Kirk Penney & Corey Williams

With the NBL season long finished, its been ages since I've been able to write anything about one of our favourite shooters from last season, Kirk Penney. This article was on the NBL website last week and I just had to post it here. When you look at the names missing from the New Zealand team, that indeed must be a young inexperienced squad they're running with. Look for our man Kirk to get plenty of buckets with many of the other scoring options not in action.

NBL > News

Breakers star Kirk Penney says he is enjoying being the New Zealand Tall Blacks captain and mentoring the younger players on the Europe tour.

Penney is leading the young side in its current tour of Europe, without stalwarts Sean Marks, Pero Cameron, Dillon Boucher, Paul Henare and Phill Jones.

'I'm just hoping that the boys can understand what it is to be part of the Tall Blacks culture that we have established over the last ten years that I've been a part of.'


Also, thanks to John Rillie for pointing it out, there was a good article on Corey "Homicide" Williams on Slam Online. The announcement came last week that Corey has re-signed with the Townsville Crocodiles which is great to see as he's a fan favourite and the type of personality the league needs right now.

My question from the article below tho ... if Corey is shooting 500 jumpers per day, he's either got to start shooting 1000 or instead start counting his makes rather than his takes (quick basketball shooting tip). Click on the title below to read the full story.

SLAM ONLINE | » Where They At?

Homicide wasn’t one of those child prodigies that took the courts seriously as a youth. Quite the opposite; Hom was somewhat of a late-bloomer, and didn’t get serious about hoops till he was about 13. Even then, the Bronx native’s game didn’t take flight immediately. Nope. Nobody was hyping him as the next great thing from New York—that title was left to the likes of Lenny Cooke and Stephon Marbury. When he was in high school (Rice) and college (Alabama State), and not receiving the attention he thought he deserved, Williams may have regretted the late start, and resented the scouts and critics for overlooking his game. Now, nearly two decades since his love of the game developed, Hom has put it all in perspective.

“Being overlooked, starting late, all of that, that why I play with a chip on my shoulder,” says Williams. “I felt jaded. I thought coaches couldn’t and didn’t want to help me. All of that built up inside of me. So now when I come at you, I come full steam, with all of that pushing me forward.”

That “steam” is the same force that drives Corey to trek up mountains, and work out for hours on end. If he isn’t taking 500 jumpers, Homicide is working on his handle or is teaming up with dudes on the court, sweating to better his pick-and-roll offense. The first place that the effort and drive paid off was on some of the hallowed parks dotting the five boroughs of New York City.

Stephen Curry

Coming in to the draft, I'd heard about Stephen Curry. He was described as the "best shooter" in the draft and that's probably when I started to take a bit more interest in him. I've mentioned it before but a good basketball shooting tip is to watch great shooters in action, success leaves clues.

As I don't get to watch college basketball (although with One HD now I will be able to next season) and I tend to follow the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective, I don't usually take too much interest in rookies until they have proved themselves in the big show. I didn't even realise until last week that Stephen is the son of former NBA great Dell Curry.

As mentioned last week, I was able to watch the NBA draft for the first time and heard the angry NY crowd go nuts as Curry was drafted by the Warriors, who got to pick before the hometown Knicks. I heard Dickey Vitale numerous times throughout the coverage shower praise on Stephen and say that the team's who didn't draft him were crazy and that he would definitely win Rookie of the Year.

So today, with the phone not ringing in the office, I decided to do some more research in to Stephen Curry.

Firstly, here's an excerpt from a great article by the crew at Dime (click on the title to read the full story):

Stephen Curry: Lethal Weapon | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

“Nothing about my success here over the last three years has changed me at all, because I live in the moment,” says Curry. “I’m not worried about what’s going to come next. I’m not worried at all. I do everything one step at a time, and I try to be as confident doing so as possible.”

For Stephen to achieve everything he sets his mind to, he needs to believe it completely. And right now, he believes that he can do anything. That mantra is inscribed on the forefront of his sneaker, penned as “I Can do all things…” (Editor’s note: The full quote is “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13) Tomorrow won’t come across his radar until tomorrow. But when it rolls around, know that he’ll have the same confidence and faith that he has today.

And here's some video footage of him in action:

Basketball shooting tips - Improving your shooting range

Here's an article I wrote the other day with some basketball shooting tips and how to improve your shooting range.

Improving your shooting range

One of the most common questions I get asked is: “How do I improve my shooting range?” or “how do I improve my three-point shot?”

