Learn the basketball fadeaway: jump shot with a lean back, release height, foul rules and a safe landing. Honest about what studies show and what they do not.
A fadeaway is a jump shot in which you lean away from the defender during take-off in order to shoot the ball over his hand. You gain distance, but you pay with balance and range.
The honest answer to “Is the fadeaway a good shot?”: it is a special tool. I found no study on the fadeaway itself; the statements below are based on studies of jump shots with and without an opponent. What they show: against a defender your technique changes, and distance counts. Both explain why the fadeaway is a shot for advanced players.
In a study with ten professionals, the release angle rose against an opponent, the flight time fell, and the players shot faster and from a greater height [1]. In the fadeaway you do that with an additional backward impulse. That makes it uncomfortable, which is why you need a stable foundation.
The fadeaway does not sell a shot, it sells distance.
The fadeaway is only good once the normal jump shot is secure. A review of youth jump shots names distance, fatigue, the defender and the view of the basket as the factors that determine performance [4]. Milestone: seven out of ten jump shots from mid-range without a defender.
Lean slightly back while standing, without jumping. Hips behind your centre of gravity, upper body only a little back, arms stay close to the body. If you exaggerate the lean, you tip over. Milestone: ten leans after which you return to the starting position without wobbling.
Now you jump with the lean. The legs swing slightly forward, the ball stays high, and the shooting arm extends fully. Milestone: ten shots from close range without a defender, you land backwards, but balanced.
What matters is where you let go of the ball. For 18 players with 90 shots each, successful shots tended to have more flight time, jump height and release height than misses, although the individual values explained a hit only weakly [5]. That means: jump and release the ball as high as possible, but do not rely on a single value. Milestone: seven out of ten shots with a visibly high release, filmed by a partner.
With the lean you increase the distance. For ten experienced players the accuracy fell from about 59 % to about 37 % when the distance grew from about 3 to about 6 metres [6]. In addition, a defender shortened the preparation of the jump and worsened shooting performance [7]. Milestone: against a passive defender you hit four out of ten shots.
Landing is the risk. In a video analysis of 31 NBA ACL tears, landing from a jump was the most common situation (14 of 31 cases), and in 28 of 31 cases an opponent was within about 60 centimetres [8]. In 445 videos of ankle injuries in indoor sports, landing on another player's foot was the most common trigger (55 %) [9]. In the fadeaway you land backwards, so not blind. Land on two feet, knee over foot, and look at the floor. Stop if something hurts. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training or a coach.
Practise the fadeaway from the dribble only once you hit it securely from standing. The backward impulse is easier to control from standing. This is coaching experience, not a study.
A jump shot in which you lean away from the defender during take-off. This gains you distance from the blocking hand, but the shot becomes harder to control.
No. Under the FIBA rules an attacker may not use the arms to create more space and may not spread arms or legs during the shot to cause contact [3].
Based on the studies I found, that cannot be shown. Studies show that a defender changes your technique and that distance lowers the hit rate [1][6]. The fadeaway solves the first problem and aggravates the second.
Because you lose balance and shoot from farther away. For experienced players the rate fell from about 59 % to about 37 % when the distance grew from about 3 to about 6 metres [6].
On two feet, knee over foot and with your eyes on the floor. The most common situation in NBA ACL tears was landing from a jump [8].
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