Green Light Shooting Test

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You want the player taking a 3 to be a sharp shooter, someone who you know consistently makes 3’s regularly in practice. How can you work out who’s number to call in crunch time?

Enter the Green Light Shooting Test.

The Green Light Shooting Test is a product of the best practices of our Coachbase partners and many successful high school coaches. These coaches don’t just let anyone take 3’s in games; they have their players tryout for the title of “shooter”.

Without any further ado, I’ve attached the Green Light Shooting Test as an image below. Keep reading the rest of the blog post to learn how to read the results and use the test in practice!

Get the Green Light Shooting Test: I’ve made the test into an easily printable, 1 page PDF which you can use to take to practice Download it here .

How to Run the Workout

Group 3 players who want to take the test and have the first one shoot and the other two rebound and pass, then swap roles. Use two balls.
Print the workout as a PDF and record the number of shots it takes for your player to complete each drill. Open the PDF here.
After the warmup drill, run the Steph Curry Slot shooting drill- your players have 5 minutes to make 30 shots, otherwise the test is over.
Run each drill onwards at game speed with 1 minutes rest in between.
Add up the total shots taken between sets, if your player takes more than 150 shots (shooting worse than 50%) , end the test.

What are the Drills?

10′ form shooting

Purpose

Practice perfect shooting form as a warm up for shooting 3’s.

How it works

Stand 10 feet from the hoop with a ball.
Take a shot, focusing on shooting with perfect form, trying to get a swish without the ball touching the rim.
Rebound the ball and take a shot from a different location.

Coaching points

Practice different shots from 10′, such as pulling up off one dribble from either hand, spinning the ball and shooting, and pivoting off either foot.

Steph Curry Slot Shooting Drill

Purpose

To see if players are ready to take the green light shooting test. This drill mixes shooting with some conditioning to bring their heart rate up to in game levels.

How it works

Shooter starts at the slot (above the lane line) and take a 3. He then runs to the opposite shot to take another 3. Repeat until 10 total shots are made.
Shooter then runs to the wing (free throw line extended) and repeats step 1.
Shooter than then runs to the corner and repeats step 1. A total of 30 shots are taken, to be made in 5 minutes.

Coaching points

When players a switching from slot to wing and wing to corner, make sure they run to the farthest spot. This is a conditioning drill too!
For younger teams you can make the drill easier by setting a higher time limit, or by allowing them to take two shots before running to the next spot.

15 Shooting

Purpose

A simple drill to practice catch and shoot form from 3.

How it works

Players start in a corner and shoot catch and shoot 3’s. They stay in one spot until they make 3.
After making 5, they run to the wing and repeat.
Repeat the drill at the top and opposite wings and corners, for a total of 15 shots.

Coaching points

If you’re running this drill by itself and want to make it more challenging, only allow players to move after they make 3 shots in a row.

V cut shooting

Purpose

To test shooting off the V cut, a common action in basketball.

How it works

Place a cone a couple of feet outside of the paint in front of the corners, wings and top.
Players have to run, touch a cone, then V cut back out to the 3 point line for a shot.
Run for 3 shots at each spot, same as the 15 shooting drill for a total of 15 shots.

Coaching points

Make sure your players aren’t stepping on the line after V cutting.
To make the drill more realistic, have the passer return the ball from the top or wing so that you can see if they’re pivoting in the right direction (always facing the ball).

Dribble up shooting

Purpose

To test shooting pull up 3’s.

How it works

Place a cone 10 feet behind the top and both slots.
Players start with a ball at the cone, dribble up to the 3 point line and shoot.
They run back to the cone and after they touch it, get a pass and repeat the drill for 3 makes at each slot and top, for a total of 9 shots.

Coaching points

Make them dribble with their left hand when pulling up at the left slot and right hand for the right. Players will likely be better pulling up with their dominant hand.

Arc slide shooting

Purpose

To test shooting when coming off down and hammer screens.

How it works

Place cones at the wings and corners.
Shooters run from corner to wing and take a catch and shoot 3.
Repeat running from wing to corner, until 3 shots are made from both the wing and the corner.
Repeat the drill on the other side for a total of 12 shots.

Coaching points

Make sure that your players are squaring up to the rim before shooting, this drill is one of the toughest in that they’re going from running sideways to facing the rim. The key is proper footwork and a 1-2 step with an inside pivot.

How to Read the Results

This is a “make oriented” shooting workout rather than an “attempt orientated” one. You finish after a certain number of makes are reached, not after time or shots taken. It encourages players to focus on making each shot rather than taking them quickly.

75/100 or better- shooting at 75% or better, a great shooter. Green light to shoot a 3 any time in a game.

75/101-75/125- shooting at 60% or better, a good shooter. Green light to shoot from areas where he’s shooting at a better than 70% clip at.

75/126-75/150- shooting at 50% or better, an average shooter. Only allowed to take 2 three’s a game. Any more and he’s benched.

Here’s the thing though- the green light shooting test is about consistency. I recommend making your players pass the test 3 times before they’re officially deemed a shooter.

FAQ

When should I run the test?

This is designed to be a short 30 minute shooting workout so it can fit in before or after practice. You want a player to show that he’s dedicated to getting better by putting in extra hours out of practice.

In terms of when in the season you should run it, I’d test everyone with this once at tryouts (if time allows) and then test them twice more before the season starts. You can let them retake the test during the season too as a benchmark for improvement.

How often should I let my players take the test?

I’d recommend letting players take the test no more than once a day. If they can’t complete the workout within 150 shots, they probably need to be working on their shooting form to improve consistency. I’ve collected some drills for that here.

What does green light mean?

“The go-ahead”, “being able to”, basically a player with a green light to shoot can take as many 3’s as they want (provided they’re good shots) in a game.