Nike Pure Grip Basketball

I planned to write a review for this Nike Pure Grip basketball shortly after I bought it from the store, but it happened that time passed by and I write it after more than 6 months of use. So in the picture you see how the ball looks like used.

At first my impression was not that good for basketball named “Pure Grip” because first time playing it outside it didn’t feel very grippy at all. But after the dust settled in it started to get some grip. You can palm this ball even if you don’t have big hands like Shaq because it has really deep seams. After playing some time you get sweaty hands and that adds grip as well.

It is also quite soft ball even if you inflate it tight, not everyone liked it at the court but I like softer basketballs because they tend to be absorbed by the rim more easily.

In winter I took it to play inside and if there is several balls to choose almost everyone tries it for dunking, so it is much grippier than Molten or other balls.

I play almost everyday so you can’t expect it to last forever. After 3 or so months it starts to wear a bit and loose its texture and color. After all its still a decent ball for dunking or shooting some treys.

If you look for a ball to play pick up games outside or practice dunking, Pure Grip is a proper ball to buy.

Bellow are some more pics of how the Pure Grip ball looks used.

Your body

You probably have heard that proper shooting mechanics is very important. For example Ray Allen every time shoots a basketball with the same form. So it is important to develop your 3 point shooting form that you will use constantly in the game and practice. I think you should not exactly copy one or other player’s form but rather work on your current form and try to improve it.

When launching a 3-pointer there are few main body parts that more or less contribute to shooting form.You need to evaluate them to see if you can improve.

Feet & Legs

Let’s start with feet. Feet position can be straight (||) (facing the basket), slightly turned (// or \\)  or sideways (/ \). Only recently I found that if you place your feet sideways like that / \ and elevate with your legs you will get much more stability while in the air. You should try all three feet positions to elevate from and see which works better for you. Different situations require different actions, for example you could use sideways feet position for spot up shooting and slightly turned for shooting off dribbling.

Always use your legs to elevate while shooting a 3 pointer, legs has the strongest muscles in human body so you can transfer that power to your hands while releasing the basketball. This is especially important in late game situations when you’re tired and power from hands and wrist will be not enough to shoot. Additional advantage of shooting 3 pointer using legs is that you release the ball at higher level so defender will have more trouble blocking your shot.

Last thing about legs is to monitor your final stage of the shot. Do you land in the same spot where you started? Unless you’re shooting game winner buzzer beater in the last second of the game while being closely guarded you have to land in the same spot. If you land to the left or right, that means you tried to correct the shot at the final stage and you have problems with the hands position. Many players including Ray Allen land further from the starting position after 3 pt. shot, it’s not bad, just make sure you land straight and not to the left or right side.

Elbow & Hands

Keep your elbow straight and do not flare it while making shot. It is much more complicated to compensate the ball trajectory with left hand in the final stages of release than to shoot just with one hand. Practice shooting with one hand inside the arc to get used to keeping straight elbow. When ball leaves your right hand, the left hand must not touch the ball (the opposite if you’re left handed). Last fingers that touch the ball are index and middle finger.

Palm the ball with all fingers before shot and roll your wrist until finally ball leaves your hand. Keep hanging your arms after shot for a little moment and you can even try to wave good bye for the ball or imagine grabbing the rim. This will create a softer shooter’s touch.

Higher shooting arch increases chances for ball to enter the hole but is harder to control, so aim for arch to be not too high but also not to sharp. The ball should spin it’s way to the rim.

Some players swing ball down to the waist level and then elevates. Just remember not to swing the ball very low because you loose precious time for the defense to recover.

Head

As it was with the feet, your head also must be stable and not to swing while shooting 3 pointer. Think about sniper looking through a back sight, does he move it? So keep your head stable.

Eyes

The longer you look at the target (in this case the rim), the more accurate your shot will be. Of course we’re talking about logical time, half a second could be your breaking point. If you shoot like Kobe Bryant (catapult style) continue to target your eyes on the rim when you have the ball overhead.

Your mind

Your mind also plays a great role in making that 3 pointer. Always believe in making it. Your confidence in crucial game situations is very important. If you do not believe you can make it, better pass it.

Your situation

Situation dictates how you shoot. Spot up 3 point shooting is the easiest because you always shoot with the same technique. If you shoot a running or off the dribble 3 pointer then slight adjustments are needed like better release timing and feet position.

