*As promised, here it is guys*

Our favorite Spongebob-loving, crazy-haired friend has himself a problem, that being his jumper. In the 2014-2015 NBA season, our special young man bricked his way to a cringe-worthy 24.4% shooting from three point land. Perhaps more hideous was his wide-legged, slow, flat jumper that made us consider him not front-rimming every jumper to be "progress". But that was last season, and many of us "Hinkie-ites" eagerly tuned in to the Las Vegas Summer League to see how much progress our gap-toothed hero had made in transforming his jumper to something more palatable.

But before we delve into the specifics of how his jumper has changed, we must first take a look at what it has changed from.

What it was

Yikes. Where do we even begin?

Well, let's start from the bottom and work our way up:

1) First of all, as you can see in the first gif, his feet are so spread out, well past shoulder-width apart. Now why would this be an issue? Well, because his feet are so spread out, it takes longer for him to dip the ball, bend his knees, and release the ball. As you can see in the second gif, this extra time to get into his shot causes him to get blocked.

2) Check this out:

His feet do not align parallel to each other. This is a huge no-no. By not aligning his feet parallel to each other, he loses balance on his shot. He will likely never be able to consistently hit jumpers if his lower body isn't balanced.

3) JaKarr's lower and upper body do not seem to be in sync with each other as he shoots. As you see in the first gif, he turns his feet when he shoots, but from what I can see, his upper body never quite matches that degree of turn. Hopefully this image can better illustrate what I'm seeing here:

The fact that JaKarr's elbow isn't in line with the basket sort of confirms my belief that his upper and lower bodies aren't properly aligned when he shoots. This surely hurts his balance when he shoots. I would personally prefer that he turn his upper body more so as to align his right elbow with the basket. When everything is aligned and in sync, it makes it infinitely easier to shoot the ball straight on target with more consistency.

4) While JaKarr sweeps his feet forward slightly, his body is almost totally upright and straight when he shoots. For example:

He doesn't sway his shoulders back as he shoots, thereby causing tension in his head, neck , and shoulder areas. Because of these issues, he shoots the ball flat and devoid of adequate arc. This also contributes to him getting block on his shot. It is also why he front-rims many of his jumpers.

5) Take a look at this:

This issue with his elbow works in tandem with his lack of sway in his shoulders, as it makes the angle of his release much lower than is optimal. If he were to sway his shoulders back more and thus get his elbow up a bit more, it would instantly improve his arc, which in it of itself would improve his shooting since higher arc=more area for the ball to enter the hoop.

6) On a bit of a side note, JaKarr rarely hops into his shot off the catch, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the fact of the matter is that almost every good shooter in the league hops to get into their shot off in catch and shoot scenarios. Hopping off the catch and shoot would help him get his shot off faster while making his shot more of a fluid motion, as opposed to him dragging his feet into shooting position as you see in the first gif (which is what he does in most catch and shoot scenarios). *If you don't know what exactly the hop is, I'd suggest watching this video.*

What it is Now

...Damn, that is a massive improvement, at least fundamentally.

Let's run through my issues with his jumper from last season and see where he's improved:

1) Check out this improvement:

His feet and shoulder width apart, nice. The feet are turned and parallel! As you see in the gif's, these subtle changes help him stay balanced and get his shot off even when someone is quickly closing out on him. So we're off to a good start!

2) Well lookie here:

As he goes up for the shot, his upper body is more in sync with his lower body, and it looks like (but it's hard to tell) his right elbow is nice and lined up with the basket. This all is definitely helping him with his balance and the whole elbow thing will help keep his shot on line. Also, it's nice to see him hold his form even when being well contested.

3) Pay attention to his feet as he shoots in the above gif's. In case you couldn't tell, he's sweeping his feet more when he jumps. This is great as it allows him to naturally relax his shoulders and generate more power on his release. And now look at this:

His elbow is higher now and his shoulders lean back ever so slightly, which allows him to be more relaxed and achieve greater arc on his release. His shoulders are still a bit too stiff for my tastes, and I would prefer he lean them back more to relieve any tension in that area. However, this is massive progress from where his shot was last year.

4) Last but not least, he's using the hop off the catch and shoot! This is great for all the reasons I outlined above, and I truly think that this component of his shot will really help him get off his shot quicker. Again, I want to point out that both of the shots he's taking in these gif's are pretty well contested, not totally wide open like the majority of his made three's last year. I'd like to think that the hop is helping him in these scenarios, and it's really nice to see him incorporate that to his shooting off the catch.

This is all great stuff for Jakarr's jumper, as pretty much all the errors I found in his jumper from last year have been (for the most part) rectified. I believe that JaKarr now has a pretty fundamentally sound shot, as I can't really find anything more to really critique about his shot now. Maybe some small things, like perhaps sweeping more with his feet and reserving a spot at the Hollis Thompson Clinic for Obtaining a Faster Release (TM); but those are mostly nitpicks. Honestly, I don't see how anyone can look at his shot this year and say that it looks the same as last year. From a fundamental standpoint, this is an astronomical improvement from last year.

Before I end this post, I would just like to clarify, this post is not meant to say that JaKarr will somehow magically turn into a marksman because of these changes. But what I do mean by making this post is that JaKarr has laid down a solid foundation with his improved form, and that hopefully with more and more reps, the improvement in his shot will become more that just speculation based on a few gif's and screenshots.

THANKS FOR READING

*I spent a lot of my time to make this post for you beautiful people, so if you liked what you read, feel free to give this post a rec. Any constructive criticism is welcome. Please voice any other thoughts, I'm all ears.*

*P.S. for those who want this to be a series, give me some title suggestions in the comments.*