Blocked again — by someone who has no business blocking you. Or maybe it's subtler: your shot works fine in space but crumbles the moment a hand shows up. Either way, check where your ball pauses before it rises. A low set point announces your shot to the whole gym and bends its path before it even launches.
The runway problem
The set point is the position the ball passes through just before the upward push — the launching pad. When it sits at the right height with the right shape, the ball has a straight runway: up and out to the rim, one clean line.
The shape you want is the classic L — about 90 degrees at the elbow, forearm pointing up, elbow under the ball. From that L, the shortest path to the rim is the path your arm naturally takes. Everything is already aimed.
Drop the set point to your chest or waist and two things go sideways at once. First, the ball's journey gets longer and crooked — it has to travel up before it can travel out, and that detour is where pushes, slings, and guide-hand help sneak in. Second, the ball spends its slowest moments at a height where any defender can reach it. Low set points don't just bend the shot; they hand out invitations.
Most low set points are leftovers. They were built at age ten, when the ball was heavy and starting low was the only way to reach the rim. The strength problem got solved years ago; the habit stayed.
Rebuild the L
Start by finding out where your set point actually is — most players guess higher than the truth. The elbow angle at your set point is one of the numbers CoachVision pulls from a single clip of your shot, so you can see the L (or the lack of one) frame by frame.
The rebuilding drill is the Mirror Elbow Check.
Stand in front of a mirror with a ball and shoot in slow motion — no jump, no rim. On each rep, pause at your set point and check the picture: elbow bent to roughly 90 degrees, forearm vertical, elbow under the ball and in line with an imaginary rim behind the mirror. Feel where that position sits — for most shooters, ball around forehead height, comfortably in the shooting pocket. Then finish the rep slowly. Ten slow reps, every day.
The mirror matters because a raised set point feels absurdly high at first. Your body will report that the ball is above your head when the mirror shows it exactly where it belongs. Trust the glass, not the feeling — the strangeness fades within a couple of weeks as the new position becomes home.
Then take it to the rim from close range, letting the shot flow through the new L without pausing.
You've outgrown the shot you built as a kid. Ten slow reps a day is how you move into the one that fits.