Tuesday, December 23, 2008

When thinking gets in the way of shooting

UCLA's Nikola Dragovic, a 6-9 junior forward from Serbia, has connected on just five of his 30 3-point attempts this season.

[As a point of comparison, Dragovic's teammate Michael Roll is 16-28 from 3-point range this season.]

Dragovic's FG percentage is up overall from last season (38% vs 33%), but something's not clicking for him.

According to this article, "Dragovic has talked about feeling hesitant, passing up open shots."

To improve his shooting, UCLA "coaches want him to crouch lower when he receives passes, so he gets his legs into the shot. Beyond that, [UCLA coach Ben] Howland doesn't want to make a big deal of Dragovic's low percentage."

"When everybody starts talking about it, and it's the same question, it becomes too much thinking about it rather than following your routine."