Jerry West - "I haven't shot a basketball in years"

in 1998 I talked to Jerry West on two phone calls which totaled 45 minutes and I want you to notice what this Clinic symbolizes when I talked to Jerry West I called him to ask him a question I asked if a shooter can avoid trial and error and he related ethic and the amount of time he spent shooting how long does it take to be a shooter with proficient ability as reliable as a machine and this has to do with Calculus in any predetermined machine that is made there is a cause and effect that will match the legitimacy of that machine Jerry West did a clinic this day and missed no shots and made everyone that he shot and told the kids that he has not shot a basketball in a long time there are two determinants that he does when he's shot and at the end of our second conversation he told me this yes I do believe trial and error can be avoided the ethic cannot be shortcuted the practice so I went to work and now 18 years later I am making this video in respect to him speaking to someone that had no NBA experience was a walk-on in college and just a person who wanted to teach kids and there are two things that I learned in 18 years one that every shot that goes in in this position his thumb and Pinky are the same height which aligns the wrist in extension and the elbow inflection when it gets close to his body it's the opposite the wrist is inflection and the elbow is an extension and they reverse rolls and this congruency whether told to you or bombed in the gym over and over again the bottom line is that both foundation and practice within a human propel can allow a person to be the best shooter they possibly can the one reason I called and the one reason he accepted the conversation was because what he's doing right here there is a way that the pioneers of anything have done something and those that did it with just saying I have to shoot and shoot and shoot until I get it that is integrity motor memory to pass on this skill for the game to be better one has to do this one has to be able to know that what is done when something is performed there are things called determinants I have a master's degree in sports science and I will say this that if the thumb and Pinky are the same height and the ball is released behind the shooting side wrist and elbow the shooter will make every shot the skill of ball balance which is in this position and propel are within a dynamic a machine calls parameters so all that I have said is worth the only reason I can show this tape is that there's something Jerry West did every time he shot the ball and you notice he made sure that he showed a release here but when he released the ball his thumb and Pinky were the balancers and between the three fingers two of them released the ball at the same time called webbing and that is what we are passing on that when a human being can predetermine a function then the knowledge being passed on to what is a game that saves lives and provides an alternative other than something that can be much less constructive the game of basketball allows an opportunity for adults to say how good kids are what are the two determinants one cross someone pick the same height too that the release happens behind the shooting side wrist behind the shooting side elbow and Jerry West in all the video that I have seen has never had his pinky go in front of his wrist as he was able to keep all eight bones behind the basketball and that's the key right here across and the body underneath forehead chin shoulder elbow thumb hand shoulder hip kneecap toes specifically we're going to get into a few points that deserve mention but please remember the two determinants as I deliver this message with sentiment I was just published in Slam Magazine and for 18 years I have been invited to Jerry West without an appointment and I have a walk-in visit that I can come unannounced and I have never accepted this invitation and you probably can notice the hesitation in my voice I've gone through hell only for kids that they have a right to take something from someone like this that can make someone in here just have a chance to go outside and do something that gives them a chance to be what they have a right to be and Jerry West shooting a basketball here in front of these kids is why I know am so excited to give to these kids what is the invitation Jerry West gave me to study so 18 years later I'm going to make these two things something that's going to stick and it will viral because it is not in it of my name or Jerry West's name or Magic Johnson's name or Oscar Robertson's name Stephan Curry Michael Jordan Bill Russell I could go on and on what this is about is right here and so this tape deserved its sentiment and the story will be attached to this video but this is the bottom line the wrist and elbow are opposing joints it is so uniquely interesting how in the shot when the ball is caught I want you to watch what happens when he steps in he gets the ball here you see that little dip it's very little and it has to happen it it has to happen in some form now it can happen where the person brings the thumb into their chest you see how he did that right there you see that he takes it and bang you see the thumb that's called supination and and that's deserving that little bit right there and as long as it's not going down to his knees he's okay it's very little in him and he's just showing that and in his tapes you'll see he was able to turn that thumb immediately but he caught it close you watch his tapes I've watched him for so much now and so many other players they catch it close that allows less dip time so there he's got the ball the blue right there is the extension muscles in the back of the forearm wrist those are right now not flexed the forearm the front in front of where the Palm is those are flexed and much stronger so watch how he brings his right foot forward you see that that's going to help the the process from here now the Guinness book of records for free throws is 5221 for threes it's 209 from high school three and Jerry West demonstrates what a lot of Shooters demonstrate and I bring this up because that era is no different from this era regarding the shot here's the difference there was a two-point shot and