Patent ID: 8162781

Claim:
A basketball shooting system comprising: an apparatus adapted for mounting to a basketball rim, the apparatus comprising a plurality of flexible paddles, means for mounting the flexible paddles to the rim so that the flexible paddles project upwardly from the rim, and means coupled to the flexible paddles for adjustably modifying the rigidity of the flexible paddles; and a glove adapted to be worn on a shooting hand of a user when shooting a basketball at the rim, the glove comprising a fingers portion, a wrist portion, and a backhand portion, the fingers portion comprising three separate sleeves interconnected by a first elastic web between and attached to an adjacent first and second of the sleeves and by a second elastic web between and attached to the second sleeve and an adjacent third of the sleeves, the wrist portion comprising means for securing the glove to a wrist of the user, and the backhand portion interconnecting the fingers portion to the wrist portion; wherein the glove is configured so that, when worn on the user's shooting hand, the palm of the user's shooting hand remains exposed and is not covered by the glove, the three middle fingers of the user's shooting hand are individually inserted into the sleeves and held together by the first and second elastic webs, at least the tips of the three middle fingers protrude from the sleeves, and the elasticity of the elastic material of the fingers portion enables the three middle fingers to be spread apart against an elastic tension created by the first and second elastic webs that maintains the three middle fingers closer to each other than to the thumb and outer finger of the user's shooting hand during shooting.