Marcus Smart altered his shooting form over the offseason

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Boston Celtics' Marcus Smart altered his shooting form over the offseason




Marcus Smart tried to improve his shooting stroke over the summer. (Winslow Townson / AP Photo )


Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com


on September 29, 2016 at 2:00 PM, updated September 29, 2016 at 2:07 PM



Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart altered his shooting form over the summer in an attempt to cure his lack of accuracy.

"I tried to take as much of the hitch out of my shot as possible," Smart recently told ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg. "I tried to get a quicker release. And just work on repetition. My dip was too far below my waist, therefore it was taking me a longer time to get my shot up and making it easy for a defender to contest me. (Defenders) ultimately made me change my shot a lot."

Here's an example of how Smart's old form sometimes allowed the defense to catch up:


http://giphy.com/gifs/l2SpLNkU9pLhGn5g4?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=tag_click


Obviously, the pass from Terry Rozier doesn't hit Smart in the shooting pocket. He still has plenty of time to catch it, gather and release before the defender's closeout, but operates at a slow enough pace that he turns a wide open look into a semi-contested one. The dip is very pronounced; Smart actually brings the ball below knee level before continuing with the rest of his shooting motion.

Smart's footwork often changed with every catch-and-shoot attempt, which might have been part of the reason he actually shot (much) better off the dribble. According to NBA.com's John Schuhmann, Smart was one of just two players (with at least 100 FGA of each) who shot better on pull-up jumpers than catch-and-shoot opportunities. The numbers are staggering even if the sample size is small and Smart's percentages were actually flipped in those categories during his rookie year.

What does Smart want his form to look like? Maybe something like this:


http://giphy.com/gifs/3o6ZtiMjxa8AGfupsk?utm_source=iframe&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=tag_click


The on-target pass helps, but Smart catches on a hop, which helps him pull off a quicker dip (as you can learn about here). Instead of letting the ball drop all the way down to to his knees, he starts to rise into his shot when the ball reaches about waist level. That saves a bit of time while putting Smart into a nice rhythm. The defender in this play begins the play a lot closer to Smart, but can't get a better contest than the defender in the other play above.

Smart's shooting troubles last season gained a load of attention, and rightfully so. After a decent rookie year from behind the arc, he put out a historically bad second album. Among all players in NBA history with at least 200 3-point attempts in a single season, he now owns the very worst shooting percentage (25.3 percent) for a campaign, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He's great enough defensively that he still managed to be a helpful player, but it's clear his shot needs a heap of improvement.


bob
MY NOTE:  I saw the highlights of the open practice at the Gahden and saw one of Smart hitting a 3.  His shooting motion looked MUCH better.  Didn't bring the ball back behind his head and use a lot of upper arm like he used to, just straight up over his head and a lot of forearm and wrist.  MUCH better.  I have said many times over the past 2 years that practicing his old shot was not going to make him a better shooter, it would just burn in the bad mechanics.   Hopefully this change will put him on the right track.


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https://www.facebook.com/bostonceltics/videos/10154600353472667/


He's shooting 32% from the field so far.  Whatever he changed didn't change the results much.


bob


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His shot looks much better.  I would be satisfied if he shoots 33% provided he is taking less than 4 Three point shots per game.  

dboss

dboss wrote:His shot looks much better.  I would be satisfied if he shoots 33% provided he is taking less than 4 Three point shots per game.  

dboss

I hope he turns out to be a decent shooter but for the most part how well one shot the ball in college is an excellent predictor of how well you will shoot in the nba.


swish

Swish

Wishful thinking. I do not think he will ever be anything more than an average to below average shooter. When he was drafted that was a legit concern.

Still love his overall game.

dboss

dboss

For sure that's wishful thinking on my part. Smarts 3 point shooting in College was a lousy .295 over his 2 years at Oklahoma State - when he averaged 3.4 three point attempts per game.


swish