The Best shooters have shorter arms.

[KG Living Legend]

Wait a minute.
"Having long arms" or "big hands" is not a relative, it's an absolute.
So if you could correlate shooting ability to these, you might have a case. The explanation could then have something to do with physics - long/short stroke, leverage etc. But I doubt it (and I'm a trained Mechanical Engineer).
Personally I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find any correlation.

However, "having long/short arms compared to height", how would that correlate? How does the 6'9" arm know it's attached to a 6'5" or a 7'1" body? How would that affect shooting?
Doesn't make any sense to me.

The "big hands argument" and the "being too tall argument" (not mentioned here, but elsewhere) don't make any sense to me either.
Let's assume you give a great NBA free throw shooter (6'6" with normal arms & hands) a WNBA ball and lower the rim 5". That would simulate a taller guy with bigger hands. Let him practice for a week. There is no doubt in my mind he will still be a great free throw shooter.

IMHO, shooting has to do with fine grained, precise body control, which is basically something you are born with. I believe it's mostly a brain-neurological-muscle thing. Some people just seem to have it right from day one, some people never get it after 10 years of practice. It's easy to see who has "it" - their movements and stroke are fluid. Their whole body is involved in what they do. Like when throwing a ball (or shooting a basketball) it's not only their arm that is involved; it's more like a power wave that starts from their feet and moves through their body, arm, wrist and finger. It's perfect coordination, and quite beautiful to watch.

I used to be an amateur youth coach and I've seen many kids develop. Those who got it right at 8, were in 95% of the cases the best ones at 18. Massive practice can get you a long way, but with the same amount of practice, but without that coordination talent, your ceiling is much lower.
Everybody keeps complaining about the poor free throw shooting of guys like Big Ben, Shaq, Dwight and Dre. But just by watching their stiff, non-fluid shooting attempts just tells me that they will never be good even after a million shots. They just don't have that talent. It's not about your height, length or hand size.

 Tp, safecracker for your argument.

 I think you hit the nail, when you said fine tuned art. 
 I believe longer arms does give you more absolute potential, but also because its a fine tunes mechanical skill, it leaves more room for error.

[greenrunsdeep41]

Yea this topic is an over simplification of a much more complex issue. If it were as simple as hands being too big or arms being too long, NBA execs would have a much easier job.

Also, KG you dont get to say its just my opinion and then directly after say, but its actually fact. That also is non-sensical.

The fact of the matter is, is that it is an anomaly to have longer arms so therefore there are less people with much longer wingspans then heights. So, naturally, there will be more players to choose from with closer to their hight wignspans that gives that group a greater chance of having the "better shooters."

[KG Living Legend]

 No actually I do get to say whatever I want Greenie its free speech.

  Ray Allen
 Jason Terry
 Miller
 Billups
 Korver
 Del Curry
 Steph Curry
 Richmond
 Dale Ellis
 Hardaway
 Glen Rice
 Mike Miller
 Alan Houston
 Bibby
 Nash
 Finley
 Ginobli

 How many if those guys jump out at you as extra long players, one maybe two?

[alldaboston]

There seems to be an ulterior motive to this thread than just shooters and long arms.

It's another critique of Danny's drafting. OP starts off the thread by listing Rondo, Smart, and Rozier. Seems to be more of a rant against our drafting than anything else (in my opinion).

[Otsje P]

Instead of pointing out that guys like Smart and Rondo have long arms, I would like to point out that those guys just have terrible shooting techniques. I'm sorry, but i think the wingspan thing is nonsense.

They just have taught themselves a bad technique (like Evan Turner has). Nothing that can't be changed. Just like DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond aren't beyond saving.

[gift]

Guys like Mark Price, Steve Nash had to be good shooters and practiced shooting until they couldn't anymore. Or else they be out of the league or something

I always thought hand size was a factor in shooting ability. I never considered arm length or wingspan but it's a fascinating thought.

However, I think triboy may have made a key observation here. NBA players on average have well above average wingspans, some freakishly so. For a person to make the NBA without having a relatively exceptional wingspan, they would have to have some other trait that got them there, for instance incredible shooting ability.

Maybe it's not that short arms help with shooting (or maybe there even is still some truth to that), but it's more that the players who don't have long arms will inevitably stand out in different ways.

[SHAQATTACK]

There seems to be an ulterior motive to this thread than just shooters and long arms.

