Blog Sports

Why You Should Manage Shot Load With a Basketball Shot Tracker

Author: Gregory Bernstein

It’s a make-or-miss league.” This commonly heard phrase, repeated by coaches, players, and analysts worldwide, encapsulates the simple truth about basketball. With KINEXON Sport’s new shot tracker for basketball, you can now improve shooting and performance at the same time.

Basketball shot tracking apps are becoming a big part of the game plan for many coaches who are looking for an edge.

A shot tracker basketball app should provide a thorough overview of shooting tendencies and dynamics on both an individual and team basis. 

Basketball shot statistics and a shot map are a good place to start. Teams can evaluate shooting accuracy and efficiency from different locations on the floor in both practice and game environments. 

But all shots are not created equal, even if taken from the same location. A driving layup requires explosiveness, not needed for a post-up turnaround from the lower block. A guard running around a double screen covers much more distance than a spot-up sharpshooter before launching a three-pointer. To fully prepare for the complexities of competitive play, it’s essential to incorporate and evaluate shot location and shot load into your training protocols.

Start Developing Better Shooters With The Most Powerful Basketball Training Analysis Software

As an industry leader in performance tracking, KINEXON understands that physical preparation is a key component of preparing to win. If a player wants to convert the key, late-game looks that can swing the balance of a contest; they need to train for the exertion required to generate scoring opportunities in a competitive environment. 

That’s why we’re contextualizing the physicality of every shot taken in practice by calculating and categorizing the workload sustained by the player before every attempt.

What Is Basketball Shot Load?

A basketball shot load dashboard shows players and coaches what spots on the floor their team needs to improve their shooting.

For every shot recorded, KINEXON’s COMPETE VISION product quantifies the workload the player performs in the 10 seconds leading up to the shot; this value is known as the Shot Load.

This value is compared to historical data from NBA games to determine if the shot would be considered a Low, Medium, or High Load shot in the context of competitive, professional gameplay. Using this information, teams can determine if they are sufficiently pushing towards game-level demands in practice while evaluating if players can sustain their shooting accuracy when the physicality increases.

DOWNLOAD Guide

How a Basketball Shot Tracker Works

A video camera records a basketball practice so that the film can be uploaded into an app that will provide basketball short tracking for coaches and trainers to view.

The above graphic demonstrates how a typical practice shooting session might unfold. Tabulating the results from KINEXON’s basketball shot map on the left, we can see that this player has performed a similar distribution of shot location in practice that he would expect to in a game. 

However, using KINEXON’s shot load metric, the picture on the right demonstrates that the player is not pushing to the same levels of exertion that would be required when facing a defense. In other words, most of the player’s shot attempts in practice fall into the Low Shot Load category, calling into question whether the player can maintain his shooting efficiency when forced to perform these same shots under Medium or High Shot Load conditions during a game. 

By observing this, coaches can design drills that force players to push themselves physically in the lead up to practice shot attempts, replicating the conditions they will face when it matters most.

A Complete Basketball Shot Tracking App

Basketball shots are tracked in a dashboard on KINEXON Compete Vision.

KINEXON’s journey towards combining tactical and performance data to optimize in-game execution is just the beginning. We identify workload patterns and differences based on shot location and playing position by continually analyzing historical data from the world’s best basketball players. We’re even working to establish specific metrics for women athletes in all sports, including basketball.

Utilizing this information with KINEXON COMPETE Vision, we’re here to individualize and optimize your practice protocols.

Never Count Shots Again While Getting The Most Comprehensive Shot Statistics and Performance Metrics in the Game

More stories

On-Field Diagnostics: Introducing KINEXON's New Sprint Assessment Tool

In elite team sports, sprinting is a cornerstone of performance. Whether it’s a soccer winger chasing the ball down the field, a wide receiver accelerating off the line, or a point guard exploding in transition, the ability to sprint explosively and repeatedly can make all the difference. That’s why KINEXON is excited to introduce their latest innovation: the Sprint Diagnostic tool — designed to give coaches and performance staff a new standard for measuring and optimizing sprint capacity. 

Data-Informed Athlete Development in Women’s Football: An Interview with Jonas Strebel

Jonas Strebel, assistant and strength & conditioning coach for FC Aarau Women (Red Boots Aarau), shares insights into how integrated athlete monitoring and GPS-based systems like KINEXON are transforming training periodization, performance monitoring, and injury risk management in women’s football.

