Some evidence suggests that shooting coaches can help. The three clubs that have employed shooting coaches for multiple years—the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers—have made at least slight improvements in shooting rates. Since hiring shooting coach Gary Boren in 1997, the Mavs have gone from 25th in free-throw shooting and 27th in three-point shooting to first and third, respectively.
Shooting ability is becoming more valuable as NBA defenses grow stingier thanks to more-sophisticated film study. Teams last season averaged just 96.3 points per regular-season contest, the lowest figure since 2003.
For players, a soft shooting touch can actually lengthen careers. The league's top 25 retired three-point shooters, on average, walked away from the game at 34 years old and played nearly 14 seasons. On average, players retire at 28 years old after five seasons.
Many of the sport's top athletes are paying thousands for private off-season shooting workouts, raising the profile of shooting instructors. "The players working with us in the off-season strengthens the argument that there should be more of us with the teams," the Pacers' Keller says.
But most teams remain unconvinced. So basic is shooting that hiring a coach to teach it would be akin, some veterans suggest, to employing an expert to tie their shoes. As an assistant coach, the veteran Bob Hill recalls feeling briefly threatened by the idea of a shooting coach. "I can teach all that stuff myself," Hill recalls thinking.
Some executives say the idea best applies to young teams, such as the 2007 Portland club whose average player was younger than 24. "The younger they are, the more likely they are to take it," said Tom Penn, a former Blazers executive who hired a shooting coach that year and who now serves as an ESPN analyst.
Then there are the New York Knicks, the oldest team in NBA history, who last month hired shooting coach Dave Hopla. Jason Kidd, who recently signed with New York, is an advocate of the instructors. He attributes a significant late-career jump in his three-point shooting percentage to help from the shooting coach in Dallas, along with a personal shooting coach Kidd hired.
"These guys are breaking down film of your shot, seeing it on tape," said Kidd. "When you have a guy who knows your shot and sees your tendencies and can say, 'Hey, you're dropping your left hand—that's why you're not making them'—that's valuable."
Read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/KNbwa
