Youth Basketball Coaching and Player Development - Re:Help with Basketball Practice -

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coachmccormick
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/26 23:51 The natural reaction of a defender when he starts to get beat is to hand check. If the defender gets his hands on your hip, he can move your center of gravity.

The best players get lower as they make their move. I use a football analogy. When a running back goes through the line of scrimmage, he is compact, protects the ball and looks to find the angle. When a ball handler attacks his defender, it's the line of scrimmage. Get low and compact and use the inside shoulder and arm to protect the ball and the hip. Use the inside arm to knock away a defender's attempt to hand check.

I have noticed lately that most players do a really poor job of moving at speed with a lowered center of gravity. It's a rained skill that also requires some amount of lower body strength and core strength. But, I know that when I demonstrate moves, I get into a much better body position than any of my players, even the really good ones. It's a habit they must learn and then develop the strength and speed to move at full speed with a lowered COG. Drop the hips rather than bending forward at the waist.

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Hook
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/27 05:11 Playing low (and staying low) takes a lot of strength, balance and athleticism to be sure. It is an important skill that must be acquired if a player hopes to have success against a really good defender. The problem is most players don't come up against a very good defender that often. The majority of the time they can get by with mediocre moves and techniques. But, when they finally come up against a good defender, those moves and techniques no longer work. Some players will be in denial, and just claim that they had a bad night offensively, when the truth is that they never really spent the time and energy to acquire the skill. And, it doesn't come over night, so for some, by the time they admit they have a weakness in this area it is too late.

This is another reason why early functional movement training is so important in laying a foundation for advanced techniques and performance. Balance, control and explosiveness are such critical skills for playing at advanced levels. They simply must be mastered.

Rick Allison
LoneStar Basketball Academy
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coachmccormick
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/27 05:51 Good points. I always tell players that their moves work against average players, but anything works against an average player. You have to imagine and visualize the best player in your league, city, state, etc. and practice moves that will work against him or her.

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Hook
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/28 05:18 coachmccormick wrote:
You have to imagine and visualize the best player in your league, city, state, etc. and practice moves that will work against him or her.
This is SO true. I can't tell you how many times I've seen players practicing a dribble attack or shot off the dribble move with no defender and they expose the ball in ways that even an average defender would be able to "pick". This is pretty useless practice. They might as well be working on half-court hook shots.

You see teams doing this also when they are working on offensive sets 5-on-0. They use passing lanes that would not even exist if a defensive team were in place...not very effective.

Great players have great imaginations!!

Rick Allison
LoneStar Basketball Academy
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David E
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/28 17:57 Hook wrote:
I can't tell you how many times I've seen players practicing a dribble attack or shot off the dribble move with no defender and they expose the ball in ways that even an average defender would be able to "pick".

I have been working with some upcoming sixth and seventh graders for the last few weeks, and a large number of them were initially "rocking the baby" on layups, exposing the ball to an inside defender.

As we worked to eliminate this action, it came up that their AAU coach was teaching them to do this, supposedly to help them generate momentum to get off the floor. (I think.)

I told the players that there were many areas of basketball in which there are many ways to skin a cat, but as far as I was concerned this was just wrong.

Is there any possible justification for swinging the ball across the body during a layup that I have overlooked?

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coachmccormick
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Re:Help with Basketball Practice - 2007/07/28 18:35 I don't believe so. It's a crutch, rather than a useful habit. Even if it was for momentum, it'd be creating as much sideways or rotational momentum as upward force, which could counteract the balance needed to make the shot, since the actual force created would be going away from the basket, if I am visualizing all the force actions correctly. So, no I don't see any good reason to rock the cradle and it's one of the first habits I try to break.

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