New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach Fred Vinson, right, works with Zion Williamson during a practice in Metairie Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach Fred Vinson, right, works with Zion Williamson during a practice in Metairie Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
While Fred Vinson was on the opposite side of the world this summer, the videos never stopped coming in.
Vinson, a longtime assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans, spent two weeks in Thailand. His mother-in-law, who is from Bangkok, had not been back home since the early ’90s. So in August, Vinson and his wife, Muthithar, accompanied her there.
Between visits to Buddhist temples and sampling the local cuisine, Vinson reviewed video clips of the workouts that Brandon Ingram was doing stateside. Ingram’s trainer uploaded footage of Ingram’s shooting motion into Dropbox, a cloud storage service. Vinson texted Ingram’s trainer feedback.
“A lot of the stuff, Brandon knew,” Vinson said. “It was more of a reminder.”
Three years ago, Vinson began working with Ingram to alter the mechanics of his 3-point shot. The changes they made helped Ingram to sink more 3-pointers in his first season with the Pelicans than he did in three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers combined.
Ingram is one of Vinson’s many pupils. Entering his 13th season with the Pelicans, Vinson has become one of the NBA’s most respected shooting coaches.
“I got a chance to see it and help him without being there,” Vinson said. “Those are the little wins, in spite of the fact that I had to be out of the country for two weeks. That was such a long time. I didn’t want to not have any involvement for that long.”
In four seasons at Alabama, Herb Jones did everything well — except for one thing.
Jones, a forward, was a good enough ballhandler that the Crimson Tide sometimes asked him to initiate their offense. He was such a dogged rebounder, he once grabbed 17 boards with his left hand wrapped in a cast. To top it off, Jones was one of the best defenders in the nation. He tallied 57 steals and 37 blocks in 33 games as a senior and was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Despite all that, Jones did not hear his name called until the second round of the 2021 draft. He was still available at the 35th selection because NBA teams were concerned about his shooting ability.
Jones converted 3s at a sub-30% rate in college (28.8% to be exact), and he was a 60.4% free-throw shooter.
Days after the draft, Jones received a message from Vinson. Jones didn't know who Vinson was. He did his research and came away impressed. It didn’t hurt that Vinson had a sweet stroke himself.
“After I saw him shoot a jumper and seeing who he worked with, what they have done with their jumpers, you knew,” Jones said.
Their work started at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Jones’ feet were misaligned. His toes pointed well right of the basket when he lined up a shot. This contributed to Jones, a lefty, releasing the ball on the right side of his face.
“Squaring his base up was the biggest thing,” Vinson said. “When we first started working, he would turn his body and bring the ball up on the inside of his face.”
Vinson instructed Jones to shoot one-handed shots, at first a few feet from the basket and then progressively further. Jones took one-handed jumpers every day for three months. Properly aligning his lower body helped fix his release point.
“Some people think jump shooting is what you do with the ball in your hands, and how the ball is released and your technique from the waist up,” Vinson said. “I believe it starts from your base, from your feet, how you’re angled.”
Shooting, Vinson said, is about “creating a straight line.”
“If I have any extra movement in my lower extremity, if I twist my hips, if I turn my foot in, that distorts that line,” Vinson said. “That’s what happens with most players. They do something to distort the line."
Jones shot 33.7% from 3-point range on 2.2 attempts per game in his rookie season. He finished third among Pelicans rotation players in free-throw percentage, converting 84.0% of his attempts.
Such progress did not mean Jones’ work with Vinson was finished. This summer, they worked out five days a week.
“Whoever he is dealing with, their deficiencies in their shooting motion, he breaks it down to a ‘T,’ " Jones said. “He makes it simple to understand, but the work is super-detailed.”
The first jump shot Vinson rehabilitated in New Orleans belonged to Quincy Pondexter.
Pondexter had a bad habit of releasing the ball while it was directly over his head. Vinson wanted Pondexter to understand that shooting was ultimately one-handed.
“You use the other hand to bring the ball up,” Vinson said. “Then you release that hand to shoot the ball with whatever your dominant hand is.”
Pondexter exclusively took one-handed shots near the basket for several weeks. In the summer after Pondexter’s rookie season, Vinson asked him not to play in pickup games. Vinson was concerned Pondexter would relapse if he played in five-on-five games too soon after changing his shooting form.
