When you think about whether or not someone is good at shooting a basketball, you think of shooting percentage. Lonzo Ball shot at a great clip at UCLA, so why isn’t it translating to the NBA? Chances are high that he’s having a tougher time getting consistent looks and thus the mechanics of his shot have become more important.
Noah Basketball, a system that began with a rake in a driveway, has slowly become the preferred shooting improvement tool of many college and NBA teams. A sensor 13 feet above the rim tracks three critical factors which are voiced aloud after every shot: entry angle (arc), shot depth and left-right position.
Originally invented by Alan Marty to help his daughter’s shot, Noah is a precise form-confidence and muscle-memory improving system. “What we do is give shooting coaches information that makes them better,” Noah CEO John Carter explained. “They can see precisely where a player is missing. It’s amazing, as often as coaches are in the gym with players, they don’t see the things that Noah sees.”
Clearly our athletes are putting in work … We've now tracked over 100 MILLION shots on our new Noah shooting system
https://t.co/9JuOwbqyTb #NoahKowledge pic.twitter.com/KVVfvRqi7F
— Noah Basketball (@noahbasketball) January 24, 2018
One team that began using the system last fall was Georgia Tech. A current assistant coach there had used the original Noah system while coaching at his former school. It tracked straight-forward shots, but not ones from all over the court as it does now.
“They’re certainly technology-oriented and coach [Josh] Pastner and that staff, they realize what Noah can do for them and they already are making plans for the offseason,” Carter said.
Georgia Tech has been using the sensor all season long, both in practice and during games, and there is much to improve upon as the team has compiled an 11-18 record thus far. Each player’s shots are logged so they can go back and check out the data. This way they can learn individual tendencies that they otherwise might not have caught on to.
A player might realize that when shooting from the right wing they’re consistently two inches to the left.
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Carter says that most of all coaches love the accountability that Noah can bring to a team. “When a guy goes in and gets up some extra shots on his own, coaches are limited when they can be in the gym and players can go in and kind of check themselves in at the touch screen and go to work.”
Not only is Noah helping players, but also the company done some work with the analysis of games on TV as well. They tracked over 15,000 shots at the Vegas Summer League and provided data to ESPN for their broadcast of the Hoop Hall Classic:
What’s next for Noah? It has begun adding facial recognition to the product. Even if there are three or four players shooting on one hoop, the system can recognize who shot each ball.
Still not convinced Noah can help? Carter summed things up, saying, “if they know the answers to the test, why would they not want to study for the test?”
Good question.