Learn the basketball turnaround jumper: pivot, turn and jump shot with your back to the basket. With rules check, milestones and a knee-safe landing.
A turnaround jumper is a jump shot in which you receive the ball with your back to the basket, turn on your pivot foot and shoot in the jump. It is the classic shot from the post position, i.e. playing with your back to the basket near the hoop.
The honest answer to “Isn't that just a jump shot with a turn?”: almost. But the turn costs you balance, eye contact with the basket and time. And the defender is on your neck. In a study with ten Spanish professionals, the release angle of the ball rose in ordinary jump shots when an opponent was present, the flight time fell, and players released the ball faster and from a greater height [1]. That is exactly what you need here: fast, high, controlled.
The good thing: you do not have to learn anything completely new. The turnaround is a pivot plus a jump shot. The only new thing is that both happen in one movement.
In the turnaround you win by balancing first and only then shooting.
You catch the ball with your back to the basket. As soon as one foot leaves the floor, the other is your pivot foot [3]. It must not travel. Practise the turn without a ball, always on the same foot, with a low centre of gravity. Milestone: ten turns in a row without the pivot foot slipping.
Now you hold the ball in front of your chest and turn on the pivot foot to the basket. Your shoulders come square to the ring, your eyes find the basket before the ball goes up. Milestone: ten turns after which you stand balanced in the shooting position and have the basket in view.
From standing: turn, jump, shoot. You may jump off the pivot foot, but neither foot may return to the floor before the release [3]. If you land before releasing, you get a travelling violation. Milestone: ten shots from close range, you land on your feet where you took off.
Now a defender stands behind you. He changes your technique: in a study with 13 youth players, a defender led to a shorter shot execution, a longer jump time and a longer ball flight time [4]. In a review on youth jump shots, distance, fatigue, the defender and the view of the basket were decisive [5]. Milestone: against a passive defender you hit five out of ten shots from close range.
You may not push yourself free. Under the FIBA rules it is a foul if an attacker uses the arms to create more space, or spreads legs and arms during the shot and thereby causes contact [6]. In post play you also may not move the opponent out of position with your shoulder or hip [6]. Milestone: your partner confirms that you shoot without using your arms and without a hip check.
The risk lies in the landing. In a video analysis of 31 ACL tears in the NBA, 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]. For you that means: land with bent knees, knee over foot, and look at the floor. Stop if your knee or ankle hurts. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training or a coach.
Catch the ball with your back to the basket already at shooting height and keep it high. The ball does not have to travel first. That saves time in the turn. This is coaching experience, not a study.
You receive the ball with your back to the basket, turn on the pivot foot to the basket and shoot in the jump. The pivot foot may not slide before take-off, and no foot may return to the floor before the release [3]. Shoot only when you are balanced and have the basket in view.
Not if you obey the foot rule. As soon as one foot lifts, the other is the pivot foot. When dribbling, it may not be lifted before the ball leaves the hand; when shooting, you may jump off it, but no foot may return to the floor before the release [3].
No. Under the FIBA rules you may not move the opponent out of position in the post with your shoulder or hip, and you may not use your arms to create space [6].
Because the technique changes with an opponent. In a study of professionals, the release angle rose, the flight time fell, and players shot faster and from a greater height [1]. In another test, shooting performance fell under pressure [9].
Rather close. Experienced players' accuracy fell from about 59 % to about 37 % when the distance rose from about 3 to about 6 metres [7].
Learning the Fadeaway: Jump Shot with a Lean Away from the Defender