The Pad

The pad itself weighs only about a couple pounds, and comes with a couple of straps on the back to hold it. The foam is solid but has give so it can simulate running into or posting up against another player. The outside is a leather/vinyl surface that has held up really well so far.

Basketball Blocking Pad Drills

There are a variety of drills which I run with the blocking pad. They are:

• Layup contact drill. This is where I initiate contact with the pad while the player is driving for a layup
• Post up drill. This is where the player posts up against the pad and does a move.
• Shooting through contact down low

These are mainly designed to allow the player to finish shots when being fouled or pushed when shooting. One thing to note is when you’re doing this, don’t always make contact. By faking contact, you also provide helpful training where the person thinks they’re going to be fouled.

Where to buy?

To be honest, there are a lot of different brands besides Pro Down which will work. For instance, this one on Amazon is affordable and has really good ratings:

GoSports Blocking Pad

Anything like this one or similar will work. The Pro Down one is harder to find online, I believe I bought it at a sporting goods store one time (don’t remember which one).

The post Pro Down Collegiate Blocking Shield Black Review appeared first on Master Basketball.

Setting DribbleUp Basketball Up

It’s a pretty easy process to get the whole thing working. Basically you:

• create an account on a computer (for some reason you can’t do from the app which is annoying)
• download the app
• log into the app. Either sign up for the monthly classes (first month is like 99 cents) or use the included drills (I highly recommend the classes, much more indepth)
• put the tablet or phone on the stand and start dribbling!

It will say though that the height of stand is not ideal. It’s great for tracking the ball but not so great for watching the action honestly. The height makes sense for soccer when you’re looking at your feet. I’ve got a video below which shows it in action during a class:

Basketball Feel

How does the basketball feel? Well, it kind of feels a little heavier than a normal ball, and doesn’t quite bounce as good as like a Wilson Evolution basketball. It just something to get used to, and as you can see in the video, after a while it doesn’t slow you down at all.

Classes

The coolest thing about this whole deal is the fact that you can take live or recorded classes from a variety of instructors who also measure your performance. You can go through the drills, and after every class you can see how you stacked up compared to everyone else in the class. I’m sure there are a few people who might be ‘cheating’ to get to the very top, but you can kind of see where the actual top performers are (which gives a good goal to shoot for).

They have beginner and advanced classes, along with freestyle and classes which also focus on specific hands. My son likes the advanced and freestyle classes the best, the beginner ones are too easy for him. The videos in this article are from the advanced class, here’s another example below:

Would I recommend the DribbleUp Basketball?

Absolutely, if your child is motivated at all and has time. If they’re in practice all the time, it might be too much. But if they have a lot of free time in the off-season or after school, it’s a great 15 minute add on to do. Each class is 10 to 20 minutes, so not too much of a time sink. I’m sure they messed around with different lengths till they determined that was the optimal length. Cost is around $10 a month, so not too bad IF you use it quite a bit. Like I would probably discontinue it during the season, but then re-enable it during the offseason.

The post DribbleUp Smart Basketball Review appeared first on Master Basketball.

Also, if you decide to buy one of these (or any of the models, include the new 12k) and my review helped, if you mention my name as a referral I’ll send you a free basketball (typically a Wilson Evolution) of your choice. Email me at at93850@yahoo.com to get it setup. Thanks in advance, I really appreciate and I hope this information below will help you make an informed decision.

Unboxing the Shoot-A-Way 10k “The Gun”

The machine comes on a pallet and wrapped around with cardboard. It is actually really heavy, I think around 250 pounds. I was able to get it off the pallet by myself but it was somewhat difficult, most people will probably require a second person to help.

