Catch-and-Shoot 101 with Ray Allen and Steve Novak

Over the course of the season, I'm going to try to pick the brains of various NBA stars on the finer points of the game. To start, I was able to spend about five minutes talking to Steve Novak after practice and got a couple of questions into Ray Allen pre-game about some of the components that go into the art of the catch-and-shoot.

As if you needed a reminder, Allen is a career 40 percent three-point shooter who currently holds the NBA's all-time mark with 2868 made threes, while Novak has made 283 threes over his last 136 games, converting at an astonishing 44.6 percent from behind the arc in the process.

Here's a quick dive into the minds of a couple prolific NBA marksmen...

On how important the quality of the pass is in a catch-and-shoot situation? Do you have a sweet spot in terms of where you like to receive the ball on your body, hips, chest, etc.?

Allen: "I can't say that I have a sweet spot, because the game is imperfect. So you have to train yourself to be put in weird situations. I get the ball at my knees at times, I get the ball at my head, but you have to learn how to use those situations to get the shot that you need. You're going to get a lot of bad passes, but I still try to use that to my advantage, so I never look at a pass as a bad pass. I look at just being able to get the ball, and when you get the ball, what do you do with it from there?"

Novak: "I guarantee if there was a statistic on watching where the ball was passed and the percentage of shots that guys made versus missed. If it was a good pass versus bad I guarantee it was like a 30 or 40 percent difference. There's no question that if it's a good pass, probably 30 percent more likely the chance that you make it, in my opinion, I think."

Out of all the guys you've played with, who's the best passer for a shooter like yourself?

Novak: "I've played with a lot of good point guards. In college I played with Travis Diener (at Marquette), who was in the NBA for five, six years (2005-2010). He was an unbelievable passer. A guy like Jason Kidd. Honestly a guy like Jeremy Lin, not only a guy who passes it well but a guy that you know he's looking for you, where you know if you continue to move and work he's going to find you. I think that's even more important than a good pass, is knowing that your point guard is probing and looking to try to find you. I think that motivation that you're going to get a shot if you keep working is even more important than if it's a good pass."

I was reading a Sports Illustrated piece by Chris Ballard on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and one of the things that stuck out to me was that they mentioned the importance of passing the ball to a shooter 'with the seams lined up.' We always think of lining up the seams when throwing a football or how to grip a baseball for the different types of pitches, but how important are the seams of a basketball when passing into a catch-and-shoot, and to shooting in general?

Novak: "I think if you ask a lot of shooters they would say they can really just feel them. I know when I catch I just kind of subconsciously rotate the ball to get my fingers on the seams. Sometimes it ends up perfect, other times it doesn't, but you have a feel for it, and I think you do so many reps that you try to get to a familiar feel on the ball."

Everyone sees and remembers the shot itself, the make or the miss, but how much of a shooter's success is really driven by off-ball movement?

Allen: "Movement is life. The minute you stop moving, you're not alive. I say that in life, but it means so much in basketball. The minute you become a standstill target, you're easy to guard. Your defender, he knows where you are, you're right there and your feet are planted and you're easy to be read. So the more I move, the guy's got to pay attention to the ball, he's got to pay attention to where I am, so my job is to keep him off balance and be ready to move with the ball as it's coming."

Novak: "I think myself and a lot of guys find very early on in basketball that if you don't move, if you don't work off the ball, you don't get shots. There are some games when you're younger and you realize, 'why didn't i get the ball, why didn't i get touches?' especially a guy who plays like me, off the ball, not a point guard type of player. You realize if you don't move, if you don't work to get open, the ball doesn't find you. And the harder you work, it finds you, so I think a guy like me that's key. You need one or two steps to just get that open look. It makes you realize that it has to be one of the biggest parts of your game. Just continue to move and to get open."

When you shoot as well as you do, is it just about moving to get open in general, or are you still moving to get to a certain spot, moving to get open in that spot?

Novak: "I think both. I think some are reads in the offense just depending on spacing. A lot of times if I swing the ball to the left, I'll obviously cut to the right because if the ball is already on the left side, odds are the offense is going to make its way to the right side. So often times I'll swing it left and end up in the right corner, or I'll swing it right and end up in the left corner because I know that's usually where the open shot is going to come. The defense is going to rotate and usually leave the last man open, so sometimes it's reads. Other times like you're saying, I might go to a spot where I know I'm more likely to get an open look."

As you catch the ball and you know a defender is closing out on you, is there an internal process going on in your head, where you know if he closes to a certain proximity, you can't and won't shoot it anymore? Or with your height (Novak's 6-10), do you know you can get it off over anybody on the perimeter?

Novak: "That helps. Being tall obviously helps. I think it helps to have the mindset that you're almost over-aggressive. That you're going to catch it and shoot it, almost no matter what. They have to almost take it away, and I think if you get to the point where you start thinking 'I want to shot-fake' or 'I want to draw fouls' and that kind of thing, I think the special players that have the ball in their hands like the LeBrons or the D-Wades, who can handle it and can shoot and all those things, they can kind of tempt guys into those situations. But for myself, I have the mindset to be aggressive and shoot, and then if it's not there, then do something else."

Who are some of the best defenders today in terms of taking away from three-point shooters? Guys who do the best job closing out and guarding the perimeter?

Novak: "The long athletic guys, like obviously guys like D-Wade, who have great lateral speed, quickness like Jimmy Butler from Chicago, Shane Battier. They're smart, but they also can close out to you and once they get to you they can kind of guard you for a dribble or two because of their strength and quickness. One of the guys right now that's really kind of taken the scene is Jimmy Butler. He's just so strong, he's a Marquette guy, obviously, but I think he's one of the elite in terms of that."

Your team needs a shot and you're getting it. You can pick any spot on the floor to shoot from. Where is it?

Novak: "I think the corners are the easiest three-pointer in terms of the closest three-pointer, I think percentage wise probably around the league. I think for me I imagine it's the highest as well. I'm not sure which corner. I don't like to get in my head too much one exact spot. I always believe that all spots are equal in my head. But obviously I take more shots in certain spots. I would say corner-three."

As a reference, here is Novak's shot chart from last season, courtesy of NBA.com: