Shooting Warmup- Start Close or Let it fly?

This week I have been to Villanova Camp’s chalk talks with their coaches and players and one thing they emphasize is the first thing you should do everytime you get to gym is start in close. Coach Ashley Howard had the players demonstrate a drill called “get 50” which was 50 close shots and then mikans and reverse mikans. This has been the advice I’ve heard time and time again growing up attending different university camps, listening to high school coaches, etc. The message I’ve always been taught is that you need to start in close to warmup, and that even the best players in the world do it.

However, as I’ve been studying and learning from a player development lense, I am starting to challenge that idea of a close range form shot and layup warmup for every single workout. If you already have good mechanics and can make layups, I think there isn’t much value in doing mikan drills as a non-negotiable warmup everytime you walk in the gym. In a game, many players are coming off the bench cold and expected to make shots. Why not prepare for that and build adaptability in your workouts? Come in the gym and practice shooting threes with no warmup. While warming up close can probably help you “feel good” and make more shots in your workouts, it doesn’t prepare you to come in the game off the bench and adapt. I’ve also seen the most common miss with shooters is front rim. One method I’ve used to get them to be able to generate more power is to shoot deeper shots than they would in games, because it forces them to figure out how to generate the power needed to get the ball over the front rim, and makes closer shots feel much easier. Pretty much the exact opposite of what I was taught as a kid.

So while it’s hard to argue with legendary coaches that have proven success with the start in close method, and I understand a lot of it is to build good habits, I think shooting from deep range and making your warmups challenging can be more beneficial than the old school start in close and work your way out. I understand it for youth players with bad mechanics but for high school and college elite level shooters, there is move value in challenging them in their warmup or not warming up at all, in my opinion. What do you guys think?

Start In Close - Everytime

Start In Close - Never

Mix it up each workout

6 votes

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Shooting Warmup- Start Close or Let it fly?