Setting it up

Finally getting it setup, it will require an extension cord for sure, the cord that comes with it is only about 6 inches long. The nice thing is that there’s an on/off switch right there at the base to control the power. That’s what I’ve used most of the time to turn it on and off. You can see the picture below:

Getting it setup into position is really easy, but was slightly confusing the first couple times. There are 4 poles which need extending the first time but then never really need to be touched again. For the most part setting the 10k up consists of:

• pushing the machine into position under the basket
• putting the orange shot counter bar on the back of the rim
• raising the lift lever to raise the net into position
• plugging it in

That’s it! Really easy. About the only thing that might require height is the shot counter bar, otherwise everything else can be done by about anyone. The shot counter bar is also a little top heavy, so if you use it (it’s optional) you have to be careful taking it down as you need both hands to keep it from falling. I think most people over the age of 12 should be able to set it up after a couple tries. I made a video of it below:

Remote Control

The remote is pretty handy. It allows you to start and stop the machine when you’re too far away to get to it. It doesn’t allow you to change settings or anything, it’s kind of like a car remote in functionality than a TV remote…4 buttons to do things and that’s it. I generally just stick it in my pocket and pull it out when I need to start and stop it. You can increase or decrease the delay between shots but that doesn’t really come into play much. The throw button will throw out a ball, but if you’ve got a remote in your hand, it doesn’t really help much.

Controls

The control panel is pretty easy to use. You just select the places you want to shoot, the number of shots (or makes), and the time between throws and away you go. I made a video to show how all the options work below:

That video should give you a good rundown of all the options available. Typically we use it to make 15 shots in 5 different spots or set it up with multiple people with 1 second between throws to constantly throw balls to everyone on the court.

Shooting Range

The machine is most helpful from ranges outside 12′. Any closer and the net is either too high to shoot over, or too low to actually catch the ball. You can adjust the machine to throw the ball short or really far. This is done by adjusting a crank in the back. See the picture below:

It can throw it a long ways for those really far out 3 pointers. It can sometimes catch you by surprise if you forget what you were shooting last on different days. I’ve had times where my son was shooting 3 pointers and then the next day sets it up to work on free throws and the first pass is coming out at a speed to get it to the 3 point line.

No strength is needed to adjust the range. It’s really easy to move the crank clockwise or counter-clockwise.

App Functionality

The Shoot-A-Way app is basically a wrapper around the Shottracker app, if any of you are familiar with that. On the surface it seems like it’s only counting your makes and misses and not much else during the actual shooting. However, after the session is finished, it actually breaks it down where you shot from and how well you did from each section. It’s a little better than it leads on. I’m not sure why it’s so rudimentary while you’re shooting, but maybe that’s something for a future update. You can see what I’m talking about below, the first picture is what it shows when you’re shooting, and the second is what it shows afterwards.

Reliability

So far we’ve shot about 10,000 shots on it, and I think it’s only misfired like once or twice. It’s very reliable. The touchscreen can be a tad unresponsive at times but nothing too bad. I think it’s partially because phones seem so responsive and since this is slightly older technology it doesn’t feel the same anymore.

I’ve never had the software or anything else have any issues. The add on speaker system can be slightly finicky with the bluetooth connection on some phones.

Shoot-A-Way For Home Use

Is it worth investing in this machine for home use? I would say it would depend on a few factors:

• Age of your kids/how many years of use it will get
• how big of a space you have to use it
• your personal budget

My kids are younger and love basketball, so I decided to make the investment. Plus these machines have a high resell value, so it’s not like it’s going to depreciate to zero. So 10 years down the road when we’re no longer using it, should be able to recoup some of the cost (or donate it to a school if I so choose).

I made a demo of two players using the machine at the same time below. You can either have the machine go back and forth delivering balls to spots in order, or you can select different spots and order them #1, #2, #3, etc and shoot a specific sequence. Shooting a sequence requires turning on the option in the “advanced” menu.

Shoot-A-Way cost

So how much does it cost? Mine (the 10000) cost $6200 for the base model + $300 for the sound option + shipping costs. All together it was under $7k. I also got quotes for the 6000 and 8000. I believe the 8000 was just a few hundred cheaper and honestly didn’t make much sense to get since the prices were so close together. The 6000 was a lot cheaper (especially some of the used models) but with less features (I think only 9 vs 17 spots), less configurability with shooting options, etc.

Shoot-A-Way also has a trade in program for those who want to upgrade down the line, although personally I think you could probably sell it for more locally than Shoot-A-Way is giving you. It’s probably a good option for those people who live in a remote area with few buyers though.

Conclusion

So am I happy I bought it? Absolutely. Actually I probably should have bought it a lot sooner, kind of regret not buying it 2 or 3 years ago. But I have it now and that’s all that matters.

