Looking for a youth basketball shooting drill that challenges players to improve accuracy, pace, and endurance? The M Drill and 5-Spot Shooting Progression are two simple, high-intensity workouts that turn any empty gym into a game-ready training session. Featured on the TeachHoops YouTube channel, these drills combine conditioning and repetition, helping players compete against the clock while sharpening their form and confidence.
Drill 1: The M Drill Shooting Challenge
The M Drill teaches players to move with purpose, hit from all five key shooting spots, and track their own progress. It’s ideal for solo workouts or warm-ups at team practice.
Setup:
One basketball
Stopwatch or timer
Five shooting spots: both corners, both wings, top of the key
How it works:
Start the timer for one minute.
The player must make one shot from each of the five spots.
Record the total time to complete all five makes.
On the next round, try to beat that time.
Progressions:
Round 2: Two makes per spot (1:00)
Round 3: Three makes per spot (1:45)
Round 4: Four makes per spot (2:00)
If there’s no rebounder, allow a little extra time to chase down rebounds.
Coaching points:
Keep feet active between shots.
Focus on balance and form even under fatigue.
Encourage players to compete against themselves or teammates.
This drill builds rhythm, stamina, and confidence in game-speed situations.
Once players have mastered the M Drill, the 5-Spot Shooting Progression takes things to the next level. It uses the same five spots but increases total makes, footwork variety, and movement patterns.
Setup:
Same five shooting spots
Partner or rebounder (optional)
Stopwatch or scoreboard timer
How it works:
Players aim to make a set number of shots (for example, 10 or 15) cycling through all five spots.
Emphasize continuous motion—no pauses between makes.
Mix in pivots, jab steps, or pump fakes to simulate live play.
Record total makes and time to track improvement week-to-week.
Why it works:
Builds conditioning through constant movement.
Reinforces consistent mechanics from multiple angles.
Helps players transfer shooting fundamentals to game flow.
Why Coaches Love These Drills
Together, the M Drill and 5-Spot Progression form a complete shooting workout, efficient, competitive, and scalable for all levels. They train muscle memory, self-accountability, and stamina without needing fancy equipment or full-court setups.
Whether you’re coaching youth players or high school athletes, these drills teach players to stay focused, move with intent, and build confidence with every rep.
Bonus: Smarter Tournament Planning
If you’re coaching club ball or running weekend tournaments, organization is half the battle. Between travel logistics, gate fees, and scheduling headaches, it can be overwhelming.
That’s why platforms like SidelineSavings.com are emerging, helping tournament operators, coaches, and parents streamline entry, scheduling, and payment systems so everyone can focus on basketball, not spreadsheets.
For players looking to take their scoring to the next level, learning how to become a better basketball shooter starts with building a strong technical foundation. Shooting is more than just repetition, it’s the result of proper mechanics, consistent targeting, smart practice, and attention to detail.
In this post, we’ll break down the key principles behind becoming a more efficient shooter, with insights from veteran college coach Doug Schakel and time-tested teaching points from coaches across all levels.
1. Master the Mechanics First
Before you can hit shots consistently, you need a reliable and repeatable shooting motion. That starts with:
Balanced base: Feet should be shoulder-width apart, with your shooting-side foot slightly ahead for natural power transfer.
Grip and hand placement: The ball should rest on your finger pads with a visible pocket of space between the ball and your palm. The off-hand guides but does not interfere.
Elbow alignment: Your shooting elbow should be tucked in, forming a straight line from your toe to the rim.
Release and follow-through: Finish high with a relaxed wrist snap, fingers pointing at the rim, and hold your follow-through.
This alignment helps eliminate variables, reduces off-target misses, and increases your margin for error. Without this structure, even the most intense practice won’t result in consistent results.
2. Build Muscle Memory Through Smart Practice
Effective shooters don’t just shoot more, they practice smarter. Start with close-range form shooting to reinforce muscle memory and rhythm. Focus on swishes, not just makes. Then, gradually increase your distance.
Include:
Shooting off the dribble
Coming off screens
Free throws under pressure
Fatigue shooting drills
These game-like reps build your ability to score in realistic conditions. Track makes and misses, analyze patterns, and make micro-adjustments. The best shooters treat practice like performance and their numbers reflect it.
