rim, Curry keeps an excellent balance and handle by actually turning his feet around 10 degrees off from the rim towards his weak hand.
He aligns his hip and right shoulder to the basket, which leads to a straighter shot from his right arm.
This method also seems to solve the problem of holding your elbow tucked in.
The paradox is, Curry himself insists to square his feet, but as you can see from the footage before, he definitely turns them.
So there are two possibilities here… either:
A) He’s not aware of the fact that he’s making it (unlikely)
OR
B) He simply doesn’t desire to make it easy for others to copy him.
I’d say it’s the last.
THE STANCE
Curry is predominantly a wide stand shooter with his knees aiming inwards.
The Dip
While Shooting off the pass, Curry dips the ball, shooting it a few inches under from where he caught it.
It turns out this dip is significant for strength and rhythm, and it also what serves Curry to shoot more accurate based on Newton’s first law of motion (the law of inertia) which says:
“An object in motion will stay in motion until it’s affected by an opposing force.”
Be an baller alike a bowler
An excellent example to illustrate this principle is bowling.
When a bowling player nears to throw the ball, he first cocks his hand back, and simply then launches it forward.
This act of pulling the ball back does it much more precise because when the ball is released, it already has some power going in the direction you’re throwing it in.
The same system can be used for basketball.
Dipping the ball increases the inertia, making your shot more accurate and less likely to deviate between left and right.
And Just alike in the first case, Steph rejects the fact he dips the ball.
Could he really be so ignorant of his shooting form? I don’t believe so.
Anyhow, Curry wants to take his shots off the pass… this lets him to set his form as he grabs the ball, which makes it simpler for him to catch and shoot in real-time.
While he catches the ball, he lightly lowers his arms and then lifts them up over his head as he’s jumping, which grants him a steady release and more extra power for long-distance shots.
The One-Motion Shot
Another one-motion sniper – is James Harden
Curry is a one-motion shooter, which indicates there’s no hitch or delay, he releases the ball in one fluid movement.
This form can be problematical, though, because it’s not perfect for close-range shots, and you normally need a lot of space to evade being blocked.
But the great thing of being a one-motion shooter is that your discharge is super-quick.
On the other side, you can’t jump really high while shooting this way, so it’s a trade-off.
Which one’s more useful? Well, it depends.
If you’re mostly a long-distance shooter like Curry, the one-motion shot will go perfect for you. But if you’re also of a penetrator type of player who likes to use tough contested shots like Kobe or Chris Paul, you’d consider better with a two-motion shot.
One thing’s for sure: the one-motion jumper works great for Curry, but it’s really up to you if you want to adopt it.
Personally, I prefer the two-motion shot because I kind of got used to it, it gives me more control of the force I put into the shot when taking tough shots.
LEARN HOW TO DUNK!
I am going to share with you exactly how I increased my vertical jump 4 inches in under an hour…
Little Knee Flexion
Steph uses minimal knee flexion while he shoots – his legs are only slightly bent to give him sufficient power to jump, and he manages speed as the central driving force.
Due to this, Curry was measured to have one of the most accelerated releases in the NBA.
Whence does flexing your knees less speeds up the shot?
Well, when you flex your knees, the lower you go, the stronger it is to come back up. It’s like squatting in weight-lifting, the lower you squat, the tougher and longer it needs for you to rise back up.
Therefore, try to use less knee flexion during shooting and don’t be like that guy in the image above.
If you feel like you require more force in your jump, try utilizing your toes as well.
THE SETPOINT
When Curry shoots, the ball initial travels backward towards his head, ere going forwards towards the net.
The point directly before the ball starts flying towards the net is described the setpoint.
Steph Curry’s setpoint is simply over his right eye.
On his setpoint, his thumb is in line with his eyebrow, and his palm does face the side.
You all will also see that his arms make a 90-degree angle at his armpit.
These angle between his arm plus his forearm is significantly less than 90 degrees.
He regularly reaches his setpoint, ere his feet leave the ground, and then utilizes the power of his jump to push each ball forward.
THE FOLLOW THROUGH
Toward his follow-through, his elbow stays right above his head, and his arm remains completely straight.
The ball travels into a straight line.
It begins off above his eye and at his follow-through, his wrist finishes up directly above his eye.
THE EYES
Steph focuses his eyes on the rim till the ball is released.
As soon as it goes from his hand, he follows the ball by his eyes all the way to the rim.
THE OFF HAND
See that his off hand gets off the ball right before he begins to snap his wrist forward.
Plus, watch how he tucks his thumb in next to his index finger at his off-hand.
Breaking the Rules
Well, I avoid doing that but I don’t think you should blame me for this—blame Curry, ’cause when that comes to his landing width, he’s breaking the rule many times through landing wide (as seen in the video).
Shooting narrow is important, especially for guards, because it enhances the shot speed, and guards need to be quick with it.
Nailed another three
Curry doesn’t continually follow that.
But in his position, he’s such a good shooter that he can break these rules plus still get away with that.
The reason for this is that Curry remains very consistent with his upper body, and he can do whatever he wants by his legs and still score.
That comes to show you that one main component to his success does his consistent release.
By the way, if yourself noticed from watching the video, Curry too likes to land forward of where he jumped.
This allows him to build more momentum with his body plus shoot more easily from long ranges. It’s called the Sweep & Sway, moreover, I’m gonna get into to this later on in different posts.
So there you have it. These are the techniques Curry handles to make himself an unstoppable shooter. Those are something you can start practicing right now, and the sooner you’ll begin implementing them, the better off your shot will be.
Until then, good luck!
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LEARN HOW TO DUNK!
I am going to share with you exactly how I increased my vertical jump 4 inches in under an hour…
