Breaking the Myths: The Truth About Wrist Action in Shooting

Marvin Harvey
Jul 26
3 min read

By Marvin HarveyThe Original Shot Doctor

🚫 Major Misconceptions About the Wrist

Over the years, basketball shooters have been taught wrist-based techniques that sound catchy but fundamentally misguide proper shooting form. Here are four of the most common wrist myths:

“Pretend you’re putting your hand in a cookie jar.”
“Your wrist should look like a goose neck.”
“Wave bye-bye.”
“Your wrist and shooting fingers should point down.”

While these instructions may have originally been introduced to break bad habits, they’ve now become misleading norms.

The issue? All these cues encourage players to do something unnecessary with the wrist—reaching, flipping, or forcing a movement. This adds tension, limits shot fluidity, and disrupts natural mechanics. Tension in the wrist causes the shooter to throw the ball short, lower the arc, and increase variability.

The Concept of Wrist Bouncing

Here’s the truth: the wrist should bounce—freely—after every shot.

Why? Because that bounce is a sign that your hand and wrist were relaxed, uninvolved in powering the shot.

Try this:➡️ Throw your hand out in front of you in a loose, whipping motion.Notice how your hand flops naturally at the wrist? That’s how your wrist should behave during a shot.

When the arm drives through the ball at a consistent force—what I call a “Full Out Release”—the wrist should automatically bounce two or three times. The more relaxed the hand and wrist, the more bounce you’ll see. That bounce isn’t something you “create”—it’s a natural result of proper mechanics.

👉 A floppy wrist = relaxed mechanics = repeatable form.

❌ The Problem With Wrist Flipping

Here’s where many shooters go wrong: they use the wrist to generate power.

Yes, wrist flipping adds power—but it adds the wrong kind: horizontal power. It’s inconsistent and nearly impossible to control, especially under pressure.

Let’s break it down:

The feet, legs, core, shoulders, and arms are your major power sources.
The wrist, hand, and fingers are the smallest, most variable muscles involved.
So why would we assign them the job of controlling flight, distance, and direction?

Instead of flipping the wrist like a slingshot, push upward with the arm. Keep your wrist relaxed. Let it follow the motion naturally. This creates consistency, simplicity, and clean arc.

Great shooters use as few muscles as possible in the shooting motion. The more relaxed the hand and wrist, the more repeatable and accurate your shot becomes.

🎯 Train the Connection, Not the Tension

The job of the wrist and fingers isn’t to steer or power the ball—it’s to connect with it.

Let the finger pads and front of the hand guide the ball into perfect backspin and soft touch. Let the arm and legs handle the power. The shot should feel light, almost effortless, because the tension is eliminated.

The result?

Higher consistency
Better backspin
Pure arc
Minimal effort
Maximum repeatability

📸 Visual Cue Coming Soon

[Insert image here: A diagram or slow-motion still of the wrist bouncing post-release]

This visual will reinforce the concept: the relaxed bounce is not a forced action—it’s a natural response to doing everything else correctly.

✍️ Final Thought: Less is More

The more you try to "do" with the wrist, the more you disrupt the shot. Let your lower body, arm mechanics, and finger pad connection do the work. The wrist just needs to stay out of the way and bounce its approval.

Train your wrist to do less—and watch your shot become more.