Oh, yeah - I could see myself as a catch and shooter, come off curls and shooting. I really feel good about shooting the ball.
I want to improve my shooting, my free throw shooting, keeping my turnovers down.
I just try to focus in to what I'm supposed to do at the line and shoot the basketball.
A lot of guys go into the NBA not being able to shoot the ball well, but then they become great shooters.
The most difficult thing with a new shot is if you go two or three games without making it, or you struggle, and people start saying, 'You can't shoot 3s,' or, 'Why do you shoot 3s?'
I do realize that it's important to be a threat at the 3-point line.
I always thought the objective of basketball was to get the maximum amount of movement to get the easiest shot, closest to the basket. With the three-point rule, the whole strategy changes, and you make a move and then throw it 30 feet out, where somebody takes a standing jump shot.
Ninety percent of the coaches in the NBA are guards, and there aren't very many big men people coaching, I happen to be one of them and when I coached, everybody on my team, including the guards, had a hook shot, so that it was their bail out shot.
In basketball, the legs are the most important part of your body. A lot of people think it's the upper body because you shoot with your arms, but your legs are always carrying you, so if you don't lift leg weights, your muscles will be easily fatigued.
Defenses had to play us, obviously, out to the arc, but it was really, to me, my mid-range game that was probably more dangerous than my 3-point shot.
I have great technique, a good shot, and I'm pretty good in the air.
Shooting on film is great because it imparts discipline: What do you need to see so you're not finding it in the camera. When I'm shooting, I have the scene in mind, where I'm going to have certain lines. I learned to overlap and to shoot more than I think I need. That was the learning curve.
Great shooters are one dribble guys.
I don't shoot shots just to shoot shots. I'm always working in a rhythm, working on mechanics. I've got a checklist of the things I need to do with my form, my legs, my arms, all of my mechanics.
At Kentucky, that was my job - coming off screens, catch and shoot, spacing the floor - no hesitations. Just go right into my shot - don't focus on the defender.
If I improve on the jump shot then I will be hard to guard.
When I shoot, I'm square with the rim.
My on-the-court game was ordinary. I had a jumper but needed screens. I could go right but not left.
If your shot is broke, you at least want to shoot it comfortably. You want to be comfortable shooting a broke shot. You don't want to be uncomfortable shooting a broke shot.
I learned how quickly I actually released my shot off the dribble. I know that's something I work on, and really use in games, but I didn't know exactly how quick it was, down to like the millisecond.
People think I can just walk out and shoot 75 without taking a warm-up shot. But believe me, it's not that easy.
I always back myself as a finisher, but I always practise it as well. Every type of finish: left foot, right foot, headers, penalties, free kicks.
A lot of guys can shoot two, three, four, five, six, seven, 10 feet behind the 3-point line. A lot of people can do it. It's just, when is it going to be considered a good shot? When are coaches going to encourage you to shoot that shot?
Shooting at a man who is returning the compliment means going into action with the greatest speed of which a man's muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick shooting involves.
In college, the line is so close that you can kind of half-heartedly shoot the ball off-balance and fading away. To shoot an NBA three, because the arc of your shot has to be a little higher, you have to be squared up and get your legs into it more, which can be tough in the fourth quarter.
