The 6 Most Important Basketball Layups

The layup is supposed to be the highest percentage shot in the game.  Yet, it’s probably the most missed shot as well.  If you can master these 6 basketball layups you’ll have a large arsenal of ways to finish inside.  As a player you know that you can’t always time your steps perfectly or even shoot the ball from where you want, so being able to all 6 of these will allow you to finish off of different feet and from different spots.  Let’s get right into the video:

Video Transcript:

What’s up baller nation? Augie Johnston with ballerbootcamp.com, and in today’s video, I got a really special video for you guys today where I’m going to be talking about a whole bunch of different kinds of layups. I’m going to break down the six most important kind of basketball layups that you need to be able to do to be an effective player.

But before we get into the video, if you’re new here, make sure you guys hit that Subscribe button. And if you’re not new, you already know what to do. Crush that Like button for me to let me know that you like these videos I’m bringing you. All right guys. Let’s go ahead and get right into the video.

Okay, so the first layup that you need to be able to do is one that I think is the first layup that you should be taught, and that’s just an overhand layup. A basic layup, come in here, one, two, overhand layup, make the shot. Okay, remember? I’m not going to break this one down. You guys all know how to shoot a layup. I have other videos for that, but that’s number one. Coming in here, one, two, layup.

Now as players get more advanced, I actually go away from that. I start teaching this next one, which is the finger roll, because that overhand layup is really hard to do when you’re going full speed, and you got to put it off the glass. You’ll see a lot of young players, like seventh graders, on a one-on-zero fast break, so come in here, shoot an overhand layup, and bing, shoot that ball off the backboard. Also, when you come in here and you shoot this shot here, this is a good easy way to get contested and get blocked. When I’m here, this is a little bit harder to get blocked, especially if I have my defender beat, I can reach away.

Anyways, let’s go ahead and get into the second layup, which is the finger roll. For the finger roll, it’s the same thing. We want to come in here, but we’re going to reach underhand, and use backspin on the basketball, flip it up, and get it high on the backboard.

I was watching the Warriors last night. If you guys watch Steph Curry play, then you know that he’s really mastered this finger roll to where he’s almost invented a kind of shot, which is like the finger roll floater. When he does a finger roll, it’s really cool, because he’s able to put the ball up on the backboard where no one can block it. The way that he’s actually able to make this and to make this a soft shot, is that when he shoots it, the ball hits the backboard at the top of the arc.

When I come in here and do a finger roll, it’s going to hit at the top of the arc. Even though it was kind of a weird shot, it was soft, because that shot just deaded when it hit the backboard at the top of the arc. For finger rolls, you don’t have to shoot them that high, but you’re going to reach out, extend, and shoot a finger roll layup. I think the finger roll is really the foundation of finishing inside, because even if I’m doing a reverse layup, and I’m reaching out here, I’m shooting almost like a finger roll. Anyways, let’s go ahead and get into the next layup.

This next layup is another basic one, but stick with me, guys. I’m going to get into the more complex ones here in a second, but right now I want to cover some of the most important ones, which is the jump stop. With the jump stop, from here, I’m going to take two dribbles, and on my second dribble, I’m going to pound it. I’m going to jump off my left foot, and I’m going to jump stop and land with both feet at the same time. Here we go. I’m driving, boom one, two, jump stop, layup.

Another simple one, but youth players, they really struggle with the footwork. It’s really hard to get them to pound that dribble off the second one, boom, jump stop, layup. That’s the jump stop. That’s the finger roll. Let’s go and take a look at that jump stop full speed.

All right guys, great job getting through those. Let’s get into the more advanced one. The first one I want to talk about is the regular reverse. This terminology is invented by me. I call this the regular reverse, and basically when we drive baseline, a reverse layup is when you come up on one side, and then finish on the other. And that right there is the regular reverse. On this side of the basket, I’m going to be finishing with my left hand. On this side of the basket, I’m going to be finishing with my right hand to shoot a regular reverse. If you are familiar with the Mikan Drill, which is the drill where you do under here, shooting back-to-back reverse layups, that is an awesome drill to work on your regular reverse layups.

Here we go, let’s take a look at this full speed, and remember with these reverse layups, you want to use spin on the basketball. You don’t want to over-spin it. That ball should spin naturally by the way you release it. Also, you want to get the ball high on the backboard. A big problem players have with reverse layups is they hit it so low that it doesn’t even have a chance to get over the rim. Let’s go ahead and take a look at it full speed, and I’ll show you exactly what I’m talking about.