the philosophy is always in possession the three-point shot allowed the discovery and work and practice of distance more and more so when I see him shoot the things that he went through that every shooter goes through is the transfer of getting the ball from a thumb behind the wrist to Thumb in front of the wrist now what's this have to do this is where my schooling I'm really thankful the United States Sports Academy because I took basketball and studied it like crazy under my curriculum in my Master's Degree here's what happens the the on the collateral ligament on the inside of the elbow is flexed completely when the thumb is forward it's elasticity is maxed right there there are eight bones behind the wrist now let's go over the colors right now in that step whether it's a two foot jump stop a prep step with the shooting shooting cycle or the other foot coming off the screen regardless you can see that right here the forearm represents the blue right there his front of the forearm is flexed and red those muscles are flexed the thumb is close he doesn't need a dip because he naturally caught the ball close if you look at his tapes he clocked the ball close with his thumb in which enables him to pop right up which is a phenomenal teaching point now as he gets together here watch what happens as he brings it into his body once he comes up the blue changes it rolls reverse right now the wrist is flexed the elbow is extended this is important and so vital because by catching the ball close and meaning the thumb keeping the ball into your body and going straight up and not letting the ball get in front of your toes this allows you to roll reverse as he begins to get into the cross which is right up here that's the cross right there some picky same height you see the red as we're going down he now is in the back of the forearm he's taking this position roll reversal elbows in extension wrist is inflection bang once he starts to come up and the ball's still close to his body the thumb is beginning to equalize with the pinky because the pinky is higher here and fur and closer to the basket now him having a predetermined cross which anatomically the human being has that thumb and Pinky the same height I cannot come out and say do this do that when a shooter is prone to shoot the basketball all of us approved for this game have our thumb and Pinky the same height which allows the three fingers to manipulate whether it comes off the index of middle at the same time or middle and ring because the middle finger is higher familiarity wise we either push it off the middle and ring or the index in Middle step on Courage you to drop the middle and ring Michael Jordan shot off the index of the middle Jerry West shot off the index in Middle Reggie Miller shot off the middle in ring and that is all based on the feel knowing our feel makes our shot for real so this transference is very vital to know so now that it's not subliminal any longer it is a preset roll reverse bang now the back of the arm is much weaker than the front of the arm and that is why it's so much harder the further we move back to keep this flexed the thumb drops and the pinky goes forward and as the mistake because the muscles in the back actually the more we try and get the thumb and Pinky the same height those muscles and bony bony structures in the back click and actually trip one another wow that is so cool and I'll tell you why I never knew that so in my shooting I've made 293 threes in a row now I'm close to making a thousand threes in a row from high school Range only because of knowing that if I can fight through the shrapnel and avoid this blue right here reversing rolls I got it and that's vital to know that because what happens right here is it clicks now why Jerry West I have looked at tapes of him for a long time now and phenomenally what happens is in his shot is he never ever that I saw let his pinky go in front of the wrist he always had that flick of the wrist see that if we over follow through we're going to get a lower release but he doesn't so his Apex is phenomenal let's go into that this is this is cool he's getting crossed I'm in picky same height so that it's amazing it enables the body below and I'm going to actually draw something from his body below after we do this so with the cross two fingers same height he should have his index in metal we're going to watch the Apex of this shot now there are two determinants and this one right here is what has taken me 18 years just to be able to analyze there are a lot of folks involved in this as I am just together a messenger as I have had a lot of help so this will come out in the appropriate way let's look at what's Happening Here now in this position and this is exciting it really is because we can dictate and analyze the phenomenal capacity for an individual to utilize what is called G-Force he is releasing the ball at 124 degrees now the wrist extension fingers are all the way back in a position he is releasing the ball at 124 degrees relative but phenomenally he shoots the ball at 105 degrees here's why his wrist is at the Green his fingertips are at the yellow and this angle as you notice is going to directly relate to the Apex of pushing the ball up and out what does this do by keeping the fingers behind the wrist and elbow it demands ball balance due to force upward and gravity downward this is something that in looking at shooters I went and looked for the best difference and I found Jerry West to have that and that means that his fingers were at 105 relative to his elbow and shoulder G-Force is 19 degrees more so he's getting phenomenal Force upward and gravity downward which causes that ride that you go on in the carnival when it spins round and round and it sucks you in to the back of the wall and your cheeks on your face kind of get pressed in that's G-Force and that's why in the shots that we've shown you his ball just comes off his hand with such a steady flow so we've went over so very little but so very much happens here and and his release point is the same and here's the integrity and that is the teaching point he's got a 19 degree wrist relative to finger G-Force control of the basketball which is a teaching point that I will pass on relative to this shooting form