Big Hands = Bad Shooters Theory

[mctyson]

Reggie Miller spent a lot of time last night praising Rondo's follow through and the quality of his shooting form.  I think this was more driven by Rondo making the shots versus missing them, since I have seen many shots where Rondo has fine form and missed them.

But he also brought up the theory of Big Hands leading to Bad Shooting. His thoughts (and we are hearing from one of the best shooters ever to play the game) centered around how shooting is a finger-tip and wrist motion, without involving the palm.  Players with larger hands have too much palm involved in their shot, there is not space between their palm and the ball, and thus there is too much going on.

I have always observed this to be the case.  I have never understood why taller players with larger hands have a harder time controlling the ball with their shot than a shorter person with smaller hands.  I thought it might be because taller players tend to always play down low from the time they start playing till the pros, so they never really develop or practice a rhythm jumpshot.  But then we have free throws...so what gives?

Then I thought that as players get older and develop, those that can easily palm the ball tend to use this to their advantage for scoring, ball handling, dunking, etc...and maybe they don't refine their shot like the majority of guys without the ability to palm the ball.

I think the point above highlights Rondo's issues.  He has probably been able to palm a basketball since he was in junior high.  This physical ability turned him into a great ball handler and scorer in traffic, where he could control the ball with one hand and get it to the rim around players much taller than him.  One specific thing about Rondo that supports this is the "english" he puts on his layups from all angles.  I don't know if I have ever seen a player to attempts so many layups with the same hand from all different angles.  He does this because he can - no need to involve the other hand when you are palming the ball with one.

Shaq is of course the perfect example of this.  Yao Ming is taller than Shaq and was an 80% free throw shoooter.  Shaq was a career brick layer.  Shaq basically shot with one hand, like a shot put.  But Shaq shot everything with one hand, all his low post moves finished either with a one hand shot or a dunk.  He never needed to develop a jumper or a foul shot for that matter.

I think this explains Rondo's problems.

[Eja117]

For what it's worth I played for about a year with cut off lifting gloves to improve my ball handling. Worked fine. I can't say it made me a better shooter, but it didn't make me a lot worse either

[KY Celts fan]

I've thought this to be true as well. Rondo has HUGE hands, disproportionate to his body. He is 6'1", yet his hands are the size of a man who is 7'4". It's ridiculous!

And it just makes sense. Go out and shoot a basketball. Then pickup a softball and try to do that same thing. It's gonna be a lot harder with the softball, and that'll give you some idea of what Rondo is dealing with.

[Chris]

The problem with using Rondo for this theory is that when he is missing shots, you can clearly see that his footwork and mechanics breakdown, and when he is hitting them, his form is picture perfect.  That tells me that his hands aren't the problem.

The reason Ray Allen is the best shooter in the league is because he has perfect balance every time he shoots.  He is a master of getting squared up quickly, and repeating the exact same motion.  Rondo, on the other hand gets squared up when he is in rhythm, and when he does that, he is a very good shooter (see the HORSE game a few years back).  The problem is when he is shooting out of rhythm, or when he just gets a little sloppy, then his form falls apart, and he is shooting off balance.

While hand size might be able to affect shooting ability to some extent, it is not Rondo's problem. 

[GreenNote]

I was reading shaq's Uncut story and he mentioned that he broke his wrists as a teenager and never had a full range of motion after that event. Maybe that explains why he was never able to have a consistent FT shot.

[pearljammer10]

Yeah I agree with the big hand theory. Makes perfect sense. Have you ever tried to shoot a tennis ball into a basketball hoop? its [dang] hard.

[Eja117]

I've thought this to be true as well. Rondo has HUGE hands, disproportionate to his body. He is 6'1", yet his hands are the size of a man who is 7'4". It's ridiculous!

And it just makes sense. Go out and shoot a basketball. Then pickup a softball and try to do that same thing. It's gonna be a lot harder with the softball, and that'll give you some idea of what Rondo is dealing with.

So if he has hands the size of someone 7'4" he should be shooting as well as Arvydas Sabonis?

[CelticG1]

Are his hands that much bigger than KG, Aldridge, Dirk, Barjani, Amare.

Also its a little different than just picking up a small ball and trying to shoot free throws. It would be like if I used that small ball my entire life and still couldn't shoot well with it.