Unlocking Player Potential with Shot Profiling

In college basketball, players spend nearly 80% of their time in practice — yet many teams lack effective systems to monitor practice shooting and translate those insights into improved game performance. Without a structured approach, coaches often rely on subjective observations rather than objective data to assess player performance. This disconnect leads to missed opportunities for talent identification and development, limiting a team’s ability to tailor training to individual player needs.

How Stanford Volleyball Uses Micro-Dose Training to Stay Match-Ready

Managing the demands of the volleyball season while keeping athletes healthy and ready to perform is a chess match for coaches. Tyler Friedrich, the Marie and Alex Shipman Associate Athletics Director of Applied Performance at Stanford University, has refined this approach for the Cardinal women’s volleyball program. His philosophy: train hard enough to stay resilient, but smart enough to remain fresh.

Building a Culture of Data-Driven Performance at Benfica

In elite sport, the goal is not just to measure, but to measure with purpose. At Benfica, performance monitoring begins with a question. What do we want to know? What outcome are we trying to influence? Data collection, then, is a means to an end: informed decision-making that improves the physical readiness, longevity, and consistency of athletes across multiple disciplines. 

Unlocking a New Era in Sports Performance: What’s Ahead from KINEXON Sports in 2025

In elite team sports, performance is often decided by the smallest details – how efficiently an athlete sprints, how they handle fatigue, and how well a team manages training loads throughout the season. Coaches and performance staff need more than just numbers – they need meaningful insights, in real time, to make the right calls when it matters. 

KINEXON Sports App Guide: Phase Index Widget

The Phase Index Widget is a powerful new feature in the KINEXON Sports App that provides coaches with deep insights into training drills. By displaying the normative range of key performance metrics for different drill types, it helps coaches understand typical versus high-end workload demands, compare phases across single sessions (POST) and historical data (DEVELOP), and design training sessions that optimize player development while preventing overtraining.

Revolutionizing Youth Football: Red Bull Wings Cup Meets KINEXON Sports

What if youth football wasn’t just about the score — but about the players who shape the game? That’s the bold vision behind Wings Cup 2025, hosted by RB Leipzig, and why KINEXON Sports proudly partnered with this first-of-its-kind event. From April 22 – 24, 2025, the tournament became the world’s first global youth football competition to feature live player and ball tracking — marking a new era in data-driven player development. 

Optimizing Offseason Training: How the Ragin’ Cajuns Prep for the Football Season

The Ragin’ Cajuns football performance staff enters the heart of the offseason following spring camp, facing player performance and conditioning challenges common to other American Football programs nationwide. Their approach: optimized practice schedules designed to help players reach performance goals, backed by data.

Trust, Autonomy, and the Art of Performance Management in the WNBA

In the high-performance landscape of professional basketball, the pursuit of championships is a given. Yet, true impact often stems from a deeper purpose — one that prioritizes sustained athlete development, both physically and mentally. This perspective underscores a broader definition of success: positively influencing performance on a day-to-day basis, beyond wins and losses.

From Court to Code: The Analytics Behind Athletic Success

In the high-stakes world of competitive basketball, small margins make the difference between winning and losing. This is where optimization becomes the cornerstone of athletic performance. The focus is not just on finding a magic formula, but on creating the conditions for athletes to consistently operate at their best.

Increasing Shooting Efficiency With Data-Informed Insights

As basketball training evolves, teams are embracing data-informed insights to augment shooting efficiency. With every shot carrying potential season-changing weight in competition, refining practice intensity and replicating in-game pressure are key to gaining a competitive edge.

Maximizing Performance During March Madness: Key Strategies & Load Metrics for Coaches

March Madness is one of the most intense and physically demanding periods in collegiate basketball. The congested schedule, high-pressure stakes, and minimal time for recovery require an evidence-based approach to reach and maintain peak performance while mitigating injury risk throughout the tournament. 

Optimizing Performance and Reducing Injuries in Professional Basketball

The landscape of professional basketball is evolving rapidly, with teams placing a greater emphasis on performance optimization and injury prevention. In a highly competitive environment like the EuroLeague, where the ultimate goal is to win games and championships, maintaining peak player performance while minimizing injuries is a fundamental challenge. 

The Perfect Training Week: How KINEXON Sports Supports Smarter Coaching Decisions

Every coach knows the feeling – standing on the sidelines before a game, confident that the team is fully prepared. The training week went well, the players were engaged, and everything felt right. And when the final whistle confirms the win, the inevitable question arises: 
What made this week so effective? How can we replicate it?