Conclusion

As you can see, shooting 3 pointer in basketball consists of many different things. You should practice and perfect your shooting form. Do not expect to double your percentage overnight but 1 month of motivated practice can make the difference. Great 3 point shooters like Ray Allen, Gilbert Arenas, Reggie Miller made countless shots before the game. They built confidence by practicing and so should you.

andrew bynum-hand-size

Andrew Bynum like most basketball players have long  arms and large hand sizes. This helps them to block shots and control ball more easily.

Nba.com even blocked comments on his video highlights maybe because they were all negative (notice in the screenshot below how it says no comments yet, but near the video text show that there were 7 comments left)

Weigh lifting for basketball can help you in many ways, you will jump higher and maybe dunk a basket ball (if you’re not now), you could push your opponent from the perimeter. If you’re in lack of height then being stronger you can compete with taller opponents (eg. Glen Davis vs. Shaq). So as you can see weight lifting has many benefits for your basketball game. Of course you shouldn’t train like Olympic weigh lifters, you need special weight lifting program for basketball.

In the video about Brandon Roy summer training workout I could catch a glimpse at his weight lifting program. You can see that he is doing 2 sets for every exercise for about 10 reps

This rep range is suitable for endurance, muscle size and strength at the same time. Power lifter are working in the very low rep ranges so unless you want to be a power lifter try to train in the 8-12 rep range zone.

So I quickly limped home to apply some ice. I knew from earlier experience that you have to treat sprained ankle with RICE method (rest, ice, compress, elevate)

To minimize damage for your ankle in the first hours you must elevate it and cool with ice or slab of frozen meat like I did. Meat is really good cooling aid because it constantly releases cold and don’t get wet like ice cubes do.

Continue to ice your ankle for at least 2 days while keeping it elevated. And of course rest as much as you can. Don’t heat your ankle now because it will increase swelling.

So on the second day my ankle was swollen quite a bit in lateral side and for some reason top of the foot swollen also. Lower part of side foot was bruised and what’s strange all feet fingers were bruised also. I felt impact only on ankle so the bruises were from damaged blood-vessels inside the foot I guess.

On day 3 I started using gels that reduces inflammation, swelling and improve healing faster. Those gels contain ibuprofen, ketoprofen and some other ingredients (to name a few: Fastum gel, Deep Relief, Lioton 1000, Voltaren). Generally just go to your drug store and ask gel for sprain traumas.

On day 4 I felt that pain was lowering but swelling remained constant so I applied ace bandage over the ankle for like 1 hour. And that really helped reduce swelling. I continued to compress my ankle during day 5 and 6 and after 1 week my foot looked really normal. Now I could really tell what ligaments I sprained: anterior talofibular and calcaneofibular:

Ankle anatomy

My anterior talofibular ligament remained slightly swollen and painfull on contact but I decided to go for an easy shootaround on day 7. Applied some taping on the ankle to reduce lateral motion. It went well, I was doing easy jumpshots for 2 hours. In the end foot felt tired but after getting home I saw the foot looked normal.

My recommended treatment regimen for sprained ankle:

Day 1 – Ice, rest, elevate

Day2 – Ice, rest, elevate

Day 3 – Compress, use gel, elevate (don’t compress overnight because you can block blood supply to your feet)

Day 4 – Compress, use gel, elevate

Day 5 – Compress, use gel

Day 6 and so on – continue to use gel depending on your condition, start rehab process (walking, balancing on foot, gradually build your ankle strength to the normal level)

Food for faster healing of sprained ankle?

Like building muscles eating is very important for healing, you must supply enough high quality food for faster recovery process. I used multivitamins Optimen, omega 3 salmon oil, protein shakes from On Gold 100% and aminos Xtend. I believe that good nutrition and plenty of rest contributed the most for my quite fast ankle sprain recovery.

Below is a picture of my sprained left ankle. It looks worse than it really is. On day 8 after injury I even played in a basketball game for some defense minutes to help the team a bit. A bit risky but it felt good.

Sprained and swollen ankle. Comparison with normal right foot

Left ankle. Sprained and swollen on day 7 after injury

During this workout his shooting percentage was 72%, 3-point shooting percentage was 66%. The video is quite long 20+ minutes but you can learn few shooting tips and observe Steve Nash’s shooting form.

nike fail

Screenshot from Nike.com site. Since when Rajon Rondo height is 6″9?

matt devlin raptors

matt-devlin-raptors

He must be using some lift shoes to increase his height.