The One Thing You Need To Do To Stop Missing Open Shots

Do you struggle to make open shots or do you struggle to just consistently make shots in games in general? Being able to make shots is the most important skill in the game of basketball. But if you don't train it the right way, chances are you're going to struggle to actually do this in games at a consistently high level. Maybe you spend a lot of time working on your shooting, but yet you aren't seeing those results in games. In this video, I'll go through exactly why that is and how you can fix it so that you start to finally make those shots in games that you work on. And. And at the end of this video, I'm going to give you a challenge that, if you follow, is going to make sure that you do exactly that. So stay tuned because this is probably something that you haven't heard before. No one's really challenged you to do before. So I'm excited to go through it right now. Let's get into it. So I want to run through this first part really, really quickly because I've talked about it before. And I'll link a video above here that's going to go through it again. But the first thing we'll talk about is form, because I know that's generally the first place that players go. It's like, okay, well, is my form good? If I'm missing shots is because my form is messed up or I'm missing something and, and form is definitely important. Don't get me wrong, it definitely matters, but I want to get to something else after because I feel like it's way less talked about. So checking form off the list is important. And again, I'll look a video above right now that's going to go through that. It's going to help you fix it if you feel like you might have a form problem. But again, I don't want this video to be all about that because I think there's even more that goes into it and in some ways can be even more important than form when it comes to actually making shots in games, which is the key distinction which leads into what I want to talk about. And I'm going to first start off with a question. I want you to think about this. What is the difference between a shot that you shoot in a workout or in practice and a shot that you shoot in a real game? What's the number one difference in that shot? Take a second, think about it, and ultimately, if we can figure out that difference, then it's where we can find a way to bridge the gap between okay, If I'm working on the shot in practice and I'm not seeing the results in games, it's because there's something missing that happens in a game that's not happening in practice that I'm not working on or I'm not adding in. It's. I'm not having to deal with it. And generally that's going to be why you might not shoot well in games. You might be missing open shots in games. The answer to that question, the difference between those shots in workouts and the shots in games is pressure, right? That's the number one thing that's different. There's way more pressure on the shot that you take in a game because there's so much more riding on that, right? It matters. There's teammates who are relying on you to make that shot, coaches who rely on you to make that shot. There's parents and there's fans, and there's, you know, obviously the other team who's trying to defend you, and maybe there's opposing fans who are rooting against you, and obviously, like, there's way more involved. And then on top of all that stuff that's happening in the immediate, there could be a bigger picture factor of it, that that might be a playoff game, right, where you have to win or your season's over, and maybe it's a game that you have to win to get into the playoffs. And it's all this stuff that could. That could add pressure to that singular shot right there. That shot matters. And when we think about how we usually train shooting in our workouts, it's generally very repetitive, and you're going to get the ball back right after. So each shot might not really matter. You might be shooting until you make a certain amount of shots at a spot. You might shoot on the wing till you make 10 shots. It can take you to 20 shots. And a miss doesn't really matter. And a make doesn't really matter because there's no pressure, really. There's no consequence for missing. And then we get to a game and there's a consequence you're missing. So everything is different, right? Your brain is processing that shot and viewing that shot differently in that game setting as opposed to in that workout setting, in that practice setting where it doesn't matter quite as much. So if. If that's the. The disconnect right there, we've got to find a way to bridge that gap, right? And when we really think about it, essentially what I'm saying is that the shots that a lot of Players shoot in their workouts are not the same shots that they're shooting in games. They might physically look similar, but they're different because your brain is going to view them differently. Because there's much more value, right? You can look at like jewelry, right? You might have somebody with, you know, two. You might have someone with two, like necklaces or two bracelets that look very similar, but one's a fake one that they got for $5, and the other one is a, you know, a real one that costs $200,000. Even though they may look the same at the end of the day, they're two very, very different items right there. And it's the same thing we talk about a lot of times, workouts and the shots that we're shooting in them and then games, the shots of the shooting in them right there. So in a game, you're going to get that one shot, you have to make it. There's, there's value behind it, there's meaning behind it. It matters. And a lot of times you're not going to get the ball right back in a workout. You might shoot the shot and make or miss, you're getting it back anyway. So again, there's that aspect of pressure. Like you have one shot right here and you have to make this one shot. We need to train with that understanding in mind. You need to make the shots in your workouts mean something to you because we need to recreate that pressure so you learn how to succeed in spite of that pressure being present right now. It's very hard to create that fully, right? It's really hard to create an environment in your workouts where, hey, you got to make this shot or else you don't make the playoffs and season's over. You got to make this shot or else you lose the championship game. It's. You can't recreate everything exactly, but we can try and recreate pressure as much as possible and we can add weight behind those shots that we're shooting. And here's some simple ways to do that. So whatever drill you're doing right, take that. Maybe it's a shooting drill, maybe it's a finishing drill. Maybe it's a one on one drill or a two on two drill, whatever the case may be. But the, the only way for that rep to count is if you then make an open shot after that. And usually, you know, you can just make it like a catch and shoot. That's normally how we do it is like, okay, whatever the drill may be, when you make that shot in that drill, you then have to make a catch and shoot three wide open for that rep. That make to count. Right here is an example of how we do this in our workouts. We're going to change this up though. So if you score, you only get a point if you then make a three.

