Chris Paul’s elbow jumper is one of the most reliable moves CP3 has in his tool belt. Here’s how you can add it to yours.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were not supposed to make it.
The odds were against them, but they pulled through and made the playoffs in 2020.
And not only that, they almost got through the first round.
Many wondered how they were able to do it. They had a young, inexperienced core and not a lot of star power.
The only star they had was an ageing Chris Paul.
But, see, here’s the thing: Paul is no regular old NBA player. He, like the greats before him, is a legend.
He is a true Point God.
His I.Q. is high and his skills are top-notch. But the one thing that helped this young Thunder team most was Paul’s ability to make shots when they needed it most.
In crunch time, Paul would step up to the challenge. He would look at the score, then at the clock.
Then he would call for a screen, weave through it, land on the corner of the free-throw line, and shoot a jumper. Rattle, rattle, swish.
He does this over and over again (but with some minor tweaks here and there to throw the defense off) and it goes in almost every time.
This is what you call mastery.
How He Mastered the Elbow Jumper
At the beginning of his career, Paul wasn’t a great shooter. He only averaged 43 percent FG%. This isn’t bad, but it isn’t the most efficient either.
To improve his percentage, he deliberately worked on his shooting form, balance, patience and court vision to take “great” shots (skills that are needed for the elbow jumper).
As his fundamentals improved, he added some flare to make it more challenging to defend.
He trained in gyms with trainers and the coaching staff, he played rec games in the off-season, and he studied tape.
By doing these activities, his shooting percentage, and more importantly, efficiency, grew season after season (his shot attempts didn’t vary much).
In Paul’s 15th NBA season, his career field goal percentage is sitting at 47 percent.
That’s 5 percent more than his rookie campaign’s.
How You Can Learn Chris Paul’s Elbow Jumper
To learn Paul’s elbow jumper, it’s going to require a lot of “getting the fundamentals down.” You’re going to have to work deliberately on shooting day in and day out.
However, -a caveat- putting in this amount of practice doesn’t guarantee that you’ll master the elbow jumper like Paul has (matter fact, you won’t).
Remember, CP3 is a special NBA player.
He is more talented, intelligent, and skillful than the average NBA player, let alone an average Joe or Jane.
Therefore, don’t get frustrated if you can’t execute this move as well as he can.
Just do your best and that’s all you can really do.
So…
- First: Master jump-shooting at every space on the free-throw line (example here).
- Second: Master the pull-up jumper from those areas, too.
- Third: Set up chairs to act as screeners and practice weaving through them and shooting pull-up jump shots (example here). You should also practice the v cut and shooting the elbow jumper from that move
- Fourth: Once you’re comfortable with the shot, experiment with it in games to see what you can modify to make it more comfortable or better.
- Fifth: Keep practicing, experimenting, tweaking, and improving the elbow jumper.
These are the steps you need to do to learn the elbow jumper.
Final Thoughts
The elbow jumper is a reliable shot that doesn’t require a lot of athleticism to execute (although it does require a lot of skill).
On top of that, it has many set-ups that will throw the defence off.
Learn the shot and it will improve your scoring.