# How do you hold a basketball when shooting?



## McDaniels (May 20, 2011)

Not sure where to post this so I'm just going to put it here, move it if necessary....

Anyway... I'm kind of new to basketball, basically just started playing this year since I'm a freshman in college and most of my friends play. Anyway I'm god awful but I enjoy it and I want to get better. I'm the kind of guy who wants to do everything in the best possible way though. I'm not satisfied with just shooting however I want, I want to shoot in the way that gives me the most accuracy so I looked up correct form and all that jazz. I kind of have it down...

My problem is that I don't know how to hold the basketball when shooting... I've basically experimented with two ways. I have very small hands... I can't palm a ball or anything, and shooting one handed is kind of tough since my hands aren't able to keep the ball stable very well. 

One of the ways that I hold the ball when shooting is with all 5 of my fingers stretched as far apart as possible. This basically leaves my middle 3 fingers pointing upwards or towards me when shooting the ball, and my pink and thumb are both pointing to my right and left... you could pretty much draw a line between my pinky and thumb.

The second one has my pinky pointing a bit more up, so my pinky is pointy in a similar direction to my middle 3 fingers but is still pointing slightly outward at the same time. 

I've had more accuracy shooting the second way and it feels more comfortable, but without using my left hand to support the ball it tends to have less stability than the first method. 

Which way do the pros play? Obviously method two is working better for me now but I want to know what is the best way to shoot period, if I shoot the ball 5000 times using either method, which one would leave me as a better shooter?

Here is a diagram I made it paint showing the 2 methods.


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## sonicFLAME6 (Dec 19, 2006)

*Re: How do you hold a basketball?*


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## Seanzie (Jun 9, 2003)

If you're not looking to do anything but play some rec ball or pickup games at the park, just do whatever feels comfortable and natural. 

My shot is strange. I almost shoot with both hands in a way, and I get this sidewinder effect. However, I've learned to deal with it and become somewhat consistent with it.


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## changdamang (Feb 7, 2013)

I feel like the first way helps me a lot more. It helps be depends less on my guide hand.


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