October 31, 2008
Each week in The Hoop Doctors “Skool for Ballers” we will bring you tips, analysis, or drills on various aspects of the game to help guide your training to be the best damn baller you can be! Don’t forget, being a GREAT baller takes as much work off the court as it does on!
In your quest to become an effective basketball player, one of the things that you will have to work on extensively is your dribbling skill. Dribbling is a skill that when mastered, can greatly enhance any team’s offensive strategy. Here are some tips that can help improve your dribbling skills and use it as an effective offensive maneuver.
Spend lots of practice time dribbling at game speed and preferably in a real playing situation. This will help you be better prepared for an actual game.
Focus on keeping your head and eyes up while you are dribbling. Looking down at what you are doing means that your attention is away from what the other players on your team are doing and whether or not one of them may be wide open.
Try to keep the ball low towards the ground when you are dribbling. This will give you added control when you have to change directions quickly.
Always maintain contact with the ball with your fingertips as opposed to your palms. This will give you more control and power.
Practice dribbling with both hands, paying particular attention to your “weaker” hand. This will allow you to adapt easily to a wide variety of playing situations and to change hands quickly in the heat of the moment in a game.
Dribbling drills and practice is only one part of the equation. Effective dribbling relies in large part on your footwork as well. You can develop your footwork with drills such as jump stops, pivots, and quick changes of pace and direction with the ball.
It is important that ALL players strive to develop their dribbling skills no matter what position they are playing. Guards and small forwards will obviously make the most of this skill, but even centers and forwards who don’t normally handle the ball as much during the course of a game can
also put this skill to good use.
Finally, keep in mind that while dribbling is certainly an effective skill to have in your arsenal, there are times when passing the ball simply makes more sense. Passing is a much faster way to get the ball across or up the court than dribbling it.
To check out The Hoop Doctors other ‘Skool for Ballers’ posts click here. For more great basketball tips and drills information visit 43drills.com today!
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