Haven't played hoops since middle school. How do I get back into it?

Thinking about hitting the Y very early in the morning, hopefully with few people there. Drills? Shoot around? How do I get myself into non-embarrassing shape and how hard will it be?

play bball hard involves a lot of anaerobic activity, so just doing regular cardio (jogging or w/e) won't necessarily be helpful. try doing interval training or suicides first

Alternately, get a ball and toss up some shots for awhile.

Shot around this morning. Doubt I even hit 5%. Good character building exercise though - shooting that badly in front of other people and just continuing to shoot.

if you haven't even shot around since mid school, you're gonna have to completely relearn "touch" since you're presumably stronger and maybe taller now. i've found that you can shoot around by yourself or even play 21 or 32 for hours and hours and days and days, but there's no substitute for an actual game. i'd either set up a friendly pickup game w/other dudes you know who also haven't played much lately, or find some dudes in their 50s that you can gain some confidence playing against. btw when you are just practicing alone, be sure to devote some time to dribbling while running full speed. when i haven't played games for awhile, that always shows my rust the most.

and i'd shoot like 200 FT's before even attempting jumpers. get your stroke down, find a comfortable and consistent release point etc.

Yeah, good call xpost. But I think I need to get my shot together a bit before I try any kind of game. If anything, I felt much more natural dribbling than I did shooting - like my hands remembered how to do that but they didn't remember how to shoot (not that I was ever that great at it).

And yeah, that's all I did this morning - shot freethrows and short to mid-distance non-jumpers. Before work so didn't have a huge amount of time. My shot is going all over the place and my hands feel like flippers.

were you a decent shooter before? it should come back to you relatively quickly, don't get discouraged.

I was never great but never this bad.

Before you start playing playing, do some stuff to strengthen your lateral movement - ankles and knees need to be really strong to play even casual hoops, and getting right back out in a game without putting in a few weeks of conditioning work is a recipe for an injury, imo.

My advice:

a) jump shot. if you have nothing, practice your jump shot. 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet... all points of the key.
b) lay ups. easiest shot in the game. do these over and over and over again from 1-5 feet around the hoop.
c) ball handling. dribbling while running, driving to the hoop.
d) learn to use your off-hand. if you are a righty, practice driving to your left, left-handed lay ups and close-range shooting with your off-hand.
e) practice, practice, practice your dunk. start with taking off from the free throw line and then gradually learn to take off from the 3 point line, then half-court. soon you'll be floating all over the court. good job.

yeah if you're comfortable dribbling w/your strong hand already (keep in mind that dribbling alone is basically a different skill than dribbling in a game w/defenders trying to take it from you at any opportunity), dribble with your off hand 100% of the time while practicing.

While you are practicing I would suggest throwing in a move now and then so that the first time you try to shake someone isn't during a game.

if there's a wall you could throw against to practice catching and shooting, that'd be helpful. if there's not, try make pretend ball fakes/looking off the defender, then immediately shoot. just something to simulate typical in-game shooting situation, when you're not staring solely at the rim beforehand.

aside from conditioning, as far as the getting your shot back (or developing it as the case may be) what works for me is to start shooting around the horn from the side of the key (3 feet away or whatever) but concentrating on the arc, roll off the fingertips, followthrough etc. as if i'm shooting a jumper and move very very slowly outward in that around-the-horn half circle and when i get to about 12 ft out it's time to shoot some proper free throws...after about half and hour yes i am bored and start freelancing at the 3 point line or post turnarounds or whatever to get me into game mode. unless i'm really out of rhythm i can find my stroke or close to it within 45 minutes or so, or by the next session if i've had a long layoff. kinda like what granny said just closer to the basket, start off feeling that sweet net action and add range imo.

That's very good advice actually.

I think I also need to find a place to practice that doesn't have an entire YMCA looking in on it arena style so I can get a little less self-conscious.

also when there's a bunch of people shooting around i don't shoot myself i go hard chasing the rebounds and putting it back up, with my left hand when possible, then giving back the shooters their unearned change with a strong two handed chest pass. it's almost my favorite thing to do now practice-wise, builds up good habits and makes you friends on the court lol.

i have no conditioning advice actually i hopped into some full court games last month after months of inactivity and had to dog it on one or the other side of the court just to not look like a complete waste of space. but i was an efficient shooter :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOf5PegrYTw

aren't there any public courts near you, Hurting? there's a grammar school right across the street from me that I use as my practice court cause there's never anyone there to laugh at me (not that they would, since I'm awesome obv). schools or churches are good places to get private practice in.

