“Pure shooters” are dead.

You heard me. The basketball shooting game is changing and if you’re a shooter you’re gonna have to hustle like crazy to catch up.

Pure shooters are dead, but prolific shooters are the new breed and are alive and kickin’. You’re going to have to transform yourself into a prolific shooter if you want to be successful in this game today.

You’re probably wondering what the difference is and what the heck I’m talking about in the first place, so let me explain.

There’s a big difference between a pure shooter and a prolific shooter. Both can knock down shots at will and rarely miss. Give them an inch and they can absolutely burn you. The difference is in how they get that inch.

Let’s break down the pure shooter first. The stereotypical pure shooter would be someone like Larry Bird. Not very athletic, but can hit shots from anywhere. But pure basketball shooting is a dying breed in the new game today.

The prolific shooter not only knocks down shots at will, they can create space for those shots at will, and they can hit tougher shots than anyone. They are the type of player that gets the crowd saying “holy shit” when they come off a screen and hit a fadeaway 3 from the corner off a lightning quick step back dribble.

And they do it over and over again.

Prolific shooters are the new breed. Take a look at the landscape of basketball today and it’s plain obvious that if you can’t create your own shot, you aren’t going to survive. Players are quicker, stronger, faster and more athletic that ever before. A good defender (the best shooter almost always pulls the best defender) will manhandle a “pure” shooter.

But because of their uncanny ability to not only get shots off, but hit incredibly tough shots at will, it is nearly impossible to stop a prolific shooter.

If you give them an inch of space, they can pull the trigger quicker than you can blink. Take away their shot and they go off the dribble, putting you on their hip before stopping on a dime and watching you stumble backward in a helpless effort take away their pullup. Stop the pullup and they go to a pullback dribble, creating just enough space to fire, burning you again. Take all this away, and it’s nearly impossible to stay in front of them because you’re too worried about their shot that you can’t stop the drive. Can you say layup lines?

Its obvious now that to take your basketball shooting to the next level and avoid getting left behind, you’re going to want to transform your game from a “pure” shooter – a player who can only hit open shots and relies on their teammates to create those shots for them – into a prolific shooter – a player who blazes their own trail with a deadly range and lightning quick release that is so fast you can’t even hope to contain them.

Here are 5 keys you need to focus on to become a prolific basketball shooter:

1. Have unlimited range: It’s possible to be able to shoot casually from up to 40 feet out – become a player who can do this and you will play your defenders like puppets. It’s nearly impossible to stay in front of a player 40 feet from the basket.
2. Have a lightning quick release. You have to be able to transition from the bounce to the catch faster than you can blink.
3. Master the pullup dribble and your secondary moves off the pullup. You should be able to pull up from anywhere on the floor with perfect mechanics and footwork and stop on a dime. If the defense takes this away, you have to have backup moves in place like step backs, etc.
4. Master “freeze” pullups. I’ll talk about these later in another video, but they are invaluable to getting your shot off at will. These completely transformed my game.
5. Master coming off screens at top speed and shaking defenders strait into the screen. Have the ability to shoot off of a curl, a fade or a cut.