Okay, so for your regular reverses, you just saw me attacking baseline with a regular reverse. What happens if I’m on triple threat here, and I attack middle, and I get to the other side of the backboard? That is also what I call a regular reverse, attacking middle. When I attack middle here, I still need to be able to shoot this and finish this shot right here. It’s basically like a reverse layup, but you’re just coming at a different angle, and you got to finish there. Same technique pretty much, using a little bit of spin, reaching out away from the defense.

I’m a huge fan of reverse layups. They’re really hard to block. One reason is because I’m able to put it high on the glass where no one can block it. Another reason is I’m going away from the basket. On a normal layup, I’m going to the basket, so it’s easy for someone to block me. But when I’m going away and reaching away, it’s really hard for someone to come over and block a reverse layup.

If you’re a beginner and you aren’t good at reverse layups, or if you’re a coach and you’re training a kid, and he can’t drive baseline and make a regular reverse, have him start off going middle. When you go middle, it’s a lot easier. One, two, the angle is easier to get into your regular reverse layup. All right, so that’s the regular reverse.

Let’s go ahead and get into this goofy reverse layup. Okay, so the goofy reverse is another kind of reverse layup. If I’m attacking baseline here, instead of doing a regular reverse with this left hand, I can do one, two, and shoot a goofy reverse like that where I’m going to actually turn my back to the backboard. I don’t want to come in here and try to shoot this shot like this. You see a lot of players do that. That’s going to mess up your shot.

You want to actually literally turn and be parallel almost with this backboard. You want to be about 45 degrees, because we’re going to be shooting the ball right here. You can imagine if I’m facing 45 degrees this way straight to the wing, that I’ve now created a good angle. A layup angle normally is straight on to there, straight on to that 45 degree angle. When I come in here, I’m one, two, 45 degrees, up, and in. You want to make sure that you shoot this shot with the ball going almost into the box.

Watch again. The ball is not going to be outside the box and spin in, or anything like that. I’m going to literally shoot it right into that box. There is a little bit of spin you need to put on this, but it should happen naturally when you shoot this shot. One, two, should happen naturally. If you see that ball spin, if you put the right spin on it, it’s going to suck right into that basket. But the most important thing is the angle.

I really like goofy reverses, because you don’t have to take as many dribbles as with a regular reverse. With the goofy reverse, I can drive in here, take one dribble, boom, even from here, I can get into a reverse layup by boom, one, two, and then getting all the way there and getting into it.

Also, it’s a little bit harder to block. It’s a little trickier. Defenders don’t know when it’s going up, and that kind of stuff. Also, the timing of when you got to pick up the basketball is a lot easier. The timing with the regular reverse is a little tricky, and you got to get off the ground real early, because you’re jumping off your right foot and dribbling with your right hand. That’s what makes the regular reverse a little tricky. Watch. Go out and try it. Go to the gym, try to drive baseline, and do a regular reverse, and then go and try to do a goofy reverse. You’re going to feel that the goofy reverse feels a lot more natural.

Like I said guys, I invented this goofy reverse name. Don’t quote me on that. It’s just what I’ve been calling it for the past 10 years, so that’s what it is to me.

Just like the regular reverse, you can also do a goofy reverse attacking middle. Here I go attacking middle, I’m here, and with the right amount of spin, I can finish that shot. Both these reverses can go middle or baseline. Let’s go ahead and take a look at that goofy reverse full speed.

All right, so this next one is the inside hand finish. This is another good one to mess up the timing of the shot blocker and to reach past them. A lot of times you can get a step on your guy. But if you go here, he’s going to time it, and he’s going to come over here, and he’s going to try to block over the top. But if you reach here, the big difference between here and here as far as the distance you are away from the basket, so just less time for him to block it.

This is one where we’re only going to do it attacking baseline. When I attack baseline here, I’m one. Normally it’s going to take you two dribbles, because to get in this, because you got to get off the ground early. For example, two dribbles, one, two, I’m up, and I finish with that inside hand.

One more time. Here we go. Two dribbles, one, two, I’m up early, right into that finish. It’s pretty basic. You guys get the idea, but this also a good one when you drive baseline. If you follow me over here, when I [inaudible 00:09:04] baseline from here, it’s really hard for me to get into a layup like this. I want to come into here, reach with this inside hand, and get a good angle, and put it off the backboard. Let’s go ahead and take a look at that full speed.

All right, guys. I hope you guys liked that video. If you did, make sure you guys hit that Like button to let me know. Leave me a comment and let me know. Also, if you’re new, make sure you subscribe, and most importantly, you’re here watching this video, because you want to become a better basketball player.

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