Steve Alford Gun Shooting Drills by Mark Chapman

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Basketball Coaching | Basketball Drills

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April 22, 2014

Steve Alford Gun Shooting Drills

The Gun shooting machine

All of these shooting drills are for use with “The Gun” shooting machine and can be adapted to fit the number of players or shooting skill you want to improve on. Steve Alford was a great guard that played for Coach Knight at the University of Indiana. He is currently the head coach at UCLA and is well known for his instruction on shooting.

Steve Alford Gun Shooting Drills: 3 Spot

Using the five spots on the floor (corner, wing, top, wing corner) a player will start in the corner and shoot a 15’ jump shot. Then he will back up and catch behind the 3pt line and give a shot fake, use one dribble and pull up jumper. The player then returns to the 3pt line in the corner for a 3pt shot. After shooting those three he moves to the wing and so on until completing all five spots.

Steve Alford Gun Shooting Drills: Snake shooting

This drill is a very common use of the gun where three players work together to get multiple shots up while moving. The Gun is set to rotate and after a player shoots he jogs behind the other two shooters and gets feet set for the next shot. This can be run continuously for a certain amount of time or until the group of players make a certain amount of shots.

Steve Alford Gun Shooting Drills: Competitive shooting

This drill is great because it forces players make great passes as well as concentrate on his shooting form. Player’s swing the ball around to the third shooter for the first shot, the next ball goes to the player at the top of the key, and the third shot is taken by the player receiving the pass from The Gun. Players keep track of their MADE shots and the first to 10 makes is the winner. Have the players rotate a position to their left and play again. The player receiving the pass from The Gun will have the hardest amount of work because he’s catching and passing the most while trying to maintain a successful shot! Talk with players about make GREAT passes, even though it’s a competition you still want to make the best pass possible for your teammate!

We have a new basketball coaching contributor in Mark Chapman He is doing an excellent job in providing basketball coaching clinic notes, basketball drills, and basketball plays. He is the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, Ohio. I think that you will enjoy the basketball shooting drills that Coach Chapman gave us.