If you want to make more shots and games, you need to put yourself in positions to work on the qualities that translate to the game.

Right here.

After every possession that they score, they have to make a catch and shoot three in order for that point to count. This allows us to add an element of pressure to these shots. The players rarely train in practice. Players spend a ton of time getting up reps, but rarely do the makes and misses really matter that much. But with this drill, a ton of pressure is put on each shot. Just like how in a game each shot matters and there's pressure on every.

Shot that you take.

Not only that, but it forces them to readjust to every shot and because they're driving or playing defense in between each. So again, it makes it much more game like.

So obviously this is in a one on one drill and if you can do it in a situation like that, that's great. You can do this when it comes to a finishing drill. So for example, maybe you have to make a certain type of layup or a certain type of like a certain type of drive you're working on. And after every make for that rep to count towards whatever goal you're going towards, you then have to make a catch and shoot shot or whatever type of shot you want to work on you want to add pressure to. But it's a great way to be able to do that right there. And you can do that for a shooting drill, whatever the case may be, we can do it other ways as well. Sometimes we'll say, hey, you've got to go like, maybe we'll work on shots coming off of like a backpedal or off of like a slide. And we'll have to go 2 for 3 in a drill like that. And then if you get 2 for 3, you then have to make a just a standstill catch and shoot three. For that set to actually count, you might need to get three sets, but the only way the set counts is after your two for three that you make. You have to then make a catch and shoot. You can do it that way as well. And again, that could be for any, any type of drill that you're doing. But we're adding a shot in at the end that says, hey, if you don't make this shot, there's consequences for it. If you don't make the shot, then you lose, or that doesn't count, or the make that you just worked for, it's gone. You've got to restart and, and now all of a sudden you feel a bit of pressure, right? Maybe you go for a certain amount of shots in a row, maybe you've got to make three shots in a row and then just an open catch and shoot. And now on that open catch and shoot, when you worked hard to get those three in a row, that open shot becomes way more than just an open shot. There's pressure riding behind it, right? Because the three shots before it like that is all rides on this shot right here. And that's exactly where we want to be when it comes to our training is recreational. Creating that, getting great at shot making in those moments is what's going to make you great at shot making in real games when you actually are faced with that pressure again. So if you struggle with making those open shots in games, there's a good chance that this is why and that this is going to go a long ways in helping you fix that problem. So my challenge to you right now is to make as much of your shooting work and your work in general pressure filled. So if you're going to work on shooting, how much pressure can you create in those workouts, right? Instead of just saying, hey, I've got to make 10 shots here, maybe you say, hey, I've got to make, I've got to get two sets of three in a row or I've got to get three sets of at least two out of three makes. And then I have to make a catch and shoot at the end of each set for that set to count, right? So you can find ways to adjust the way that you're, you're using like the counting up drills and saying, okay, instead of just making 10, we're going to add pressure to this by making it in a row or forcing a made shot. Like, you can find ways to add pressure to your shooting drills specifically, but also to any other drill that you do. And my challenge to you is make as much of your workouts pressure filled as you can. If you can make 100% of your workouts involving this type of pressure we're talking about, you can find ways to do that. It's going to benefit you so much more come game time. Even if you can do it for 50, 60, 70, 80% of your workouts, you're going to see a ton of benefit from doing that. So that's my challenge to you is find as much opportunities you can to work this pressure into your workouts. And again, that's going to translate so much better to you finding success in games and finally feeling confident making those open shots when you get them. In addition to all this, I want you to click the top link in my description down below. Get my free Elite Perimeter Score programs can help you take your game to the next level where you can we talk a ton about this sort of stuff in that as well. And if you really want to take your shooting to the next level and you want a full program that's going to walk you through all of this, this exact approach is how I created the Elite Shooter System, which is my full shooting program. So if you want something that's going to help take your shooting to the next level and really get you prepared to be able to make these sorts of pressure shots on a whole different level, check that out. Go will transform your ability as a shooter. That's going to be linked down in the description below as well. So go ahead and check that out if you're interested. I appreciate you for watching. Drop a like subscribe if you're new, leave a comment for me. If you got something out of this or if you have a question for me or suggestion for another video, go ahead and do that. I appreciate you for watching. Talk to you soon. Peace.