The difference between winning and losing, and anonymity and stardom, can come down to shooting.

Some teams don’t even have a dedicated shooting coach. “I think some teams don’t because it’s such a new concept,” says Philadelphia 76ers shooting coach John Townsend. “There was a time not every team had a strength and conditioning coach, and it’s just grown and now most teams have at least two. I think eventually it’ll continue to grow for shooting coaches. I try to get to know all the shooting coaches. You have to root for them. The more teams that have shooting coaches, the more likely it’ll be that it’ll continue to grow.

It is fashionable in some circles to deride developing higher-level fundamental skills. The claim that working on basic, fundamental shooting skills in isolation won’t prepare their use when needed in a particular context. This is the opposite of how effective training actually works. Basketball is a fluid game with players constantly moving and shots taken quickly from varying, unknown-in-advance places and situations.

Practice in context would require scrimmaging with nine other players. Yet, even players good enough to make it to the NBA find dedicated work on specific shooting skills in isolation outside of the applied context is improving their overall results. Because that is how skill development works.

The full article:
https://theringer.com/nba-shooting-coaches-kent-bazemore-kawhi-leonard-8660e9939680