Irondale Basketball Association

The three point contest is a great event for fans of outside shooting.  You have some of the best three point shooters in the game taking shots over and over, and it really lets you break things down.  After watching the event, I came away impressed with one shooter in particular, and that shooter was James Jones.

Now we all know James Jones as the guy who may be benefitting the most from playing along side James, Wade, and Bosh, and that might diminish everyone’s opinion about him and his shooting ability (He only gets wide open shots).  However, Jones is actually a very good shooter (40% career three point shooter) with fantastic mechanics.  I came away so impressed with Jones that I thought his stroke needed to be broken down:

Arm/Hand Position

When Jones pulls up for a shot, he has his shooting arm at a perfect 90 degree angle, with his hand in the center of the basketball.  These two things is what allows Jones to shoot the ball on a straight line and exactly where he wants it every single time.  His non-shooting elbow hangs out a little bit more than usual, but that is because Jones has a very high release point with the basketball above his head.  He needs the left elbow to flair out so he can have a window to see the rim.  Here it is in live action:

Footwork/Lower Body

As James Jones gets set to take his shot (left photo), he has very good foot position.  His right foot is slightly ahead of his left foot, which is normal and he has both feet shoulder’s width apart.  When he lands (right photo), Jones’ feet are basically in the same position as they are the same distance between each other.  More importantly, Jones lands in the same spot from where he takes off.  This is important for a shooter because you don’t want to be floating from side to side or too far in front.  Jones’ footwork indicates that he has a smooth stroke, here it is live:

Release/Follow Through/Rotation

As James Jones lets go of the basketball, you see that again everything is just about perfect from a shooter’s perspective.  Jones keeps his guide hand still on the side of the basketball, not involving it in the shot.  In addition, Jones really snaps his wrist.  A still image doesn’t do it justice, here it is in real time:

Notice how the guide hand is just holding the ball in place, he never uses it on the actual shot.  That combined with the snapping of the wrist is what produces the fantastic rotation that Jones gets on the basketball (and since the NBA uses the tri-colored money balls we actually get to see the rotation):

A rotation like that is what softens the ball as it bounces off the rim and what gives you those “lucky” bounces (also, look at the net snap on his swishes).

Repeatability

Because Jones does just about everything properly and by the book, his shooting form is real easy to duplicate.  This means that he gets the same shot with the same rotation and the same arc over and over, which is exactly what Jones does (all of the video clips above is proof).  This is what makes Jones such a great shooter, he does everything correct consistently.  Many times you hear people call a shooting form/stroke easy or smooth, this is exactly what they are talking about.  There is no herky-jerky motion anywhere, and it is just a beautiful motion.

So next time you want to make a joke about James Jones and the fact that he is just a catch and shoot guy (I’ve been guilty of this), realize that he’s not just knocking down shots because he is open, he’s hitting them because he has a smooth stroke.