Night after night, 4-6 hours each time, Kevin Ware and Jeremy Hollowell would head to the GSU Sports Arena to work on their shooting.
Ware said he would try to put up between 2,000-3,000 jump shots every night, as well as 500-600 free throws.
The math is impressive: as many as 12 jumpers every minute.
“I wanted to shoot like R.J. (Hunter) by the time the season came around,” Ware said. “He’s where I want to be. My dream has always been to be an NBA player. Seeing how good he was, his shot was over the top. If I can add a jump shot close to R.J.’s it could help me a lot.”
The results are also starting to impress.
While Ware’s shot isn’t as pretty as Hunter’s, who was drafted by the NBA’s Celtics, his work is starting to pay off.
Ware has hit three 3-point shots in each of the past two games with a chance for more against Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday at GSU Sports Arena. Those six 3-pointers increased his total to eight this season. He is on pace to hit 18 this season, but he will likely surpass that if he continues to shoot as many (14) as he has the past two games.
Coach Ron Hunter said the game has slowed down for Ware after playing his first season at Georgia State last year following his transfer from Louisville.
“He doesn’t rush his jump shot (anymore),” Hunter said. “He doesn’t try to get it off.”
Shooting jumpers wasn’t something Ware did a lot of, or even well, last season when he hit 14 of 48 (29.2 percent) 3-pointers and 99-of-226 (43.8 percent) field goals.
Ryann Green, a defensive stopper, hit five more 3-pointers than Ware last season.
Jalen Brown, who played just 250 minutes compared to Ware’s 1,000, hit as many 3-pointers as Ware last season.
Knowing this was final season and final chance to impress NBA scouts with his offense and not just his defense, and knowing that Hunter wanted him to become one of the team leaders, Ware went to work during the offseason improving his shot and concentrating on his footwork. R.J. Hunter would talk about how he would concentrate on his footwork to improve his shot the past two seasons.
Ware would practice shooting the deep 3-pointer, the on-the-line 3-pointer, and his mid-range jumper. He also worked on his free-throw shooting after hitting just 70.7 percent last season.
“Really just repetition, doing same thing over and over,” Ware said. “That was my biggest thing.”
The free throws and mid-range jumper was the first shot that began to click this season. Ware is hitting 83.9 percent from the line and his field-goal percentage is 46.6 compared to 43.8 last year.
While those shots, as well as his drives to basket, were working, Ware still wouldn’t shoot many 3-pointers.
Hunter said the coaches told Ware that if defenses were going to guard against his quick first step by backing off when he had the ball, he had to make them pay by shooting jumpers.
After hitting 1-of-3 against Texas-Arlington, he hit 3-of-7 against Troy and matched that against South Alabama two days later.
He said his confidence, born of those summer shooting sessions fueled by wanting to follow R.J. Hunter, is sky high.
“That’s what happens when you’ve got a great player,” Ron Hunter said. “R.J.’s hard work got him there. Kevin’s always had talent, now he’s added the hard work. That’s what he got from R.J.”
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