Coach Dave Love

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Coach Dave Love

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

10/26/2026

Know exactly what’s holding your shot back, with expert advice from an NBA shooting coach. It takes two phone videos and a couple of minutes.

Every coach can see when a shot looks off. The hard part is knowing which habit to work on first. That’s the job I built the Shot Mechanics Analyzer in the CDL Coaching Toolbox to do.

You film the shot from the front and the side, upload it, and mark the key moments, from the catch, through the lift and the set point, to the release and the finish. The Analyzer then assesses the details I look for, built on my ShotMetrics research: 11 from the front view, and 20+ once you add the side view. The analysis itself takes seconds.

But a flag is a starting point for a conversation, not a verdict. The human body wasn’t designed to shoot a basketball, so almost every habit is a trade-off. Intervention requires diagnosis, not prescription. That’s why the report doesn’t hand you twenty things to fix. It points to the priorities first and explains why.

Then we build the plan: individual drills for the habits we found, layered around your games, just like I do for my NBA players. And that’s only one tool in the Toolbox.

So you, or your player, always know exactly what to work on. For less a month than one group session with a local trainer, it’s an NBA shooting coach as your personal consultant.

Launch offer: start your free 14-day trial today, no credit card needed. If it’s for you, use code TOOLBOX25 by Nov 8 for 25% off your first 6 months (or your whole first year if you go annual).
The CDL Coaching Toolbox is linked in my bio.

09/26/2026

When a player is working on something they struggle with they are being vulnerable. Even the smallest interactions can be outrageously positive, or sabotage the entire process.

Be aware of the possible implications of all your comments.

07/28/2026

I think Skill Acquisition, Ecological Dynamics and the CLA around shooting is being portrayed far too narrowly.

07/26/2026

EXTERNAL CUES

One of the first external cues a mentor exposed me to was the idea of the "Shooting Tube" to help players explore a more functional ball path.

External cues have been shown to improve transfer in compound movements like shooting.

07/10/2026

Most players try to fix their shot by guessing at what looks wrong.

They change their feet, adjust their release, copy another shooter, or add a new drill before they fully understand what is actually causing the miss.

That is where a lot of shooting development gets stuck.

A shot is a full system. The way a player creates balance affects the way they manage energy. The way they manage energy affects the release.

The release affects the spin, and the spin can tell us a lot about what happened before the ball ever reached the rim.

That is why I created Diagnose A Player’s Shot.

This product is built to give players and coaches a clearer understanding of what is happening in the shot, why it matters, and what should be worked on next.

The goal is not to force every player into the same version of “perfect form.” The goal is to identify which habits are helping, which habits are hurting, and which changes are actually worth making.

If you are tired of guessing at your shot, get it diagnosed.

Comment “SHOT” or visit the link in bio to learn more about Diagnose Your Shot.

07/09/2026

Most coaches can see the ball spinning.

Very few know how to read it.

Almost nobody in the coaching world understands how much information is available in the spin of the ball.

Most coaches understand, at least at some level, that the spin of the basketball matters, but the spin is one of the most information-rich signals available in shooting evaluation.

The problem is that most coaches are either ignoring it, or doing something even more dangerous.

They are misreading it.

The seams of the ball can create an optical illusion, which means what you think you are seeing may not actually be what is happening.

The ball is essentially a record of the release. If you know how to read it, it can tell you a lot about the shot.

Players and coaches, be honest. When you watch a shooter, are you actually reading the spin of the ball, or are you mostly watching the result? Comment below with what you look for first.

07/08/2026

Some drills work because they remove the easy option.

A 1-2 step is not wrong. In a game, if a player has time to take a 1-2 step, it is absolutely a viable option.

But in this drill, the constraint is different. You only get one step to get your balance.

That means you have to work harder. You may have to explore a new motor pattern. You have to figure how to stop your momentum in one step instead of using the extra time and rhythm of a 1-2 step.

This is why constraints matter in shooting development. They help expose the habits a player depends on, and they force the player to find balance under different conditions.

Players and coaches, where do you see shooters struggle more: getting balanced on a 1-2 step, or stopping their energy in one step? Comment below.

07/07/2026

Most coaches are missing out on one of the most information-rich signals in shooting…

The spin of the ball.

Some coaches are starting to look at spin, but many are still misreading what it actually tells us.

In other sports, this type of information is already measured. We can measure the axis of rotation for a golf ball or a baseball, but basketball has lagged behind.

The reason is simple.

Most people have not been trained to understand what this information means, or why it has value for shooting development.

My research partner and I have created a way to measure the spin axis of the basketball. I believe we are among the only ones capable of measuring it this way right now.

Over time, that will change. This information will become more accessible, and our understanding of shooting will keep improving.

It just takes time.

Shooting is complex. Follow me for the nuances. ✅

07/06/2026

Perfect shooting form is one of the biggest myths in basketball.

There are no correct ways of shooting a basketball that apply to every player, in every situation, on every shot they take.

But that does not mean every way a player shoots the ball works great either.

The goal is to figure out which habits help you, which habits hurt you, and why those habits are creating the results they are creating.

There is gray area in this.

Some habits might help a player stay comfortable, but those same habits might also be causing them to miss more shots.

The work is learning how to keep what helps, understand what hurts, and make better decisions around what needs to change.

Shooting is complex. Follow me for the nuances.

07/03/2026

More power is not always the answer.

A lot of players can create enough force to get the ball to the rim.

The bigger question is whether that force is helping the shot, or making it harder to control.
When a shooter rotates their body too much, some of their energy moves away from the target line.

That can make the shot harder to repeat because the player now has more movement to manage and compensate for before the ball leaves their hand.

That does not mean every bit of rotation is bad.

It means coaches need to look at the trade-off.
Is the movement helping the player create power that they actually need?

Or is it creating extra power that they then need to cancel out with another negative movement?

The goal is to help players build power that is easier to repeat in real game situations.

Save this if you coach shooters, and follow for more basketball coaching and shooting form tips.

Address

Calgary, AB

Website

https://linktr.ee/coachdavelove

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