It's not about the bigger area with a higher arc. It's about the angle when the ball hits the rim. Obviously if the ball doesn't touch the rim it goes straight in so a higher arc doesn't matter. When the ball hits the rim, with a higher arc, it will have a better chance to bounce in. ESPN or other broadcasters should put up the stats for the balls bouncing in vs the arc angles. The "pancake and arrow" theory is ridiculous. Don't compare apples to oranges and pretend that it makes sense.
You don't want your shot to be too flat because it will more than likely pop out if you shoot like that. Like, when you see the ball rattle around the rim and pop out because of the angle that the ball is going into the rim. A higher arc means the ball is more likely to go down instead of pop out because of the angle of the ball. But you don't want too much arc, because then it's harder to control. We all know the proper amount of arc when we see it. We know when a shot is too flat, and we know when it's a rainbow. It doesn't take a bunch of scientific analysis.
Yep, that's why Parsons he been lighting it up. You compare his flatter shot this year to Lin's ridiculous reinvented high arcing shot and ask yourself why does Parsons shoot so much better from 3.
Shooting was my specialty. I practiced hours per day for years. I found that the higher the arc the better the accuracy. The ball is dropping down into the net and is less likely to hit the rim. Parson's shot reminds me of TMac's shot, not much room for error because it is so flat. You can obviously go overboard and make all your shots rainbows, but I believe the higher percentage of accuracy is between the extreme rainbow and the flat rocket. I love Ray Allen's shooting form.
From eye test, the best arc for me in the team is Harden. His arc is not too high not too flat, it has the right form for it to go in. Reminds me of Durant's. I've also seen enough of Canaan to know his go a good arcing form.
True, they are very high arcing also. Chandler Parsons is very flat, but he seems to be getting them in at a high clip. There is prob no right or wrong answer and it's what each individual is most comfortable/used to. I think whats way more important than the arc is your shooting form, your mindset when your shooting and your follow through.
It's a pretty simple problem in physics. The shooter has three things that he can control: his aim in terms of left or right of the basket, the speed of the ball when it's released, and the angle of release. Let's say you're shooting from the corner, which puts you 22 feet away from the basket. Assuming that you are tall enough to release the ball 6'8" from the ground, if your angle of release is at 30 degrees, the speed of the ball has to be between 22.536 and 22.777 mph when it leaves your hand to go through the hoop without touching the rim. That's a margin of 0.241 mph. If the angle is 45 degrees, than the range is between 19.542 and 19.808 mph, giving a margin of 0.265 mph. You decide which is the better arc.
Not high, not flat, perfect form <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/veEm8zRxROc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
These links don't contain any data or simulations. I think he just calculated the distance based on initial velocity. This study based on modeling the effectiveness of bank shots is much more thorough. http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/money-in-the-bank-using-backboard-can-pay-off-for-basketball-shooters/
36% compared to 34% is not a huge difference. When Parsons is off on his 3 it's pretty uggo - the ball sometimes barely hits the front of the rim. That said, he does hit more of them than I usually expect given the look of that shot. MJ had a line drive as well. (that's where the similarities end)
I get it, forget the arrow analogy, so I was lazy Just throw a piece of garbage into a trash can by throwing it with a lot of arc rather than aiming more at it, that's probably closer to the same perspective NBA players have compared to the rest of us It has indeed been determined scientifically that the taller you are the less arc you need, or common sense. Anyone can shoot several consecutive threes with a high arc in practice. That just never happens in a game. Try shooting a high arc three off the dribble, with no warm up shots to give yourself some calibration, you rarely see those go in. In fact, try it with a trash can, you'll see - going from an aggressive move to a finesse move is against human nature. Dirk and Allen have probably shot a hundred thousand times to overcome that to have their cake and eat it too. There's a very good reason most players don't shoot like that.
[/QUOTE] I used to have one of these in my backyard, I raised three boys who all played BB. Once you spend a lot time shooting you realize that arc does makes all of the difference, but you reach point where the high arc shot can't be controlled as well, and that gets you back to the scientific numbers. In Dallas I know they used to have a machine that would announce out loud the arc of every shot you put up, so you could adjust accordingly. Also you can fit three men's BB's through a hoop, it's a tight squeeze but they can all go thru at the same time.
The pancake analogy is not correct, since you are only trying to hit the pancake that would be the same as just trying to hit the rim. The most important factor is the angle at which the ball enters the hoop. The larger the angle the greater the margin for error is. The closer you are to the rim the larger the angle must be for an optimal release since, the further away from the rim you are the longer the time the ball has to travel in the air and due to friction it will loose more horizontal speed thus come down at a greater slope. You cannot use extremes such as Parsons to justify a flat arc is just as good, because that only applies to him. Repetition matters a lot and it can turn a lower percentage shot to a high one.
The shooter has three things that he can control: 1) the in-plane angle, 2) the speed of the ball as it leaves his hand, or how hard he throws it and 3) the take off angle, or the arc. The in-plane angle determines whether the aim is to the left, right or true. A combination of speed and arc determines whether the shot is too short, too strong, or just right. A higher arc gives the shooter a larger range of ball speed and still be on target. The best arc for a particular player is the one that lets him maximize his control over both the in-plane angle and speed of the ball as it leaves his hand.
