When breaking down the Skyhook I looked to prove the S.E.D.R.S philosophy wrong. If S.E.D.R.S. concepts are false then we shall find no evidence of them when applied to the skyhook. It’s an unorthodox shot that shouldn’t obey the same concepts of the S.E.D.R.S. philosophy. In looking to disprove these concepts false we actually found the connectivity of the S.E.D.R.S. philosophy with all the other types of shots. Basically the more I compare these concepts the more I find evidence that supports that they are indeed fundamentally true.
Stance
The footwork is similar to a regular jump shot except that it is in the opposite order. In a jump shot, you start with your feet turned 10 degrees then you shoot and land with your feet turned at 90 degrees. In a hook shot, you start off with feet/shoulder at 90 degrees from the basket. You then rotate until your feet are in the position of taking a normal jump shot.
Your hand placement on the ball does. Again shooting hand is on the side of the basketball. It’s extremely difficult to shoot a skyhook shot with your shooting hand directly behind the ball.
Shooting hand on the side off the ball for ball security & UNIFORMITY
Eyes
Your target is still 11″ past the front of the rim.
If you’re on the block you don’t typically watch the flight of the ball, since your so close to the rim.
I did notice watching the flight did occur more commonly when players were in the mid or high post regions.
The dominant eye doesn’t apply
Dip
You do dip while shooting a skyhook, like the fadeaway it is increasingly more difficult to shot if you don’t dip the ball.
Release
Four fingers down
Sweep & Sway
When it comes to this concept you must look at the body positioning along with the shoulder alignment.
The shooting shoulder is always higher than the off-hand shoulder.
You still see the correct body lean positioning even if it’s slightly altered in a different direction.
Look at the shoulder and body position of all these shots. Layup, jump shot, free throw, fadeaway, Dirk Fadeaway, Skyhook. Nobody is square to the basket, they all end up with their same body lean with the shooting shoulder pointed at the target.
Look how similar the body position is between a layup & skyhook, and a skyhook and fadeaway jumper. Pay close attention to the shoulder positioning.
At the end of the day no matter the shot you still end up with that sweep and sway body lean.
Your shooting shoulder needs to be pointed not squared towards your target, be it the rim or the backboard for a bank shot.
The skyhook is still very much a part of the game today. It has naturally become prevalent as a continuation of the extension layup aka “The Extendo”.
