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8 Keys to Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball

8 Keys to Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball

This article was written by Basketball HQ co-founder Kyle Ohman.

 

1. Score Within the Offense

  • Set Plays
    • Master your team’s set basketball plays and recognize when and where there are great scoring opportunities for yourself.
    • It could be a play designed specifically for you or for another teammate, but you always need to be ready to take a high percentage shot within your team’s offense.
  • Read the Defense
    • Don’t be a robot when running plays. Understand how the defense is guarding a certain action, and then exploit it.
    • This requires knowing and understanding each play at a high level. If you are always trying to remember the play, you won’t be able to read the defense.

 

2. Play to Your Strengths

  • You are What you Shoot
    • You must value the shots that you shoot. Not every shot is a good shot.
    • Look for high percentage shots to take advantage of.
  • Seek Out YOUR Shot
    • Every scorer has different spots on the floor that they prefer. So get the ball where you want it, and then shoot the shot that you want.
  • Use Your Teammates
    • Don’t try to do it on your own.
    • i.e., If you are great with ball screens, look to use a ball screen with one of your post players to score.
    • Communicate with your teammates and let them know where you want to get the ball.



3. Next Play Mentality

  • Short Memory
    • Not every shot is going to go in; that is just how it works. You should never let a miss impact the next shot.
    • Move on to the next play and shoot the next shot with confidence.
  • Confidence
    • You must be mentally tough and have confidence in your abilities.
    • Don’t allow a few misses to deter you from taking the next quality shot that comes your way (as long as it fits the moment in the game).

 

4. Take Advantage of Easy Baskets

  • Transition
  • Hard Cuts
    • Read the defense and take advantage of miscommunication or laziness with hard cuts to the basket.
    • Backdoor: if the defender is playing too high in the passing lane, back cut to the basket for an easy finish.
    • Face Cut: if the defender doesn’t jump to the ball after a pass, cut right across their face.
  • Offensive Rebounds
    • Crash the boards hard and look to get easy put backs.
    • If you are more of a guard, be ready to shoot kick out 3 pointers off the offensive rebound.

 

5. Free Throws

  • Aggressiveness
    • Put pressure on the defense and force them to commit fouls.
    • Play under control while being aggressive and don’t pick up out of control fouls or turn the basketball over.
  • Free Points
  • End of Game Situations
    • Making free throws at a high percentage adds a lot of value in close games when the other team must foul to extend the game.

 

6. Offensive Balance

  • Create for Others
    • You must be willing to set up other teammates to keep the defense from collapsing on you every time you make a move.
    • Being a dual-threat to score and create puts so much more pressure on the defense.
  • Multiple Scoring Moves
    • Be able to score in a variety of different ways.
    • You will have “go-to moves,” but you also need to be able to exploit the defense when they are overplaying you a certain way.
    • Example: A guard that can both shoot at a high level and finish at the basket is a lot harder to guard than a player that is only one-dimensional.

 

7. Develop your Weaknesses

  • Don’t Avoid Your Weakness
    • Purposely set time aside to work on areas of your game that you struggle with.
    • Write out what you need to work on and how you are going to improve in those areas.
  • Constant Development

 

8. Defense to Offense

  • Stops to Buckets
    • Getting hands in passing lanes, harassing the ball handler, rebounds, etc., can open up transition opportunities and allow you to turn defense to offense.
    • This doesn’t mean gambling outside of team strategy; stay disciplined.
  • Team Defense
    • Buy into team defense and recognize that defense ignites the offense.
    • Don’t be the player known as a scorer but takes it easy on the defensive end and hurts team defense.

 

More Tips on Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball

 

Complete Basketball Player

In every basketball player’s game, they are going to have strong areas and weak areas. The goal, though, is to turn as many weak areas as you can into strengths. When Michael Jordan came into the league, his critics claimed that he didn’t have a good enough jump shot, so he worked on it, and today he is known as one of the best pure scorers of all time. That was one of his weaknesses that he turned into a strength.

Don’t be a one-dimensional player. What I mean by this is, don’t be just a catch and shoot player or don’t be just a driver. If you can only do one thing, then you will be easy to guard. As a player early in my career, I was mainly known as a catch and shoot player, but one summer, I made it a point that I was really going to do ball-handling drills and work on finishing at the basket. For the whole summer, I worked on these types of basketball drills. The following season, I saw my points per game average almost double.



It wasn’t because I had turned into this freak ball handler that could get to the hoop and score on anyone I wanted to; it was because I could mix it up. My defender wasn’t able to just run up on me tight and close me out because I could put the ball on the floor and make him pay. Being able to drive the ball made my defender close me out slower, which allowed me to get my shot off and get to the free-throw line more because I was initiating the contact off of the dribble.

I was watching an NBA game a while ago, and I don’t even remember who was playing, but one thing I do remember is what Reggie Miller said as he was announcing the game. He said, “What are you going to do as a player when a good defender takes away your 2 or 3 best scoring moves?” A good defender in basketball will know what you do well and make you play to your weaknesses.

You need to be able to be versatile and score in different ways. Obviously, you will lean on your strengths, but what if your strength is your right hand and your defender is completely taking it away? Are you going to be able to go left and finish at the basket? Mix your game up, and don’t just work on the things you are good at when you get in the gym and do your basketball training.

 

 

Know Your Defender’s Tendencies

People always talk about scouting the offensive player and picking up tips to shut them down. Well, it goes the same way when evaluating your defender. For example, is your defender a shot blocker, or will he stay down and try to wall you up? If a shot blocker is guarding you, then your best friend is a shot fake, but if you are being guarded by a defender that just contests shots, his whole strategy is to try and get you to hesitate and throw your shot off just a little bit and then live with the results.

If a player is quicker but smaller than you, take them in the post or use your mid-range game. On the other hand, if a bigger, stronger player is guarding you, take him out to where he has to move his feet to stay in front of you. As a big man on offense, it is pretty simple to read your defender.

Suppose your man is bigger and stronger than you, face him up and shoot or go around him. If he is smaller than you, put them in the post and back him down to get your hook off. However, this only works if you are a multi-dimensional player and well-rounded in your offensive game.

 

 

Score Within the Offense

As much as it is being a skilled player, you also need to give yourself the advantage over your defender. The best way to do this is within the offense, and by using your teammates to help you get open. You look at a player’s stats and see that he scored 20 points, and you think that is pretty good, but then you look and see that he took 30 shots, and it isn’t as impressive. A great scorer is efficient and uses his teammates to help himself score as well as his teammates.

The other team will know who the great scorers are, and they are going to focus the team defense on them. This is why it is important to use your team and your offensive sets to get your shots. Use down screens, ball screens, attack off of the second penetration or after a reverse, be in the right spot for a kick out, etc.

Big men should be willing to screen because you create a disadvantage for the defense whenever you set a good screen in basketball. This will allow you to pick and pop or pick and roll to create an advantage for yourself to score. Give yourself the advantage by scoring through the offense.

 

 

Know When to Attack

Time and place is another part of being a great scorer. During the game, there are going to be different times that call for different shots. It is okay to shoot a contested off of the dribble shot with the clock running down, and no one else has a better shot. It is not okay to shoot that same shot if you have plenty of time on the clock.

There are just different situations you need to learn as you become a better scorer. For example, at the end of the game, if you know your guy is having a hard time guarding you and your team is in the bonus, don’t shoot an off the dribble three, go to the basket and get a foul, finish, or both.

 

8 Keys to Becoming a Great Scorer in Basketball Conclusion

When you hear the word “scorer” in basketball, you sometimes think of it negatively because there are so many volume shooters out there that we label as scorers. Being a great scorer, though, means being able to score the basketball efficiently; it is done with one purpose in mind, and that is to help the team win.

Great scorers shoot the basketball with accountability. They know that it is their role to shoot a lot of shots and score points for their team. However, they don’t just shoot any shot that they want or feel like. It is about the team, and they show that by choosing to shoot high percentage shots.

Scorers are usually naturally gifted, but GREAT scorers are also some of the hardest workers as well. If you look at players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, etc., you will quickly see that they are also some of the hardest workers. If you want to develop into a great scorer, it starts in the gym with hours and hours of hard work. This allows you to shoot the ball with confidence and take the big shots at the end of the game.

 

 

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