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Basketball Fundamentals - Shooting Lay-ups

The lay-up is the most basic shot in basketball. Unfortunately, it does not get a lot of attention when people work on improving their overall game. In a time now where fundamentals are slowly being forgotten and replaced with fancy show-boating moves, players need to remind themselves of the basic techniques of shooting lay-ups to make themselves better scorers. In this article we will discuss just a few things associated with lay-ups that will help improve your overall game.

When Practicing Lay-ups Take It Serious
In an actual game you will rarely have the opportunity to lazily run to the basket and shoot an uncontested lay-up. Most lay-ups are shot while you are fast breaking with a defender on your hip harassing you all the way to the basket. If you practice lay-ups nonchalantly then in a game type situation you are more likely to miss the lay-up because you might jump off the wrong foot, or shoot the lay-up too hard because your timing is off. It’s not logical at all for you to make even the simplest of shots in a game if you are not practicing the shots the same way you would shoot them in a game. Make sure you are using correct technique and that you are moving at game speed when you shoot lay-ups during your warm-ups.

Be Able To Use Both Hands
You should be able to shoot lay-ups effectively with both the right and left hand. If you are driving to the basket on the left hand side of the floor and shoot a lay-up using your right hand you are likely to get the shot blocked. Make sure that whatever side of the basket you are driving towards you use that hand to shoot the lay-up. This will ensure that your body will be in between you and your defender and it’s likely that you will draw a foul if your defender tries to block your shot.

Be Selective
If you try to shoot the same type of lay-up in every situation you will lack the advantage. It’s important that you are use to shooting different types of lay-ups so that you will be harder to defend in certain situations. For example a defender may be over aggressively challenging every shot you take, as you get to the basket you may want to head fake and shoot what is referred to as a power lay-up where you go off two feet and try to draw a foul or shoot over your defender as you time it perfect. Or sometimes on a break you would want to actually shoot a lay-up with the opposite hand of the side of the basket you are driving towards. Sometimes when you are pressured to get a shot off you can get the ball to the basket quicker if you were to use the right hand when going up on the left hand side of the basket or vice versa. The bottom line is that you need to have a selection of lay-ups that you feel comfortable shooting so that during games you can use every advantage you possibly can.

HoopSkills - A basketball training and coaching website.

USA Basketball Candidates Official

The lengthy list of the 25 candidates for the 2008 USA Basketball Team for the Olympics has finally been announced. The USA Basketball team looks to redeem themselves after a poor bronze medal showing at the 2004 Olympics.

The list includes 21 NBA stars (in alphabetical order): Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Lamar Odom, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour, Amare Stoudemire, and Dwyane Wade.

J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison, both of whom are currently still in college, are also invited, rounding out the roster to 23 total players.

One player’s exclusion has garnered heated media attention, and his name isAllen Iverson. Many point to Iverson’s age and style of play as reasons for his exclusion, despite his important role in the last Olympics.

“We wanted a team not of individual stars, but athleticism, shooters, role players and distributors,” national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said.

Colangelo is also hoping that high school basketball star Greg Oden will be able to join the team for training this summer.

The 23 players will attend a training camp in Las Vegas in July. The team will then fly to China and South Korea to participate in exhibition games. Afterwards, a 12-man roster will be selected for the world championships held in Japan.

There will be another training camp in 2007, which could be regional Olympic qualifying. It will be followed by another camp and additional exhibition games in 2008, before the Beijing Olympics begin.

The team will be led by Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

http://www.simplysportsnews.com

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