The other question is, how much improvement can I expect? Well even though we’ve had it a pretty short time, I can say that my kids shot percentage has gone up 5% to 10% in a pretty short period. The biggest thing though, which I wasn’t expecting, is the increase in range that it’s given my older son (while not even shooting 3 pointers). Doing a sequence of ~125 shots from 15 feet out over a month caused his accuracy on 3 pointers to go up pretty dramatically, from ~20% to around 35%+. He wasn’t even practicing 3 pointers on it and it helped extend his range that much. He used to try and make 5 three pointers at the end and it would take him 20 to 25 shots usually. After a month he was making 5 of 9 sometimes, which he never was before.

The post Shoot-A-Way 10000 Basketball Shooting Machine Review appeared first on Master Basketball.

Lifetime Double Shot Assembly

First off, my son is a complete basketball nut.  Completely.  He’s 11, but watches tons of NBA games, watches the draft, plays NBA 2k games, etc.  And when he wanted this for his 10th birthday, it was hard to refuse even though it was barely going to fit into his room.  We ordered it through Amazon, I’ve include my affiliate link through Amazon below:

Lifetime Basketball Double Shot Arcade System

It wasn’t bad to assemble, but not the most fun thing either.  It just has a lot of a large awkward pieces that make it somewhat difficult to assemble.  A second person would probably help sometimes, though I didn’t have that luxury.  After a couple hours, I finally got the thing put together so we could play.

Durability

The first thing I noticed was how sturdy the hoops were on the Lifetime Double Shot vs all the other games I’ve looked at.  Most of the time those games have flimsy rims, not this one, they’re rock solid.  Balls were pretty nice (comes with 7) and were of pretty good quality, better than what would normally come with your over the door mini hoop.

The rest of setup is pretty sturdy as well.  In two years we’ve never had anything break or bend, which is pretty remarkable for a home piece of equipment, most of the time things like this aren’t built to last very well.  This basketball goal though is an exception to the rule.

Playing it

We played it ton, I think my high score was 127 or 132, something like that.  My son could never quite compete with me because I could shoot with either hand, making it hard for him to keep up.  The game features an initial session where you try and get to 30, then to 60, and then the time just runs out.  With about 10 seconds left in the first period, your shots start to count for 3 points instead of 2, and stay that way for the rest of the game.

For little kids under like 7 or 8, they’ll probably never make it out of the first period.  It’s not super easy to make 30 points in that amount of time.  My 8 year old has only made it out a couple times I think.  My 14 year old though can get into the 80’s in a regular basis, so evidently there’s an age where it becomes a lot easier somewhere between 8 and 11.  I’ve put a video below of my 14 year old and I playing it in his room.

The sensors work pretty good for the most part.  I believe there are sensitivity adjustments in the back but I’ve never used them.  For the most part they’re pretty accurate with the made shots, the only ones it has trouble with are shots that go around the rim and then out, or ones that bounce out from below the rim.  I would guess that on average, you probably get an extra 4 to 6 or so points from misses counted as makes in an average game.  Luckily both players get the same advantage, so it doesn’t hurt the competition level.

Improvements

What could make the Lifetime Basketball Double Shot Arcade System better?  I could name a few things off the top of my head.

1. Music during play.  It has sound effects, but no music.  Music would help a lot with excitement.
2. More modes of play besides just the default.
3. LED lights on the back for better presentation.
4. A better scoreboard.  It’s fine, but for 2018 it’s a little 80’sish.

It’s great overall, but a few minor tweaks like the things I mentioned above would make it a lot better.

Conclusion

Would we buy it again?  Absolutely.  Unlike so many other gifts which get played with for a week and then gather dust, my son has consistently played with it over the past couple years.  It’s a gift that ages well too, as it’s just as fun for adults as it is kids.  Highly recommended for your basement, or if your child’s room is big enough, there as well.

The other good thing about the hoop not mentioned in any other review is that you can actually store a bunch of stuff under it.  My son has a bunch of things stored underneath his, which is nice because it takes up so much room.  We’ve actually never folded it up while we’ve owned it, never felt the need to.

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