Can anyone become a great shooter through practice?

Great maybe not. But make major improvements and become good sure. Jason Kidd. Kyle Lowry. I'm sure I'm missing others.

 

Practice and coaching, sure. Steph Curry was an average jumpshooter till his dad totally rebuilt his jumpshot. The only exception to the rule I would think are guys with hand/arm injuries like say Ronnie Brewer.

 

Its like asking if anyone can learn to be a golfer like Tiger Woods with enough practice.

I believe practice can make pretty much anyone a "good" shooter, but merely being a good shooter is not enough to be elite by NBA standards. We're talking creme de la creme. It requires a level of concentration, coordination, and balance that is pretty much unattainable by most people.

 

This is false. Steph was a great shooter as a 4yr old. Great shooters are great shooters at a early age. The price boys,mullin,ray allen,bird, etc... however,you can become a good shooter which is all u need to be.

 

He was an okay shooter, but its unlikely he would have had success at the NBA level unless his dad rebuilt his shot.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nb...-warriors-three-point-shooting/#ixzz2hxSn9MN5

 

I guess you missed the part where it said dead-eye shooter. I'm sure even if Steph didn't rebuild his shot he would still be a damn good shooter. Some players are just naturally gifted or pick the art up easier when it comes to shooting as proof of guys leebigez mentioned. Another example of a guy that got really good at shooting was RIP Hamilton. I think he led the league one year or was at the top in 3pt shooting after lots of practice.

 

I think shooting is something you get better at the more you practice and the more you practice your shot the more confident you'll shoot ...Parsons wasn't a great shooter in his rookie year he but has improved his shot a lot

 

Sure. But his shot was completely rebuilt, and now he's the best in the league. If that can happen, I'm sure Dwight/whoever can manage to make free throws and maybe hit some midrange shots.

 

Isn't Jason Kidd a good example?

 

The natural ability is how well you can judge the distance and be able to have the right "feel" so that your muscles work in coordination with your brain so that you shoot it the right distance for where you are at on the court.

Practice helps you develop the muscle memory so that your brain and your muscles are on the same page so that when you look at the rim, you can feel how hard you need to shoot it. Or if you are off balance how much you need to overcompensate to get it on line.

And of course your technique makes it easier to duplicate each shot so that you can be more accurate.

But the natural ability we possess is how well your brain can judge distance and how well your brain can get your muscles to put the ball exactly where your brain thinks it needs to be.

I don't know what it's called from a scientific standpoint.

But I imagine it like how some people can draw naturally because they have the ability to copy what they see. They are just good at transferring what they see to paper. Some people are terrible at that.

 

I think you can become a good shooter from a poor shooter, or a really good shooter from a good shooter. There are differences with the guys you mentioned though. Those guys a pure shooters. They literally have nothing holding back their shot, no matter if it is going in or not. You can't teach that, in fact, most shooting coaches will tell you not to go for that. They will say focus on your fingers, or focus on your follow through or whatever. Those guys think of nothing, they just let it go.

 

The simple answer is 'no'. This golf analogy is pretty accurate. There needs to be a certain (extremely high) level of natural born ability involved.

 

mechanics and repetition.

 

Is in the hands and wrist and touch.

 

It's more on the brain where motor skills originate. A good form and a lot of practice will definitely make a lot of improvement but definitely, it requires talent. A talented shooter with the same amount of practice with a non-talented shooter will always be better but just the same our brain is utilized by 10% barely so there must still be a way to utilize a little bit more to be a better shooter. How? I don't know... Maybe, practice can do it just like when Nash became a better dribbler due to practicing.

 

I think it has a lot to do with innate ability. I'm pretty sure there are guys who have practiced as much as steph but will never be on his level.

 

Not really, unless you're Allen Iverson, then you probably can.

 

a lot of years makes bad one an average to good one

one talented with years of practice.... great one

 

The key isn't just practice, but practicing with the correct form and fundamentals. Otherwise you are just practicing bad habbits, not fixing them. Many players get stuck in what feels comfortable to them and will not change their shot, so their is a ceiling to their ability.

Then consider that many of the people and coaches actually use outdated teaching techniques, and the best shooters don't actually do what would be considered a "text book" technique. Interesting video on the topic here:

[youtube]3PXy44_f330[/youtube]

and

[youtube]x7r036CXYZ4[/youtube]
where it is noted that practice DOES NOT make perfect. Rather it is perfect practice that makes perfect. If you practice with bad technique you will improve very little in shooting.