3. Targeting: Where You Look Matters
According to Coach Schakel, targeting plays a key role in distance control and accuracy. While many shooters default to aiming at the front or back of the rim, his preferred method is the bullseye technique, focusing on a tiny imaginary dot in the center of the hoop.
Front rim targeting allows for soft shots to crawl in but may lead to short misses.
Back rim aiming can produce hard bounces due to the lack of give.
Bullseye targeting emphasizes pinpoint accuracy and mentally narrows your aim, much like a marksman hitting the center of a target.
This approach has helped many shooters who struggle with inconsistent depth or streaky performance.
Join the TeachHoops Community
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Another crucial element in shooting success is the launch angle or arc of the shot. A higher arc increases the ball’s entry space into the rim:
A 60° launch angle offers the most room for the ball to drop cleanly through the basket (ideal inside 15 feet).
A 52.5° launch angle is better suited for longer shots where energy conservation and speed matter.
A flat shot (below 45°) drastically reduces makeability, especially from deep.
Schakel even uses a simple PVC arc trainer to help players visualize and train their arc. A higher, softer shot also increases your chances of “deflected makes” and “rim dancers,” reducing hard misses and rim outs.
5. Straight Is Better Than Perfect
Of the three elements, distance, arc, and direction, shooting straight is the most critical. You can be slightly short or long and still make shots, but if the ball veers left or right, it’s almost always a miss.
Coach Schakel emphasizes:
Slight body turn, not a squared-up stance, to promote better elbow and hand alignment.
Lead and trail shoulders help guide the shooting motion naturally.
Use of a vertical “shooting tunnel” formed by toe, knee, elbow, and eye.
He compares it to throwing darts: when the body is properly aligned, the shot travels straight without forcing it.
Track Your Progress With Purpose
One of Schakel’s most effective tools is the free throw accuracy game. Each make is scored based on quality:
3 points: Swish
2 points: One rim touch
1 point: Multiple rim touches
0 points: Miss
By rewarding clean makes, this system teaches players to value precision, not just results. Use it during practice or create a team-wide competition like a “free throw ladder” to track standings and name captains based on performance.
Final Thoughts: Become a Shooter, Not Just a Player
Learning how to become a better basketball shooter requires commitment, structure, and repetition, but more importantly, it demands intention. By pairing proper mechanics with intelligent, focused practice, any player can see significant gains.
Whether you’re a youth player trying to improve your form, a high school guard looking to increase your scoring average, or a coach searching for effective shooting drills, these principles hold true.
One of the most important parts of any coach’s practice plan is the incorporation of basketball shooting drills. These drills are valuable no matter the level of the team or the talent of the individual player. Shooting remains a key aspect of the game, and only through repetition and focus can a player improve.
For coaches, finding the right drills for your team can be frustrating. Depending on the team’s level and the talents of the gathered players, coaches sift through dozens of drills, searching for the right series. It’s important for a coach to understand their team’s ability and continuously push them to improve.
When developing shooting drills, a good coach must consider what types of shots they want to focus on. Drills should reinforce the skills that will help the players perform within the context of a game. So shooting drills should be designed around shots that would normally result from a team’s offensive actions. The best basketball shooting drills are representative of a team’s base offense.
Basketball Shooting Drills: 3-2-1 Shooting
This drill involves at least two players and is a high-volume, high-repetition practice. Over the course of one or two minutes, non-stop, a single shooter progresses through a series of jump shots. The other player rebounds and feeds the shooter from near the hoop.
The shooter begins behind the three-point line for their first shot. From there, the shooter moves into the midrange for their second shot. The last shot in the sequence is a layup (which is worth one point). The rebounder keeps track of the shooter’s score as their teammate progresses through the drill. After the time is up, the players switch roles.
This shooting drill provides valuable practice for any shooter, regardless of talent-level. The shooter must move, set their feet and find a repeatable release. Even the other player gets reps at securing rebounds and making solid passes.
This drill can incorporate internal competition as well. The two partnered players can compete with one another, or with another pair at another hoop.
This drill involves a set number of players progressing through a series of shots on the floor. The group might start at the short corner, then move to the elbow, free throw, opposite elbow and opposite short corner. In order to progress to the next spot, the group needs to make a designated number of shots in a row. Once the group has made three from the short corner, for example, they move to the elbow. But if they miss at the elbow, a coach can signal either that the team runs or returns to the previous spot.
This drill can be redesigned as a practice game as well.
