🏀 Master Your Shot: Essential Basketball Shooting Drills to Elevate Your Game.

Sharpen your skills and dominate the court – Start your shooting journey now.

Shooting Fundamentals & Technique

Proper shooting technique is the foundation of great basketball players. Developing a repeatable, accurate shot requires precision in form, footwork, and release. Understanding the fundamentals will help you increase shooting confidence, improve accuracy, and dominate the court.

✅ Proper Shooting Form – Hand placement, follow-through, and balance.

Grasp of the ball – Extend your fingers by placing your hand down on the ball. When you pick the ball up into the shooting position, the ball should rest in your hand but not touch your palm.

Remember BEEF

Remember the Acronym “BEEF” = Balance, Eyes, Elbow and Follow Through as a reminder.

See our Blog Post here.

✔️Balance – Feet spread apart with weight distributed evenly. Dominant foot slightly ahead of your other foot.
✔️Eyes – Eyes focused on the target (the rim).
✔️Elbow – pointed down such such that the ball could be held in your dominant hand – if you removed your other hand the ball would stay in the cradle.
✔️Follow-Through – Extend your elbow towards the target creating an arc towards the basket. At the end, you should be “reaching into the cookie jar” with your hand.

✅ Release Point & Arc – Proper arch is required to get the right arc on the ball. Shot arch and backspin are important but for now, stay close and work on your form.

3 Point Shooting Tip: Power comes from your legs. To improve your 3-point range, ensure you get a good knee bend in your legs while keeping the ball in the shooting pocket. Everything else should be the same with the follow-through by the upper body. Keep your off hand from flicking the ball when you shoot. We have to correct alot of players from flicking with that off hand when the they shoot.

Beginner Shooting Drills

Form Shooting

Start close to the basket, and use one hand only (remove non-dominant hand and put it down at your side). Do not jump since this is form shooting, but bend your knees when your shoot the ball. Practice the form and the release until you are consistent from close range (focus on shot arch which depends on when you release the ball) As you progress, move your off hand near the ball but do not touch the ball. Repeat – repeat – repeat this drill. We can’t count the number of times we have brought players of all ages back to this drill because bad habits creep in and we need to revert back and develop new muscle memory.

Spot Shooting

Use both hands for this drill and and practice normal jump shooting. Work your way around the 5 spots around the lane.

The shooting spots should be as follows (See Diagram Below – Click to Enlarge)

Short corner
Elbow
Free throw line
Other elbow
Opposite Short corner.

Work on consistently hitting these shots. There are tons of variations you and your teammates can use.

Floor Shooting Anywhere

This drill can be done anywhere, but would be best done at home when you are comfortable and away from the basketball court.

✔️Lie on your back on the floor with a basketball and toss it up into the air about 2-3 feet above your head.
✔️Focus on holding the ball in one hand and practicing your shooting motion.
✔️Extend your elbow towards the ceiling and flick your wrist at the end for backspin. Make it a repeatable toss every time.
✔️Catch the ball and repeat.
✔️After you have done 20 repetitions, repeat by adding your guide hand near the ball but do not touch it.
✔️Repeat with guide hand not touching the ball for another 20 repetitions.
✔️Practice daily when you are off the basketball court.

Basic Layups

Layups are the easiest and highest percentage shot to make in all of basketball. They typically occur off a fast break or downhill drive to the basket.

You must use good form practicing layups. For example if you are going in for any layup, you get two steps (left-right if on right hand side) after you gather (pickup) the ball. Be under control when you practice layups.

Lift off your inside foot
Raise your outside foot
Bring the ball up on outside arm (we teach the outside legs and arms are connected – you lift one you lift the other like a marionette).
Typically aim for the upper corner of the rectangle behind the rim.
Practice left handed shots the reverse of right handed.

Intermediate and Team Shooting Drills

5 Spot Shooting

Practice jump shooting in a game like situation as a group or team. Only two balls for this drill. Can either work one half of the court or do a competition between teams on both ends of the court. Work your way around the 5 spots positioned around the paint as marked on the diagram.

The shooting spots should be as follows (See Diagram Below – Click to Enlarge)

Short corner
Elbow
Free throw line
Other elbow
Opposite Short corner.

Total time is 5 minutes- one minute at each location. Player shoots and then gets their rebound and passes to next player in line. Count total makes at each spot.

See our YouTube Video Here.