w/r/t shooting, I would say develop your set shot first - just use a gentle push from the knees. most of the power from your jumpshot should come from your legs, not your arms. try to use a soft touch, snap your wrist to get nice rotation. for me what helps is not to have too extreme of an angle in my shooting arm, I try to form like a 120 degree angle with my arm instead of the 90 degree angle that a lot of players seem to do.

also, angle your body - right leg in front of left if you're a rightie, right shoulder pointing forward at the basket, that lets your arm line up with the basket, it'll be easier to keep your shot straight that way.

other than that, watch some youtubes? ray allen obv. has the best form in the game, but I'm also a fan of kyle korver...and others

agree that rt leg should be in front of lt leg, but not rt shldr pointing forward. shoulders should be squared up to the hoop; your shooting elbow is what should be pointing at the center of the hoop. of course, like most things, if it works for you, then who cares (and obv that must work for dyao).

is this about winning a game of horse, or doing well in a pickup game? cause really jump shooting is about the 5th most crucial skill in being a good pickup player. unfortunately the top 4 are things it's very hard to improve in through solo practice. but do a lot of changing directions while running towards the hoop, spin moves, ball fakes into either a shot or a quick move to the hoop, finishing with both hands, off balance, not looking at the hoop, over an imaginary 7ft defender. don't worry about having a well-rounded game at first. get really comfortable from a couple spots on the court, with a couple of moves, and a counter-move for both of those moves. again, BALL FAKES. 99% of avg pickup ballers get faked out of their goddamn skin on any sort of ball fake.

actually i just went through the motion of pulling up for a shot, and your shoulders should be squared up when initially pulling, but bringing your elbow to the correct position naturally brings your rt shoulder forward a bit.

so it's more like your chest should be squared up, and your shoulders rotate just a smidge

;)

I had a german friend who went to a bball camp and the coach would tell him to "show me your snake" after he shot the ball which is funny as shit but also true in that your wrist should always be pointing to the basket on your follow through. watch youtubes of jordan or other great shooters how they hold their follow through until the shot goes in. you should basically feel the ball coming off you middle finger as it leaves your hand. and make sure you pop your wrist.

plus, as someone who plays pickup games at the Y when the occasional newbie comes on the court, just play solid d and don't turn the ball over until you feel comfortable.

Don't ever pass. Passing is a sign of weakness. When you encounter the ball either shoot or drive to the rim. Nobody wants to play with someone who can't score.

just give me the damn ball

So a little humiliated by my first trip I didn't go back for a few weeks. But today I was at the Y and didn't really have much to do today, so I decided to head in and shoot around again. I had watched a few youtube videos on technique and tried to practice my form in the mirror a little. I was suddenly not as completely embarassing. I mean I might have only shot like 20% from the freethrow line, but my shots started to look like proper shots.

usually helps me to focus on shooting up more than forward. almost aiming for an imaginary ring way up in the air halfway between me and the hoop than the hoop itself.

Yeah, I shot best when I shot exactly like you're talking about. Also when I really made sure to have my shooting shoulder and foot forward and my arm centered. Just need to get it more consistent.

repetition is the mother of teaching imo

i haven't played in like 6+ years but i'm getting real tempted to go buy a new ball and head over to the park to shoot around

i used to be a decent shot but i imagine i've lost it completely. iirc it used to help me to shoot with just one arm/hand in order to isolate the motion so you can see exactly what you're doing. forearm should be perpendicular to the ground etc

my main weakness is ball-handling/dribbling, the last time i played regularly was in middle school and i was the tallest guy by like half a foot so i was automatically the center on any team, and i didn't really ever learn how to handle the ball or drive to the basket because of that

When I was young I remember I improved ballhandling a lot just by doing simple repetitive drills (swinging the ball arm to arm pendulum style, arm to arm clockwise around the body, arm to arm counter clockwise around, around one leg, figure eight through legs, same drills with dribbling, etc.)

yeah i did all sorts of stuff like that back in the day, but i never got to apply it in actual games since i was just standing under the basket catching feeds for layups all the time

So today I actually managed to hit around 50% from the freethrow line. I also started taking more jumpers, and by the end I was actually hitting quite a few including threes.

It's amazing how much focusing obsessively on form can help - I shot best when I was focusing on the shot rather than putting the ball in.