If you've ever wanted to learn how to shoot like Kobe Bryant, I made this Kobe Bryant shooting form breakdown for you.
Kobe Bryant's genius when it comes to shooting is something every player should spend time absorbing and understanding.
Plus, I heard all your comments on which player's shooting form breakdown you'd like to see...
Which is why in our newest video post, we did an in depth analysis of Kobe Bryant's shooting form.
More...
SHOOTING STANCE
Let's begin with looking at Kobe's shooting stance...
You will most often see Kobe shooting with a wide base.
And he usually has his knees pointing inwards.
ALIGNMENT
Kobe leads with his shooting side.
This means that because he shoots with his right hand, his right shoulder, hip, and foot will be further in front than his left side.
When he shoots, his shooting shoulder, elbow, and hip are aligned.
His forearm is slightly bent towards his shooting eye.
He creates this alignment before he shoots by slightly turning his feet towards his non shooting side.
He is right handed so he turns his feet slightly to the left.
Kobe takes a lot of difficult shots where sometimes, his shooting or dominant side, is facing away from the basket.
When this happens, he turns while he is in the air to bring his shooting shoulder forward.
And only releases the ball once his shooting side is aligned towards the net.
THE DIP
Off the pass, Kobe dips the ball to his waist before rising up to shoot.
There is no need for him to dip the ball off the dribble because he is already low and ready to shoot.
THE SETPOINT
Kobe’s set point is much higher and further back than most players. At his set point, the middle of the ball is directly above his head.
His elbow is about at forehead level and the ball is above his right eye.
Because his elbow is already so high, when he shoots, he is pushing the ball more forward than upward, which gives him less arc on his shot.
Kobe gets a lot of elevation on his shot and is considered to be a two motion shooter.
This means that he has a significant pause in his shot before pushing the ball forward.
You can see here that he doesn’t start pushing the ball towards the net until he is already in the air. And releases right at the peak of his jump.
Even though he’s a two motion shooter with a high set point, he still reaches his setpoint before his feet leave the ground.
HAND POSITION
Kobe tries to keep a gap between the basketball and his palm when he shoots.
He places his hand on top of the ball and spreads out his index and middle finger.
If you look closely here, you can see him spreading out his index and middle finger to make a wide V.
THE RELEASE
Kobe dominates with his index finger.
You can see here that his index finger goes down the most, while the other three fingers stay up.
THE FOLLOW THROUGH
Because Kobe's elbow starts off at forehead level, after he releases, his arm is straight and his elbow is very high above his head.
THE OFF HAND
He brings his off hand very close to his shooting hand so that his two thumbs make a T.
He starts to remove his off hand as he begins to extend his shooting arm.
SHOULDERS & FEET
Kobe’s shoulders go back on his shot.
So while he is in the air, this causes his feet to sweep forward.
The shoulder’s swaying back and the feet sweeping forward, is what the guys at Pro Shot call the sweep and sway.
THE EYES
Kobe keeps his eyes on the rim for the whole shot.
His eyes are locked on the target until the ball goes in.
YOUR PERFECT FORM
Almost every player I coach wants to get a shooting form that looks like their favorite player's form...
You've probably tried to do this too. I know I did when I was obsessing over how to improve my shooting.
So you try to copy every single aspect by watching these breakdowns. But what happens?
You end up hurting your form more than helping it... Why? Because every player is different.
Every player has a different body type, different height, age, strength, shape, and even hand size. All of these things matter...
So when you're trying to shoot like Steph or Kobe, you're copying shooting principles that work for THEIR unique physical characteristics, not yours.
Now of course, if your shot is horrible, like you shoot with a set point over your head, then of course your form and shot will improve if you try to copy a pro player. But other than that, if you want to truly reach your MAX shooting potential...
Then you need to develop a set of mechanics that are UNIQUELY customized for YOUR body and YOUR characteristics. The way to do that is to learn the correct shooting principles and mould those around your unique characteristics like your strength, age, style of play, etc.
The worst part if you don't train for your own unique style of shooting like that, you can never find a form that 'sticks'. Which can get super frustrating because you never get that 'reliable shooter' status. Your consistency suffers. Your in-game shots are never as good as your practice. Teammates stop relying on you to take shots and no form ever starts to feel like "your own"... And now you know why.
Once you install those correct shooting principles into your own form by going through this training program, you'll develop a beautiful, consistent, smooth shot that's unstoppable on the court.
Coach Faizal