It's another critique of Danny's drafting. OP starts off the thread by listing Rondo, Smart, and Rozier. Seems to be more of a rant against our drafting than anything else (in my opinion).

Conspiracy for sure

[BudweiserCeltic]

There seems to be an ulterior motive to this thread than just shooters and long arms.

It's another critique of Danny's drafting. OP starts off the thread by listing Rondo, Smart, and Rozier. Seems to be more of a rant against our drafting than anything else (in my opinion).

Took you guys 3 pages to notice? I'm surprised he hasn't thrown the word "midgets" in there yet.

[jambr380]

Guys like Mark Price, Steve Nash had to be good shooters and practiced shooting until they couldn't anymore. Or else they be out of the league or something

I always thought hand size was a factor in shooting ability. I never considered arm length or wingspan but it's a fascinating thought.

However, I think triboy may have made a key observation here. NBA players on average have well above average wingspans, some freakishly so. For a person to make the NBA without having a relatively exceptional wingspan, they would have to have some other trait that got them there, for instance incredible shooting ability.

Maybe it's not that short arms help with shooting (or maybe there even is still some truth to that), but it's more that the players who don't have long arms will inevitably stand out in different ways.

Not that it matters, but what you stated triboy posted was exactly what I wrote (at the bottom) on the first page of the thread.

[Al91]

Brandon Ingram would definitely be an exception.

Ingram has played exceptionally for the majority of the season thus far, especially in the wake of Amile Jefferson's injury.

However, he's not in the NBA and therefore I do not think his shooting is comparable. Remember, college 3s are like AB's favorite long 2s. If Ingram can do the same in the NBA, more power to him. I love his game but I'm also the last guy that's going to start comparing him to Durant. Let's see him play a full regular season, plus ACC tourney, and NCAA tourney games AND THEN let's start evaluating his prowess.

[loco_91]

For any 2 important traits, you'll find a negative correlation among NBA players regardless of whether there's a correlation in the broader population. Athleticism, size, length, shooting, handles, etc. That's because you gotta have something to make it in the NBA. If you have the freak athleticism to make it on athleticism, then you probably aren't a deadeye shooter. Same thing for size and length.

In other words, to make it in the NBA as at 6'2 with a 6'3 wingspan, you better have a good jumpshot.

[KG Living Legend]

There seems to be an ulterior motive to this thread than just shooters and long arms.

It's another critique of Danny's drafting. OP starts off the thread by listing Rondo, Smart, and Rozier. Seems to be more of a rant against our drafting than anything else (in my opinion).

Took you guys 3 pages to notice? I'm surprised he hasn't thrown the word "midgets" in there yet.

 Bud Fan, you really should switch to a different beer. Seriously relax dude.
 A slight jab at Danny for repeatedly drafting little people that don't shoot particularly well, sure.
 I feel like your a bit of a bully though, does that make you feel better about yourself?

[moiso]

There seems to be an ulterior motive to this thread than just shooters and long arms.

It's another critique of Danny's drafting. OP starts off the thread by listing Rondo, Smart, and Rozier. Seems to be more of a rant against our drafting than anything else (in my opinion).

Took you guys 3 pages to notice? I'm surprised he hasn't thrown the word "midgets" in there yet.

90% of midgets shoot 90% from the line.

[KG Living Legend]

Guys like Mark Price, Steve Nash had to be good shooters and practiced shooting until they couldn't anymore. Or else they be out of the league or something

I always thought hand size was a factor in shooting ability. I never considered arm length or wingspan but it's a fascinating thought.

However, I think triboy may have made a key observation here. NBA players on average have well above average wingspans, some freakishly so. For a person to make the NBA without having a relatively exceptional wingspan, they would have to have some other trait that got them there, for instance incredible shooting ability.

Maybe it's not that short arms help with shooting (or maybe there even is still some truth to that), but it's more that the players who don't have long arms will inevitably stand out in different ways.

 I do buy this part of the debate, that you better be exceptionally skilled if your not Uber long.

 It's an extremely simple concept. Lingers levers can give you more power on your shot, but make it harder to control.

[KG Living Legend]

 Also I'd like to point out that drafting players with fantastic wingspan's is generally a good trait.

 Helps with defense, rebounding, dribbling, shot blocking, steals, passing lanes, but also that it may negatively affect shooting that's all folks.