Around the World

Practice jump shooting in a game like situation. Work your way around the 5 spots around the lane as shown in the diagram. Each player has a ball and gets their own rebound. Make a shot to advance to the next location. If you miss, you go to the back of the line, and shoot again – repeat until you make a shot at that location.

The shooting spots should be as follows (See Diagram Below – Click to Enlarge)

Short corner
Elbow
Free throw line
Other elbow
Opposite Short corner.

Winner is the first player to hit a shot at each location and complete the around the world circuit.

DHO Jump Shots🔥

Our teams run a lot of dribble handoffs (DHO) because it is one of the easiest exchanges in basketball and creates downhill drives and good looks at the basket.

Start on left hand side with two lines (left slot and left corner as shown in diagram).

Player dribbles along 3pt line towards teammate who Vee cuts and then comes around outside.
Handoff between both players near the free throw line extended
Player who gets ball should attack off DHO trying to get to elbow for a jump shot or pass back to teammate.
Work jump shots first and then dumpdown passes as second option.

Drill should be ran on opposite side as well.

See our YouTube Video Here.

45 Veer Shooting Drill

This is a good team drill to practice 45 Veer cuts and jump shots. Players set up on each wing (ball on left side to start). Players make a 45 veer cut from wing to opposite elbow.

Run for 4 minutes, 1 minute doing each shot variation .

Left Hand Elbow Jump shot
Left Hand Elbow Shot fake, left handed layup

Ball switches sides to the right hand.

Right Hand Elbow Jump Shot
Right Hand Elbow shot fake, right handed layup

Count your makes from each location. Can work this drill on just one end of the court or run a game of made shots against the other side.

Drive-Kick-Swing Shooting

Used to get teams used to the familiar Drive-Kick-Swing off of a lead pass (typically off a fast break but could be used in a regular offense)

Start on right hand side. 3 shots for this drill – goal should be to get > 50 points in a 2 Minute span.

Starts with a kickahead pass near half court to the corner
Corner Drives Baseline towards the basket using outside hand
Corner kicks the ball to the left wing who starts in the corner and lifts to the wing
Player drifts to top of the key for the 3 Pt shot
Two other lines pass to player on left wing for 3 pt shot and original baseline drive for layup

Drill is shown on the right hand side but can be ran either side. This drill is essential for learning how to shoot game ready 3-pointers off the drive into a kickout pass, then a swing pass, and a 3 pt shot.

See our YouTube Video Here.

45 Veer Elbow Shooting

Used do get players familiar with using shot fakes and pivots into a jump shot or a layup.

Run for 4 minutes, 1 minute doing each shot variation .

Left Hand Elbow Jump shot
Left Hand Elbow Shot fake, left handed layup

Ball switches sides to the right hand.

Right Hand Elbow Jump Shot
Right Hand Elbow shot fake, right handed layup

Count your makes from each location. Can work this drill on just one end of the court or run a game of made shots against the other side.

🚀 Consistency is the Key to Mastering Your Shot! 🏀

Every great shooter starts with solid fundamentals, repetition, and confidence. By refining your form, footwork, and mindset, you’ll develop the precision in shooting that is needed to dominate the court. Use these individuals and team skills to Elevate Your Game and increase your IQ. Keep practicing, stay focused, and trust the process—because the next shot you take could be the one that changes the game.

How do I improve my 3-Point Shooting?

Master BEEF first. Start with form and spot shooting, but then progress into 5 Spot shooting. If you are looking for a great team drill try our Drive-Kick-Swing Shooting which is specific for catching and shooting off of a drive.

What are the best drills for 3-point shooting.

See our drills above and start there first. As you progress, we have more advanced 3-point shooting drills in our Youtube Shooting Skills and Drills Playlist here. There are several 3 point shooting drills.

Are there any shooting gear that can help with 3-point shooting.

We have tested the Sklz Square-Up trainer with our team. It is great for early season 3-point shooting drills and can help develop a rhythm in shooting consistently. If you want to see a demo of it, check out our Youtube Video here. If you are interested in purchasing it, here is a link to it on Amazon. Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We may earn a small commission when you shop through our links – at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting our 5T Hoops Gear.

Anything else we can do to improve 3-point shooting.

Record yourself, watch your footwork and upper body movement. And we would be happy to review film if you want to send it to us – visit our Contact Us page here.