Coach Dave Love

Coach Dave Love NBA Shooting Coach Dave Love helps coaches and players of all levels and abilities make more shots.

06/10/2026

Shooting isn’t about right or wrong. It’s about understanding trade-offs.

Very few ideas in shooting are black or white, right or wrong. Players and coaches need to understand the trade-offs. The ideas that might help a player in some way but hinder them in another.

Power is a great example. In my latest research paper we went out initially trying to prove that a smooth ball path was better for shooters. But we couldn’t prove it. The evidence overwhelmingly told us that wasn’t totally accurate.

Yes, a smooth ball path likely adds power to a shot, and young players might need to prioritize power. But the research showed us that a smoother ball path wasn’t a common trait in the better professional shooters.

It was shown that a larger change in direction actually made older players more accurate, they just needed to be strong enough to still get the ball to the rim.

Try analyzing your own shot or your players’ shots and see how trade-offs like this affect performance. Share your findings below.

06/09/2026

The skill of shooting is NOT repeating perfect form.

This is what so many players and coaches misunderstand. They think to be skilled at shooting they need to have great mechanics.

But that is only one part of the overall picture.

The missing piece is the ability to adapt. And if we aren’t practicing adapting our shots in the ways we need to adapt in games, then we are limiting players.

Yes, mechanics do matter. We want functional shooting habits.

But REPEATING doesn’t happen in games. So players need to adapt around those functional shooting habits.

Don’t only practice one part of being skilled and expect to be able to transfer those habits into games.

Comment below one way you force the shooter to have to adapt.

06/08/2026

Master this habit to improve control on every cut.

This video is a great example of an important habit.
In order for players to have the best chance to be stable in dynamic situations, they need to make sure their Center of Mass is within their Base of Support.

In other words, if they can have a wider base, they have a better chance to control more energy.

This means they can cut harder, and still be in control of their body.

I recommend players get their feet outside the width of their hips, especially when cutting hard.

Try this stance next practice and comment how it changes your cuts.

06/05/2026

Your set point might be the reason your shot feels flat or forced.

There are two things we need to have happen…

1️⃣ We need the set point to be high enough to be able to get our hand under the ball.
2️⃣ We need the set point to be low enough that our elbow still has room to lift.

There is a range of degrees of freedom for each athlete and each shot on where this set point should be (meaning it doesn’t have to be exactly the same for each person and each situation) but generally I like to see older players able to look under the ball on most shots they shoot.

For younger players, this is something that gradually needs to improve. Young players tend to have a set point below their chin, making it hard to get the hand under the ball (so they don’t have good arc), and their hand is more on the side of the ball (forcing them to use their guide hand).

TAG A TEAMMATE THAT COULD WORK ON RAISING THEIR SET POINT.

A higher set point, like the one used by Nikola Jokic, will make your shot harder to block.That’s true.But it also comes...
06/04/2026

A higher set point, like the one used by Nikola Jokic, will make your shot harder to block.

That’s true.

But it also comes with trade-offs.
❌You can lose power.
✅You can increase the curvature of the release.
And it can become harder to control distance.

That’s the part most people miss. There’s no single “perfect” technique. Only solutions to different problems.

A higher set point isn’t something you should force. It’s something that shows up when needed, like when a defender is closing space.

So instead of prescribing one template of mechanics, start designing environments.
🔑Add defenders.
🔑Change constraints.
🔑Let the shooter discover the adjustment.

Because great shooters don’t rely on one form. They adapt based on the situation.

Click the link in bio for an in-depth guide on how to assess shooting form!

06/03/2026

Higher arc isn’t universally “better”.

High arc has its downside too. It makes distance control harder.

If your arc is too flat, the target gets smaller.
If your arc is too high, it becomes harder to control distance.

That is why the goal is not to shoot the ball as high as possible.
The goal is to find an arc that gives the ball enough room to enter the rim while still allowing the shooter to control distance.

In this example, the optimal arc is around the height of the top of the backboard.

That gives the shooter the most room to adapt and work with the physics of the shot.
Small changes in arc can change the size of the target and the level of control needed.

Shooting is complex, Follow me for the Nuances!

The best coaches do not force every player into the same box.Early in my career, I held tightly to rules.I had a theory ...
06/02/2026

The best coaches do not force every player into the same box.

Early in my career, I held tightly to rules.

I had a theory I believed was “right,” and I used that theory as a guardrail, but the longer I coached, the more I realized shooting does not work that way.

Different players have different bodies, strengths, limitations, habits, and learning styles. That means one answer will rarely apply perfectly to every player or every situation.

A theory is valuable. It gives you direction. It helps guide your decisions, but coaching skill grows when you learn when to adjust, when to break your own rules, and when to meet the player where they are.

The skilled coach is the adaptable coach.
✅The one who understands the trade-offs.
✅The one who can live in the grey area.
✅The one who can coach the person in front of them, instead of forcing every player into the same answer.

What is one shooting “rule” you have had to rethink over time?

06/01/2026

Where you look when you shoot matters more than you think. 👀

Give yourself something physical to look at vs looking at the middle of the rim.

I recommend to players to look at the middle of the back of the rim!

Want more shooting tips like this? Follow along if you want more content on shot focus and targeting.

When someone is learning a new skill, it is normal for them to simplify the movement.In basketball, you can see this wit...
05/29/2026

When someone is learning a new skill, it is normal for them to simplify the movement.

In basketball, you can see this with newer shooters all the time.

They get stiff. They limit movement. They try to make the shot easier to control.

It’s called FREEZING DEGREES OF FREEDOM.

That is part of the learning process.
But it is not the whole learning process.

The issue is when we keep players stuck there.
We strip away movement, ask them to repeat the simplest version of the shot, and call that development.

At some point, the player has to add degrees of freedom back in.

They have to learn how to control more of their body.
They have to adjust to the speed, pressure, balance, and variability of the game.

That is where skill starts to show up.

Where do you see freezing degrees of freedom for too long?

basketballdrills

05/28/2026

Form shooting is more valuable when you stop treating it like one stationary drill…

Remember, when you’re form shooting, it’s important to practice in different spots on the floor and at different distances.

Those little variations will force adaptations, and great shooters are adaptable.

Players will start to gain more benefits when they spend more time learning to judge distance during form shooting, rather than staying in one spot the entire time and learning to repeat.

Every time you repeat a shot you missed the opportunity to learn to adapt. In games we never repeat, so don’t practice that way.

How variable is your form shooting?

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