The principles of hitting a three-pointer or shooting from deep are the same as any other shot. Your form/shooting technique doesn’t change. Aim at the same point on the ring, get your trajectory right and don't forget to get your legs in to the shot. Your legs are where the power comes from not your arms or upper body.

To improve your range, don't immediately head straight out to the three-point arc and start jacking up shots, work in close to the basket first to make sure your technique is right, you’re warmed up and your eye is in. As your confidence increases and you find your rhythm, begin to gradually work your way out. Do this by making 10 shots from in close, step back a metre make another 10 and so on. It’s important to count your makes NOT just how many shots you take.

There are plenty of drills that you can run to improve your range and confidence from downtown. Get creative, have fun and remember to practise at game speed.

Practice and repetition will give you confidence and remember to practise shots you’ll get in game situations (practise shooting off the dribble, practise coming off a screen, practise fading away, etc).

As I mentioned earlier, the power in your shot comes from your legs (not your arms) so you can improve your range when you’re not on the court by doing weights and exercises to strengthen your legs. Squats and lunges are usually the simplest. Keep in mind that you’re not trying to become a running back in the NFL so you don’t need to use massive weights, high reps are better for basketball.

Great three-point shooters aren't just born ... you can of course work on it and become one. Watch great shooters and see what they do and learn from them. Success leaves clues.

Basketball Workshop update

Its been a few weeks since I've mentioned our Basketball Workshop so here's an update and a brief intro to what its all about.

At the end of last year I went up to Townsville and spent some time with my favourite NBL player John Rillie. John and I spent a few hours putting together some videos that take you step-by-step through everything you need to know to improve your shooting. JR is one of the best shooters the NBL has ever seen, especially from the free-throw line and behind the three-point arc, so naturally these are the main areas we focussed on. We also covered basic shooting technique and form, warming up, bank shots, catching and shooting and much more.

Here's one of the videos from JR:



It took me a while to organise the second player to add to the site, but last month I caught up with ex-Bullet (ex-Razorback and ex-Breakers) Adam Darragh. Adam is now running a basketball excellence program at Varsity College on the Gold Coast and rehabbing from a knee reconstruction. I spent a couple of sessions with Adam and we covered everything a point guard needs to know about shooting a basketball. Like JR, he's also very proficient from the line so we spent some time there as well as working on training drills, shooting off the dribble, creating space to get your shot off, three-point shooting and plenty more. To see part of the interview I did with Adam after our shooting sessions, click here.

For the past few months I've had an opening special for the Workshop of just US$9.95 for an annual membership. Now that I've added all of Adam's videos to the site as well as some basketball shooting articles and a "Best of YouTube" section, the price is going up. If you want to take your game to the next level and dramatically improve your shooting sign up before May 14.

In the Workshop you'll find everything you need to know about how to shoot a basketball properly and exactly what you need to do to become a better player.

You'll gain access to basketball shooting tips, drills and training techniques directly from professional players (such as John and Adam). You'll see them in action talking and walking you through drills that have been proven over and over to be some of the very best ways to improve your basketball shot.

To find out more and sign-up, click here.

Ray Allen ... clutch shooting

You know we love Ray Allen from the Boston Celtics, so you just know that I was going to talk about his game-winning heroics in the Philly game yesterday.

I've mentioned before that if you want to learn how to shoot a basketball or if you want basketball shooting tips, as well as spending time on the practice court you need to watch and study the best shooters. And the best shooters deliver when it matters most, when the game is on the line.

For the game, Ray had 23 points, 9 of 18 from the field, including 3 triples and 2 of 2 from the line. But it was what he did in the final minutes of the game that made the difference, check out the footage below of Ray Allen coming through in the clutch.

And one more thing, how about the circus shot Paul Pierce?? John Rillie is proud of his in-game shots for the HORSE challenge, but can he top this one?

Basketball Shooting Tips

Welcome to my first post on this blog. Some people may recognise my name or have seen me before on the Brisbane Bullets Blog (R.I.P ... hopefully the team will be back very soon).

I'm just finishing work on my Top Ten Shooters Report which is the bonus for signing up to my newsletter. I've thoroughly enjoyed doing the research on Youtube about these great basketball shooters. I won't ruin any surprises by mentioning any of the players at this time but to get your copy, sign up to my newsletter on the top left hand side of the web page basketball shooting tips

Wishing you nothing but net,

Roger