Basketball Shooting Form Drills: 6-Drill Beginner Workout to Shoot Straight
If you're a beginner and you want a full shooting workout that takes you from the basic movements all the way to game-like shots, this one's for you. Coach Meech built it as a ladder. Six basketball shooting form drills. You start by not even shooting at the hoop, and you finish coming off the corner like it's a real game.
And you can do every bit of it by yourself.
Not sure shooting form is your biggest need right now? Find your training strategy with our free training quiz.
Why the first drill isn't at the hoop
This surprised me a little, honestly. Drill one, you step away from the rim.
Coach Meech's reason makes sense, though. Too many beginners struggle with the mental side of making or missing. You worry way too much about it. Miss two in a row and you start adjusting and changing stuff, just because you're trying to make shots. Take the rim away and that worry goes with it. Now it's just your form.
Drill 1: One-hand shooting to yourself
Get your body in the right spot first. Knees bent, hips dropped, nice and low. Dominant shooting hand goes underneath the ball. Then line your elbow up with your body.
Your forearm should be parallel to the ground. Not too low. Not so high the ball's kind of up by your face either.
From there you push the ball up to your set point. And here's the part people miss: your body stays in the same spot while the ball moves. You stay low. Only once you hit the set point do you push up and shoot it to yourself.
A couple small details he points out:
Don't let the ball get too far away from your body on the way up. No scooping it out and pulling it back.
Don't twist it to the side or move it in any other direction. Straight up.
Twenty reps.
Drill 2: Add the guide hand and shoot on a line
Same setup. Knees bent, hips dropped, chest up, chin up, eyes up. But now you find a line on the floor.
Where you stand on it depends on what kind of shooter you are. If you set the ball up in the middle of your body, let the line split you right down the middle. If you shoot more off the side of your hip, put your main foot on the line. Coach Meech is a middle-of-the-line guy, so he lets it split him.
This time the guide hand goes on the ball, all the way, actually touching it. When you go up, the ball spins into your set point, and then you push through like the one-hand shot.
Now, the guide hand. Two ways to mess it up. Over-grip it and the ball can't spin. Just lay your hand on top and that's not right either. You want the ball to rotate like it did in drill one. Let it spin, get your wrist underneath it, shoot.
The scoring is strict. The ball has to land on the line in front of you. Left of it? Doesn't count. Right of it? Doesn't count. Twenty times on the line.
Why straight matters so much
He's pretty blunt about it. Shooting the ball straight is one of the most important things you can do as a shooter, because it increases your chances of making the shot dramatically. That's the whole point of these first two drills. (Ever wonder if your ball's spinning straight? We wrote about seeing your backspin too.)
Drill 3: Form shots at the rim
Okay, now you get to shoot at a hoop.
Get close. Same setup as before, both hands on the ball, and actually try to make them. Ten from the front, ten from the left, ten from the right. Thirty total.
The coach says a lot of people just gloss over form shots. They don't take them serious. And that's how bad habits show up. So no half releases. No lazy wrist. Get low, take a full shot, flick your wrist, use your fingertips. You're working on the release, so actually work on it.
Drill 4: Mid-range with footwork
Your shot should be warm by now. Time to back up and add feet.
You start behind the three-point line, split stance. So let's say your right leg's out front and the left one's back. All you do is take a step forward with that left. Then you're dropping straight down, and both feet hit the floor at the same time.
Full step, then drop.
What he doesn't want: walking into it, a baby drop, a casual drop, or sitting there and then dropping too far. He compares it to an elevator. Step, drop, then you rise into the shot.
The order matters too. Once you're down, the ball leads first, before you extend out of your stance. Ball, then jump.
He wants three spots and ten at each one. That's both corners plus the top of the key.
Drill 5: Catch and shoot off the wings
Now you're working on the three. If you guys feel uncomfortable out there, he says stay in the mid-range. No shame in that.
You're back in the split stance. On the left side your left leg's forward, and on the right side it flips. Roll it out, take that same step from before, and catch it while you're stepping. Two feet drop together. Then lift.
Same sequence as drill four. The difference is the extra stuff. You've got movement now, and a catch, and you have to flow into the shot anyway.
Both wings. Ten shots on each side.
Drill 6: Corner to corner
Last one, and it's the most game-like. Turns, shifts, having to find the rim.
Start on the lane line. Roll the ball out toward the corner. Step with your inside leg, catch it on that inside step, turn, drop straight down, rise into the shot. Again, if the three feels like too much, stay in the short corner.
After you shoot, go chase your rebound down and do the same thing on the other side.
Coach Meech mentions Steph Curry and Klay Thompson here, because in games they get a lot of these exact shots, running off screens and sprinting into them. Footwork is super important on these. So is balance. And you can't forget the foundation from earlier: move the ball right, stay still in your shot, flick the wrist, shoot it straight.
Make 20 total. Ten on the left, ten on the right.
How this fits with our other shooting posts
This workout is about building the motion from the ground up. If you already have a shot and want small tweaks, the basketball shooting hacks post is more your speed. If something specific feels broken, check out jump shot mistakes.
The video stays mostly on catch-and-shoot. Off the dribble is a different workout, and the coach says to let him know in the comments if you want that one.
FAQ
What are the 6 shooting form drills in the video?
One-hand shooting to yourself
Guide hand on a line
Form shots at the rim
Mid-range with footwork
Catch-and-shoot from the wings
Corner to corner
Why shoot to yourself instead of at the hoop?
Because beginners worry too much about makes and misses, and then they start changing their form just to make shots. No rim, no worry.
How should my arm look at the start?
Your shooting hand's under it and your elbow's lined up with your body. Forearm flat, like parallel to the ground. Too low is wrong, and so is having the ball kind of up by your face.
I shoot off my hip. Where do I stand on the line?
Put your main foot on the line. The guys who set it up in the middle of their body let the line split them instead, like Coach Meech does.
Do form shots really matter?
Coach Meech thinks a lot of players blow them off, and that's where bad habits come from. He wants real shots where you're getting low and going all the way through it, wrist and fingertips and everything.
How long is the workout?
I added it up and it's around 140 shots if you don't miss any. Drill one's 20 to yourself and drill two's 20 on the line. Then 30 form shots, 30 in the mid-range, 20 off the wings. The corner drill is 20 makes, so that one runs longer when you're missing.
Threes aren't really in my range yet. Now what?
That's okay. For the wing and corner drills he says you can stay in the mid-range or the short corner.
What should I work on after this?
Depends on you. Take the free training quiz and find your training strategy, and it'll tell you where to go next.