Year after year, the NBA Playoffs offer us all a front row seat to the game of basketball being played at it’s highest level. However, even the top seeded teams can often fall short of that level when it comes to playing with maximum effort. In any given game, most NBA Teams can be trusted to play their hardest, but in a “best of 7” series, there are far more opportunities for human nature to sink in. Following a loss, the most common NBA Playoff Team adjustment is usually not schematic, but simply to play with more energy and determination.
Coaches have used several different buzz words over the years to describe either how an abundance of effort led to victory, or how a lack of effort led to defeat. In the past, the most frequently used buzz word was “desperation”, which has graced the narrative of many post-game press conferences and off-day interviews. However, in 2018, the new buzz word appears to be “force”, which ironically has been used most by Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Defending Champion Golden State Warriors. Regardless of whether “desperation” or “force” best describes maximum effort. What’s most important is why it alludes a team to begin with, and how to get it back when it does.
Overconfidence is the most common contributing factor, and also the most damaging. Overlooking any opponent brings about consequences that often cannot be reversed. Coaches of all levels can learn a valuable lesson from this years NCAA Tournament, in which a #16 seed beat a #1 seed for the first time ever. The concept of “rest vs rust” is also a major factor, when a team is affected by having either too much rest, or not enough. Lastly, is a lack of 3-dimensional preparation. Most preparation is based on 1-D and 2-D tendencies, such as preparing for an opponent that plays fast, or tries to dominate the paint. An example of 3-D preparation would be discovering that your opponent has a hidden motivation, such as a team member dealing with a tragedy, or perhaps a hidden revenge angle. That hidden motivation could make this game extra emotional for them, causing them to play with maximum effort and increased intensity. That could be huge problem if you as a coach are unaware of it, and your players enter the game at only a standard motivation level. Bottom line, there are infinite reasons why a team can lack effort in any game, at anytime, at any level. These are just a few details to keep an eye on.
First, I want to say thank you to Coach Collins for asking me to do this Blog for Teach Hoops. Two things you need to know about me is that I am not all knowing, and I am always learning how to better myself as a coach.
Right now at the college, we are just kinda at a wait and see period for some recruits with an attempt to find that gem that went under recruited by the 4 year schools. Yes, I am assistant at junior college in Wisconsin, but before that I coached 5 years as a varsity boys coach and I almost coached every level below that since my coaching journey started in 2005. As I sit typing my Blog in the sun over Memorial Day Weekend, I ponder the question….why are coaches so busy in the summer?
First, I think it’s important to know that all coaches are not busy in the off-season. For example, I consider myself as a college coach to have a lot of free time. But, my position is much different from when I coached Varsity Boys Basketball at the high school level. My current summer commitments reside in help running two youth camps and support supervision for open gyms. But, I know how much work consist in the summer for High School coaches in the summer. And in reality without summer, I think it would be impossible for coaches to function without it. Summer is a time for development, trial and error, and logistics. Here is a list of items I have done in one summer as a head coach.
Try and tweak new sets, defenses, offenses with team opportunities
Meet with High School staff weekly
Plan and organize online shoe and apparel stores for upcoming season
Wow! I forget how much I did in the summer for preparation for the upcoming season. The question you really asking is why? Winning is hard work, and frankly my tenure at my previous job had only small moments of success. I worked harder than most of my players. Personally, I saw more growth in the youth program with future players coming up the ranks in next the 5 years. But, building a program takes time and making the right decisions through the journey. The worst decision I made was not facilitating the workload to others to provide more time for my own team. My advice to young coaches is create a pipeline of people to work under you. Build and maintain positive relationships with other coaches, parents, and community members to support building your program. Your support system comes down to finding individuals that believe in your program and our invested in the program not their child. Again, the process takes time to build a program, which you have to be careful about picking the right job. That is something I can address in a later Blog.
Summer is a period of time for coaches to eliminate clutter during the season. It’s impossible to do the items above plus coach your team during the season. It would be overload. I feel the many of items on my list provide clarity and direction for the season to come. You can learn about your players and how they respond to certain offense and defensive schemes. The regular season has not enough for trial and error and building your identity. 10 practices and your competing in your first game.
Finally, coaching isn’t a full-time job that pays the bills unless you make it to the big time. I currently still teach 5th grade and coach other sports as well. Without using summer, I believe no one could function during the regular season, unless your single and retired. Please email with questions regarding my blog at [email protected].