[CelticHooligan3]

The problem with using Rondo for this theory is that when he is missing shots, you can clearly see that his footwork and mechanics breakdown, and when he is hitting them, his form is picture perfect.  That tells me that his hands aren't the problem.

The reason Ray Allen is the best shooter in the league is because he has perfect balance every time he shoots.  He is a master of getting squared up quickly, and repeating the exact same motion.  Rondo, on the other hand gets squared up when he is in rhythm, and when he does that, he is a very good shooter (see the HORSE game a few years back).  The problem is when he is shooting out of rhythm, or when he just gets a little sloppy, then his form falls apart, and he is shooting off balance.

While hand size might be able to affect shooting ability to some extent, it is not Rondo's problem. 

Chris's assesment is on the money here. Shooting is getting squared up, fluid movement, rhythm, & repitition. But i do beleive a part of the proper form and repitition is getting the daylight in between your shooting hands finger tips and the ball. I was always taught you need to dribble and shoot with the finger tips for that added "touch".

[Eja117]

Are his hands that much bigger than KG, Aldridge, Dirk, Barjani, Amare.

Also its a little different than just picking up a small ball and trying to shoot free throws. It would be like if I used that small ball my entire life and still couldn't shoot well with it.

and yet you can dribble well and pass well with it

[Roy H.]

I'd like to see a list of everybody's hand size before buying into this theory. 

There are a lot of tall guys that can shoot extremely well.  Among guards, Michael Jordan had large hands, and was a good shooter.  Terry Porter had very big hands, and was an excellent shooter.  Larry Bird had big hands, too, and he seemed to do okay.

[Change]

I thought Big Hands theory was debunked already. Case in point Kevin Durant 7'5 wingspan, and ginormous Manute Bol-esque (RIP) hands.

[mctyson]

I am not saying its just Big Hands = Bad Shooting.  No doubt there have been players with large hands who have been decent shooters, even great shooters.  No doubt there have been players who can palm the ball very easily and still hit jumpshots (see Jordan, Michael).

But I support the idea that Big Hands can lead to Bad Shooting because large hands and being able to the palm the ball easily, like right off the catch or dribble, gives the player a unique advantage that a majority of players, particularly at young ages, do not have.  This is where bad habits - or just habits - are formed.

Maybe it is more palming and the bad habits formed by this than it is large hands in general - and of course you need large hands to palm the ball.  But I agree with Reggie that Rondo's hand size does not HELP his jumpshot percentage.

[Interceptor]

The big hands issue is one of those classic "miss the forest for the trees" scenarios, in my opinion.

Suppose that we posit that ability to shoot, or ability to learn to shoot, is evenly distributed throughout the populace. Seven-footers are pretty rare. You can't teach height. The need for bigs and the limited pool of the tallest ones, forces you to accept bigs that can't shoot, to take advantage of the other things that they bring. There are plenty of six-footers that can't shoot, either, but six-footers are a dime a dozen and as a result, the ones that make it into the NBA are usually the ones that can shoot, or otherwise have some exceptional ability that makes up for it (like Rondo's court vision, instincts, and passing ability, for instance).

This makes more sense to me than "big hands". Also throw "shallower angle" into this pile while we're at it. The point is that we're talking about marginal things, when there is already a pretty plausible explanation.

In other news, Rick Barry. How many bad free throw shooters would see better results if they just tried something a little unorthodox?

[nickagneta]

I'd like to see a list of everybody's hand size before buying into this theory. 

There are a lot of tall guys that can shoot extremely well.  Among guards, Michael Jordan had large hands, and was a good shooter.  Terry Porter had very big hands, and was an excellent shooter.  Larry Bird had big hands, too, and he seemed to do okay.

Dirk Nowitski
Kevin Garnett
Andrea Bargnani
Ryan Anderson
Kevin Durant
Ersan Ilyasova
Paul George
Shawn Marion

These are just guys from this year that are big and have big hands and are good to great shooters.

I think the big hands theory is bunk.

Sometimes its just that players nerves, shooting form, follow through, or aim are just not good enough to be a good shooter. And sometimes, people never practiced it enough as kids and so never got the proper muscle memory ingrained in them to be a good shooter and then try to teach themselves at a later age when, perhaps, its too late.