Vinson used to avoid making wholesale changes to players' jump shot during the season. That changed when Ball and Ingram arrived in 2019.
Ball and Ingram had been below-average 3-point shooters in their time with the Lakers, but they seemed eager to get better. Every day after practice that season, Vinson fed them passes as they worked their way around the 3-point arc. He watched their mechanics closely and called out the adjustments they needed to make.
Ball’s jump shot needed the most work. He had a diagonal shooting motion. He was a righty who released the the ball from the left side of his face.
“I knew I couldn’t come in one day and say, ‘I want you to go from right here — what you have been doing your entire life — and go all the way over here to the opposite side,’ ” Vinson said. “It’s too much to get a feel for in the moment.”
So Vinson worked gradually. He told Ball to bring the ball up in the middle of his head. Once Ball became comfortable doing that, Vinson told him to bring the ball up in front of his right eye.
Ball raised his 3-point percentage from 31.5% with the Lakers to 37.6% with the Pelicans. He was traded to the Chicago Bulls in August 2021. In the 35 games he played with the Bulls last season, he shot 42.3% from behind the arc.
Vinson felt a sense of pride when Ball shot well. When he struggled, Vinson was also affected.
“I carry the weight,” Vinson said. “I tell these guys, ‘I put it on myself.’ I am a perfectionist, but at the same time, I want them to do well because they trust me.”
During the NBA restart in 2020, the Pelicans headed to the bubble with ambitions of making the playoffs. Those hopes were quickly dashed. They played poorly. No one struggled more than Ball, who averaged 5.7 points and shot 19.2% from 3 over an important six-game stretch.
After one of New Orleans' bubble games, Vinson saw Ball walking back to the team hotel. He was by himself. Something about Ball's body language seemed off. Vinson could tell he was frustrated, so he caught up to him.
“I was like, ’Zo, I’m with you,’ ” Vinson said. “ ‘I’m in this thing with you. When you fail, when you don’t shoot the ball well, I’m taking it as hard as you are. Just know I am with you. We are going to work and get this thing right. Just know you ain’t by yourself.’ ”
Once Tuesday’s practice at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center concluded, Zion Williamson walked to the free-throw line. Vinson, with an iPad in hand, joined him.
Vinson can tell players what the flaws in their form are. Modern-day technology allows him to show them.
Vinson learned to shoot in the analog era. He grew up in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. As a kid, he remembered reading a book Boston Celtics guard Bill Sharman wrote titled, “Sharman on Basketball Shooting.”
“I wanted to have the perfect shot,” Vinson said. “I was chasing the perfect shot. Whatever that is, I don’t know. But I wanted to have the perfect form. And I wanted to make it as a basketball player.”
Vinson’s jumper took him all over the world. He played professionally in the Philippines, Israel, Venezuela, Poland and France. He suited up in five games with the Atlanta Hawks and eight games with the Seattle SuperSonics. He was part of other pro leagues in the U.S. besides the NBA.
Once, during a game in Venezuela, Vinson scored 53 points. He can’t recall exactly how many he 3s he hit that night. He estimates it was eight or nine.
Vinson got his start in coaching in the Los Angeles Clippers' player development department. He arrived in New Orleans in 2010. Monty Williams recruited Vinson to become part of his staff. In Vinson's first season with the team, Chris Paul started at point guard. Willie Green, who also played on that team, averaged 22 minutes per game off the bench.
Vinson has worked for four different head coaches in New Orleans: Williams, Alvin Gentry, Stan Van Gundy and Green. He has been here so long, one of his former players now oversees the staff he works on.
The list of players Vinson works with to fine-tune their shots is lengthy. Ingram, Jones and Williamson are three who receive regular instruction. Vinson has also spent a considerable amount of time with rookie Dyson Daniels, a 6-foot-8 Australian guard whom the Pelicans took with the No. 8 pick.
While Vinson was in Thailand, Daniels’ trainer also uploaded video clips to Dropbox for Vinson to review. Daniels made 13 of 51 3s (25.5%) and hit 73.7% of his free throws with the G League Ignite. Vinson wants to help Daniels speed up his shot and make it less rigid.
“Every day, before or after practice, I’m shooting with Fred,” Daniels said. “He’s a really good shooting coach. He knows everything."
Email Christian Clark at cclark@theadvocate.com.
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