Indiana Basketball: Romeo Langford, ping pong paddle, and improvements on his shot

Adjustment Two

Moving Langford’s set point will also help with the timing of his shot, which is the main contributor to his struggles.

Part of the reason his shot looks so disjointed is his timing is completely off. A rule of thumb in this new era of shooting is that the ball should reach the set point as the shooter’s toes leave the floor. If we refer back to the slow motion video of Langford shooting, you can see this is not at all the case with his jumpshot:

The ball reaches his forehead long before his toes leave the ground. This lack of timing and fluidity results in a loss of power, because all his upward momentum generated by his lower body is killed. This explains why he is a much better mid range scorer than a three point shooter.

If we go back to the Kobe Bryant example, a big part of why Kobe’s shot looks so much more smooth than Langford’s is because his timing is perfect. The ball always reaches Kobe’s set point right as his toes leave the floor, fully harnessing all his upward momentum and power. This is in large part due to a mechanic which Langford lacks, called a “dip”

Bryant always dips the ball beneath his hips and gets into a light squat before raising up for the shot. It’s not just him. Almost every great NBA shooter uses a dip. Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, you name it.

When in catch-and-shoot situations, Langford never utilizes the dip. He will catch the ball at his chest and enter the shooting motion straight from there. Langford is also rarely shot-ready when he is off the ball, standing with his legs straight and hands down, which hinders any shooter tremendously.

It is no coincidence, however, that Romeo always has the ball lower on off-dribble shots. He typically brings the ball up from around his knees when shooting off the dribble, and he is much lower to the ground than when spotting up. Because the ball starts so high on his catch-and shoot motion, it reaches his set point too soon, draining his upward motion and power and resulting in short misses. This leaves no mystery to why he struggles with his long range spot ups, but is an effective mid range and off-dribble scorer.

Hopefully the Celtics trainers work with Langford on his dipping motion and shot-readiness, but it is clear as of now that they are not: