Why the Ball & Arm Extension Must Go Up First When You Shoot

There’s a quiet law at work every time a basketball leaves your hands—a law that doesn’t care about pressure, defenders, or the scoreboard. It’s the law of motion. And once you understand it, shooting becomes simpler, cleaner, and more consistent.

At the heart of this law is a powerful truth: vertical and horizontal motion take the same amount of time to reach a target. In other words, when you shoot a basketball, the time it takes for the ball to travel forward (toward the hoop) is the same time it takes for it to rise and fall. These two motions are happening together, not separately.

This is where many players get it wrong.

Why Does Time Matter?

One of my players asked an astute question:

“Why does time matter when shooting baskets?”

The answer reveals everything.

Time matters because the entrance to the goal is facing UP—so the ball must have time to COME DOWN.

If your shot has too little hangtime, the ball never truly gets the opportunity to descend into the basket. It stays on a flat path, fighting against the rim instead of working with it. On the other hand, if your shot has too much hangtime, you begin to lose connection with your target—your intention becomes less precise, and control starts to fade.

This is where the law comes back into focus:

An object’s vertical and horizontal motion take the same amount of time to reach a target.

So what does that mean for a shooter?

It means you must:

• Have a clear and precise (intended) target

• Send the ball up first toward that target

• Trust that both motions (up/down and forward) will complete together

When you understand time, you understand control. And when you understand control,

shooting becomes intentional—not accidental.

The Common Mistake: Shooting Out Instead of Up

Too often, players think they need to push the ball toward the basket—sending it outward, almost like a pass. But when you prioritize outward extension over upward extension of the arm, you flatten the shot. And a flat shot is fighting against the very structure of the game.

• The basket is not facing you—it’s facing upward, sitting 10 feet in the air.

• That means the ball must approach it from above, on its way down.

If you don’t send the ball up first—if you don’t extend your arm vertically—then the ball begins to descend too early, losing its entry angle. Instead of dropping into the hoop, it crashes into the rim.

The Simplicity of “Up First”

When you embrace the idea of sending the ball up first, everything begins to align:

• Your arm extends naturally toward the sky

• Your shot gains arc and softness

• The ball has time to rise and fall

• The rim becomes more “open” because of your entry angle

And here’s the freeing part: your target can be anything.

It could be the front rim, the ground, a spot in the air, or even an imagined window above the hoop. Why? Because no matter what you choose, the ball’s vertical and horizontal motion will complete at the same time. The physics guarantees it.

So instead of worrying about “getting it there,” your focus becomes clear:

Lock on your target. Extend Up. Let the motion do the rest.

How This Applies To Passing

Now let’s flip the perspective.

The same law applies to passing—but the application is completely different.

When you pass, your goal is not to drop the ball into a vertical target from above. Your goal is to deliver the ball quickly and directly to a teammate. That changes everything.

If you throw a pass upward first, you create unnecessary hang time. Even if your teammate is only a few feet away, the ball will take longer to arrive due to the vertical and horizontal motion taking the same time to reach a target. And in that extra time, defenders can react, intercept, or disrupt the play.

So while shooting demands vertical emphasis, passing demands horizontal emphasis.

A strong, effective pass is:

• Direct

• Outward Arm Extension

• Mostly horizontal

• Aimed at the teammate’s upper chest

When passing, there will always be slight vertical motion (the theory of gravity guarantees that), but your intent should be forward, not upward.

What Does this Prove with Shooting?

1. When shooting baskets, one must have a clear and precise (intended) target and send the ball up, first, to that target.

2. When shooting from greater distances, one does not need to send the ball up higher or more outward (because this defeats the principles posed in this blog).

3. If a shooter cannot maintain these principles (i.e. have a precise target, send the ball up first) from a certain distance, then they are out of their range. How to increase your range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5961NzY6OyU

The Final Reminder

The basket tells you how to shoot—if you’re willing to listen.

It sits 10 feet high.

It opens upward.

It receives the ball best on the way down.

So the instruction becomes simple, but not optional:

Extend your arm up, not out.

Because when you send the ball up first, you’re no longer guessing—you’re aligning with the laws that govern the game itself.

And when you align with the law, the game starts to open up to you.  And you become a student of it.

Shalom.

P.s. - I want to thank my wife (aka Wookie Johnson) for showing me this wonderful video clip because I was able to extract crucial basketball wisdom from it.