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What's Wrong With Angel Reese's Shot?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jannelle Moore | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 9:30 AM ET

Sometimes basketball is as humbling as it is beautiful.

Highlights are often cinematic, and depending on whom you ask, they can be preferred to the latest in celluloid. The lowlights are comical, and they live on in infamy long after they are mentioned on "Shaqtin a Fool."

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese had such a moment when she shot 0-for-8 in a loss to the New York Liberty on May 22.

After snagging the rebound off of a Kamilla Cardoso miss, Reese missed and grabbed her own rebound only to miss again and again. This particular lowlight reel is the most damning example of Reese’s struggles with finishing around the basket.

At this point, we all know about the what. Reese’s struggles have been well documented and well clowned. But there’s not discussion enough about why she’s struggling. Not enough about why she’s shooting 31.1% from the field during the first six games of the season.

I’m not into piling on more criticism and running her down. I’m into trying to understand what’s going on. As I look at her shot, I’m wondering if her issues are mostly mechanical.

Here are a few of my observations:

Shooting From The Hip

Reese has a tendency to shoot from her hip instead of her shoulders sometimes. Granted, not everyone will have textbook shooting form, and that’s OK. What works for one player may not work for the next. In Reese’s case however, the fact that she is shooting from the hip at 6-foot-3 is inexplicable. When a player shoots from the hip, it’s indicative of a player’s lack of adequate size and strength. But Reese is neither frail nor weak.

In the short clip below, Reese is working on gaining separation for a short jumper. Notice the starting point before she elevates. She starts shooting from the hip.

Below is another view. Again, notice her starting point, and notice how slow her release is as a result — not to mention how hard defenders make it to get shots off.

Alignment and Lift

In addition to starting her shot from the hip at times, Reese doesn’t tilt her body to the basket. Fundamentally, players are taught to square their bodies to the basket. Ironically, there’s only a few players who can consistently do it. It’s more effective if a player slightly tilts his or her body away from the rim because being completely square slows the release and having a slight tilt is better for shoulder and elbow alignment, which matters more than squaring up.

The clip below is from Reese shooting 3s after a Sky practice. Starting at the two-second mark, Reese is square to the basket, yet her release is slow, and her elbow is flaring a little. At the release point, the ball and the shoulders are in line, but the elbow is flaring out. If she was tilted instead of squared, it would lessen the flare-out between the shoulder and elbow.

In the same sequence, Reese tends to dip low after catching the ball. She’s bringing her body down while beginning the shot, and the movements are fighting each other. Dipping is a waste of motion and a waste of energy. The dip negates whatever momentum Reese has in her shot attempt. A shot should start from the legs, to the lower back and then to the release. If Reese was already down with knees bent to begin the shot before rising up, she’d have more momentum and strength in her shot.

At the three-second mark, notice Reese’s right shoulder is lower than her left. The problem is that after she dipped, it threw her body out of line and her elbow flared.

Also notice her legs. Reese isn’t bending them enough. She’s using a lot of her upper body to shoot when her lower body should be the catalyst to the shot.

Reese is developing into a solid defender and rebounder. It’s just six games into her second season, and she’s still a work in progress. Deeply ingrained habits are tough to break. If Reese is willing to do the work — and I believe she is — she can destroy some of the old habits and rebuild her shot.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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