After posting my recent blog regarding the epidemic of too many moves and flashy drills, I received an email almost immediately from a player. He had a question – “how could I only play on instinct? You need moves.”
You absolutely need moves; I teach players moves every day…but you don’t need an endless supply. You need a core set of moves, an understanding of game situations, and how to apply each move properly.
Let’s use the Tim Hardaway “Killer Cross” as an example. You may plan to hit a hard, between the legs move, but after that you have to play off of instinct. If the defender doesn’t react to the between the legs, you go by them. If the defender jumps the between the legs, you cross it over – that’s instinct.
You cannot predetermine that you are going to hit a between the legs, crossover combo because you may not have to cross it over at all…And if you do in the wrong situation, it may be right back into the defender. The move you make depends on what the defender does. A great move is only great when it’s used in the right situation.
So, how do we teach and develop our players so they have the skill and IQ to do this?
Establish a Base Skill Set:
We have a core set of essential skills that we believe all players need. (If you want more information on the Essentials program, Mike Lee wrote about it here). The first step is making sure that each player has this base and the understanding of how, when and why to use these skills and moves. That’s the foundation.
No matter what level a player is competing at, this foundation must be in place. There has been multiple times where I’ve spent entire summers working with Division 1 players on the same things I would do with a typical middle school player. Honestly, there are a lot of NBA players who need this type of work. It’s about skill level, not age or level of play.
This is something that often gets neglected by players with superior size and athleticism. They can rely on their physical gifts and tools to be successful, but eventually as the level of play increases and other players catch up physically these players are left with severe deficiencies.
Progression:
Once the foundation is laid, it’s simply a matter of building off of those essential skills – Adding different dribble moves, ways to create space, more advanced finishes, etc. Even though we add more moves and finishes, there is a limited number that we add. We aren’t overloading them with different moves each day. We add a few that fit the individual player and then work to master them.
We also dive into very specific game situations such as playing off penetration, ball screen reads, wing series, coming off screens, etc. These are situations where you have to make reads and execute moves/skills appropriately.
Game Realistic:
Simply put, the moves that you work on must be game realistic. They should mirror game situations and focus on actions that you would actually execute in a game setting. Are you really going to toy with the ball for five dribbles, then hit a triple combo dribble move into a step-back three pointer? Not likely… and if you try to do that, you’ll likely have a great seat to view the game next to an assistant coach.
The NBA game is different from middle school, high school and college. Almost all scoring at these levels is done in three dribbles or less. Once you’ve isolated the ball handling skill (more on that later), your time spent in the gym should be on game realistic situations and scoring moves. As a rule of thumb (with the exception of ball screens), use a 3-4 dribble limit. When you play 1 on 1 use this limit as well.
Live Defense & Situational Games
If you’re a trainer or coach, you need to be playing situational defense whenever possible. This is the best way to develop a player’s ability to not only execute a skill properly, but also get them to understand how and when to use a specific dribble move or finishing move. The key when doing this is to make sure you are replicating the actual game situation as realistically as possible.
A few years ago, I was running a camp and we were working on players finishing with their inside hand – left hand finish on the right side of the rim. One of the coaches working the camp was standing under the rim blocking every player’s shot (which I obviously corrected). If a defender were under the rim (like the coach was), we would never use that finish. That type of situational defense does not help, it actually hurts the player.
Once you’ve drilled specific situations try to play 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 situational games that force players to put the skills you’ve been drilling into a live setting. This is one of the very best things you can do. There’s a huge difference between being able to execute a skill 1 on 0 and being able to do it against live competition.
The Use of Combo Dribble Moves:
We do use 2, 3, or even 4 dribble combo moves with the players who have developed a certain level of ball handling skill. It’s a great way to challenge a player’s handle and control of the ball. But, there is a very specific philosophy behind how and why we use them:
- We use these drills at the beginning of a workout where we are solely focusing on ball handling. We aren’t taking shots or getting into finishes off of these dribble-moves. We are isolating/challenging their ability to handle the ball.
- There is a constant emphasis on becoming quicker and tighter when handling the basketball.
- The player knows that we are challenging their ability to handle the ball, not working on something that they would typically do in a game. That understanding is critical. I will literally tell a group of players, “we are doing this to challenge your handle, not for you to try and do this in a game.”
Rarely, if ever, will we use these types of combo moves when drilling game situations.
Ultimately, developing a player the right way takes work, consistency, teaching, and patience; It is a long-term commitment, not a short-term fix.