In today's game, shooting is everything. The reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics take (and make) the most threes of any team in the association (49 attempts per game). It is an integral part of the game, and as a result, everyone is trying to perfect their jumper.
Since shooting is so important, there has been a lot of time and money spent on figuring out what makes the perfect jump shot. A great example of the platonic ideal for jump shooting form is Klay Thompson – one of the greatest shooters in league history.
But despite what many people say, there is no one-size-fits-all way to shoot the ball. Just look at this player on the Sacramento Kings.
Devin Carter's jumper is just fine
A common talking point about the Sacramento Kings' rookie combo guard, Devin Carter, is his unique shooting form. He basically shoots a moon ball where he shoots the ball in front of his face and high into the heavens. Many people look at this unorthodox shot and feel as though it needs to be corrected, but when you look at the numbers, you can't argue with his results.
So far, Carter is only hitting 28.6% of his threes, but that has been on an incredibly small sample size (21 attempts). However, in his last season at Providence, Carter shot 37.7% on 6.8 threes per game. That's a very respectable percentage on high volume in a role that required him to take a lot of difficult shots (he was the team's leading scorer).
This brings us to a point that Mike Prada mentioned in his book, "Spaced Out: How the NBA's Three-Point Revolution Changed Everything You Thought You Knew About Basketball."
In that book (a must-read for all fans of the sport), Prada explains the truth about jump shots. As we said, there is no perfect way to shoot a basketball. The key is to have a release that is both quick and easy to replicate. Carter may need to speed up his release to match the speed of the NBA game, but clearly, this is a shot that Carter is comfortable with.
The bottom line is that we as fans need to stop worrying too much about Carter's mechanics and realize that as long as his shot is going in on decent volume, he can use whatever release he pleases.