Tony Parker is one of the best at shooting the tear-drop. He made a career out of it. So, here’s how to shoot the floater like him.
Tony Parker is one of the smaller point guards in the NBA. But his lack of size didn’t stop him from attacking the rim.
Matter of fact, because he was quicker than most, he drove the ball into the paint more often than doing anything else (such as shooting the mid-range jumper or taking three-pointers).
And the reason why he was fearless at the rim was that he mastered shooting the floater.
He often pulled it out of his tool belt because he faced off against giants a lot.
The floater (or tear-drop) allowed him to get a shot off without getting traumatically stuffed by big, traditional centers; the high arc of the shot (the majority of the time) avoided their long reach.
In a (now defunct) series called Mailbag, where fans got to ask Spurs’ players questions, Parker explained why he started working on the floater.
Parker said:
“I’ve been doing that since I was small, because I was very small growing up. It took me a long time to grow a little bit, so that was the only way for me to shoot the ball over the bigs. So, I created that shot because it was the only way I could score, and so I guess by doing it all the time every day it became a great shot for me.”
Though his claim that he created the shot isn’t the most accurate, it was a great shot for him. It also served him well throughout his career.
Tony Parker and the Floater
One time the floater came in handy was during the 2007 NBA Finals when the Spurs went toe-to-toe with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In this series, Parker was often defended by LeBron James. If you don’t know, James is a waaaayy bigger player than Parker. The Frenchman is 6-2 while the “King” is 6-9.
The Cavs also had some big centers in Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejão, who often awaited his arrival at the rim so that they can deny him.
Thus, scoring wasn’t supposed to be easy for Parker in this series. But he managed to average 24.5 points per game on 56.8 percent shooting.
His output led to the Spurs sweeping the Cavs and to Parker being named the Finals’ MVP.
So how did he do it?
Well, it came from a combination of mid-range jumpers, layups, and floaters.
And according to a shot chart from Statmuse, most of the shots came from inside the key.
This chart alone tells us that the floater was effective for Parker. It also shows us that you should probably add this move to your game because it will make you a legend on the basketball court.
Benefits of Learning the Floater
“What? That’s stupid,” you’re probably thinking. And you are right for thinking this. Learning the floater isn’t going to level you up and I said that as a joke (just tryin’ to be a funny guy here).
But seriously, learning the floater can be useful for you.
It’ll give you more options on offence so that you don’t have to rely on a small number of moves, which will make you predictable.
With the adoption of this shot, you can score in more ways.
And this will keep the defence guessing like a newb Battleship player who doesn’t know anything about patterns.
How to Shoot the Floater
So, here’s how to learn and practice the floater:
Key Notes:
- Watch the video thoroughly and pay attention to the tips
- As always, take your time when learning this move. It’s new and you have to get used to the motions of it
- Also, be consistent. The only way to hone your skills is to practice often and regularly
- And lastly, experiment with it. Play around with how you want to execute the floater and tweak it to fit your play-style
Additionally, you should also work on your layups.
Improving your layup package will make the floater more effective because you will be able to attack the basket in many ways. It’ll keep the defence guessing.
It’ll also allow you to adjust your shot in close if a player interrupts your flow.
Learn how to layup better here.
Final Thoughts
The floater is a fantastic shot for all players (but especially the smaller ones). It’ll allow you to evade bigger defenders while getting a close-range shot.
So learn it and apply it to your game, and see how your floater matches up against Tony Parker’s.
