The recent backboard use post reminded me of another point my old coach friend would stress- follow your shot. Today in virtually every instance after a player releases a long range shot - especially a 3 point shot- the player stands and watches the shot or steps backwards. My old school coach believed this was one of the most harmful developments in BB. He estimated a team with this approach misses 3/5 rebounds a game as the shooter often has the best vision of and opportunity for a rebound of a missed shot. Getting 3/5 more second changes he estimated was worth 6/10 more points a game. His logic was that even the best 3 point shooters only hit approximately 40% of their shoots and the non- shooting team has an immediate 1 player advantage after the shot is taken because the shooter has effectively removed himself from the game while he is watching his shot or is moving moving backwards. Accordingly for approximately 60% of the time after a long shot is taken the nonshooting has a man advantage.It is hard to argue with his logic as long range shooters do remove themselves from the game for brief periods of time when they simply watch their shot. I would be interested in Coach Steeles take on this point - maybe the Redhawk BB team of 2025/2026 will become the first team in the country to follow their shots.
Is that really a good strategy on a 3? I didnt think coaches still taught it. Probably depends were you shoot from but you better not follow your shot if you are shooting a top of the key three
that is old school nonsense. no good shooter should be thinking of following their shot.
Seems to be common sense that a shooter from the top of the key should be dropping back on defense.
If you could average two points a possession, there’s no need to get any rebounds
You first have to get the rebound for the extra chances
I do believe that following through on a perimeter shot is part of being a good perimeter shooter. If you see that your shot looks good you have no reason to follow the shot, if it misses the rebound will be close to the rim. Now if you see it is going to be offline or long or short that often means a long rebound and that is when it pays to head that way. Also, well organized teams have rules on who is going to be back and that might be the 3 point shooter sometimes.
Shooting the ball in the paint is very different and by all means, you have a good chance to rebound your own miss and get another shot or passing out for an open 3.
Dick as usual all good points. The point of my old coach friend was that every offensive rebound was very important and even 3 plus more O rebounds a game could make a big difference. Even the best of shooters are not above a 50% make result and tactics to increase O rebounding 50 % of the time should be considered.If you are playing a fast break team the three point shooter may have defensive responsibiltlies and therefore need to move backward quickly.Generally however simply standing and watching your shot certainly is debateable as to whether the player is contributing to his team’s effort. At any rate what harm is there in a player in most instances following his shot if he clearly sees it is not a " make".This discussion however no doubt moot because players/coaches today will seldom if ever use a plan to follow their shots unless they are deep in the paint.
To your point, watching the Final Four last night, the offensive rebounding of the best teams in the country is just amazing to watch. So is the shot blocking and just the challenging of almost every shot. The ability to close out on a shooter without fouling is another very impressive stat. Teams are advancing from the stats analysis trends which Coach Steele has implemented here and finding ways to counteract it and win with physicality and toughness vs pure shooting and ballhandling ability. With modern analysis and coaches thinking outside the box to find different ways to win, the game is like the rest of the modern world, changing and evolving faster than ever.