To view this video, click on this link: Fundamental Ballhandling Drill (Video)

As always, if you have any drills please share them in the comments section below.

See you on the court.

Rich Stoner
Elite Basketball Training, LLC

Throughout the basketball season my assistant coaches and I have many opportunities to discuss basketball.  Not just our basketball team and the players on it, but other high school basketball teams and players as well as college and pro teams and their personnel. 

This season,  I have a pretty talented backcourt and this weekend at our basketball team’s pre-game shoot around, I spent some time talking to my guards about their shot selection on their drives to the basket and when they get into the lane.  The discussion was mainly on finishing around the rim based on different defensive situations.  The purpose was to get them to understand when to go all the way to the basket, when to take a pull up jumper, when to use a jump stop, and when to use a step back jumper, etc. 

This type of decision making is all part of basketball skills training and is worked on in all our Elite Basketball Training sessions.  Finishing around the rim is a skill that needs to be practiced through drills and recognized through playing and watching basketball games.  In order for them to see what I was talking about in a real game situation, I told my guards, to watch Villanova’s mens basketball team.  Villanova’s guards posess great ability to make the correct choices (shots) when driving to the basket and getting into the lane.  Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher are two of the best in the country at their position and Jay Wright is one of the best coaches in the country when it comes to developing his guards. 

As I was telling them this, it occurred to me that perhaps today’s players do not watch as much college basketball as I did when I was growing up or currently do now.  So when I explained this scenario to my long time assistant and a coach who has about triple the years of basketball coaching experience I do, he mentioned that he felt that today’s players were not students of the game like we used to be or currently are.  Sure they might watch some games here and there, but if they do, are they really taking notice of how the players play? 

On the surface, it would appear that today’s players do not take notice of the game’s nuances; how the players cut, how they set up to shoot the basketball, how they drive to the basket and finish at the rim.  If this is truly the case, then they are not students of the game, and this is most unfortunate.  In fact, it is a direct reason why the basketball acumen of many of today’s basketball players has dropped considerably.  A low basketball IQ can lead to poor on court decisions not just when driving to the basket, but in any on court situation.

Consequently, I encourage all of you in the Elite Basketball Training community, as part of your basketball skill development, start taking in more basketball games.  Doing so will help players and coaches once again become students of the game, learn as much about basketball as they possibly can, and increase their basketball skills and IQ.

Are players today students of the game?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Purpose of the Drill:

The purpose of this drill is to work on various double and single moves off the dribble while either finishing at the rim or taking a pullup jumper.

Instructions:

The player will attack the first chair and use a double move (ex. double crossover, between the legs crossover, etc.). They then attack the second set of chairs with a single dribble move and finish at the rim or with a pullup jumper.  Repeat on the opposite side.

Points of Emphasis:

On the double move, set your defender up with the first move and then make the second move quickly. Make sure the player is low going around all chairs. Try to get their shoulders as low as the top of the chair. Finish high either at the rim or on your jumper. Use a variety of finishing moves and attack moves.

Motivation/Teaching Tips:

Make a set number of shots on each move before moving onto the next one.

As always, if you have any variations of this drill that you know or any other drills that you feel would be beneficial let the Elite Basketball Training community now about them in the comments section below. 

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

Elite Basketball Training, LLC

In the video below, you will see several sequences of one of the agility ladder drills that we did this weekend.  In the drill, the player is working on his quick feet agility as well as attacking moves, and finishing off the dribble. 

Have a look and let me know what you think, and don’t forget to add some of your own variations in the comments section so that we can all learn.  Thanks.

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

One of Coach Eastman’s main concepts that he feels should be included in every skill building workout is weak hand devlopment.  Working on this skill in a variety of ways will allow players to pass, dribble, shoot, and finish with their weak hand.  This can be done in a variety of ways, but one of the more basic ways is seen in the video below.  This video will show you how to incorporate weak hand development into a workout for beginners.  There will be videos to follow really soon on more advanced weak hand development drills, but if any of you know of some other ways to work on your weak hand please let the Elite Basketball Training community know about them by responding in the comments section. 

Train hard, be efficient, and I will see you on the court.

Rich Stoner

Categories: Ballhandling / Dribbling  Offensive Moves  
Ages: All Ages  Youth  Middle School  High School+  

Purpose of the Drill:

The purpose of this drill is to allow players to work on creating space while using their back-dribble and then change directions.

Instructions

• The player will attack each chair off the dribble, one after the other, at full speed.
• As they approach the chair, they should use their back-dribble to create space for themselves as the chair represents a defender.
• They will then change directions with a change of direction move (crossover, between the legs, behind the back, etc.) and attack the rim for a finish.
• They then repeat the process at each chair.

Points of Emphasis:

• Attack at full speed. Not doing this, will defeat the purpose of using the back dribble.
• Push off the front leg in order to create more space for themselves.
• Work on attacking with both hands.
• Stay low in the backdribble and attack off the change of direction quickly.
• Work on finishing at the rim and shooting the jumper off the dribble.
• You can even incorporate a post player into this drill to allow the guard to drop off a pass to them.

Motivation/Teaching Tips:

• Use a prescribed number of made shots before moving on to the next chair.

Purpose of the Drill:

The purpose of the this drill is to apply pressure on the ball handler in a full court situation by forcing the ball handler in the direction that you want him to go. It also focuses on closing out in a full court situation and containing the dribble.

Instructions

Have the defender pass the ball to the ball handler and close out on him.

 

• As the player is closing out on the ball handler, it is one on one live to half court.
• The defensive player is zig zagging the offensive player.

• As the player is closing out on the ball handler, it is one on one live to half court.
• The defensive player is zig zagging the offensive player.

• Once at half court, the offensive player now turns and passes to the new ball handler and closes out on him, thereby becoming the new defender.

Points of Emphasis:

• Keep your ball handling low and quick.
• Change speeds and directions effectively while handling the basketball.
• Having active hands and active feet as you guard the ball handler.
• Turn the ball handler at least twice before half court.
• As you approach half court, force the ball handler toward the sideline. Do not allow him to come down the middle of the court.
• Sprint to your closeout. First steps are large then choppy feet as you approach the ball handler. Your feet should be heard.
• Closeout on the defender in a low, athletic, and balanced position with active hands in order to deflect passes and active feet in order to move with the ball handler.

Aside from training with sandbags, another great way to build stronger hands is to incorporate smaller medicine balls (4 or 6 pounds) into your basketball training workouts.  Playing catch with these size medicine balls will build grip strength because they are small enough to catch in your hand but large enough and heavy enough to make catching them difficult. 

Start by just tossing the medicine ball up and catching it with your elbow and forearm horizontal to the floor (like you would have your guard arm up while handling a basketball) and palm facing down and out.  This will challenge your hands to really grip the medicine ball as you catch it and force you to keep your guard arm up (anther common mistake that novice ball handlers make).  Do not catch the medicine ball under hand!  This is too easy and defeats the two main purposes of the drill: building grip stregnth and getting your guard arm up.  As you progress through this drill, the next step in this series would be to pound the basketball while executing the toss and catch with your opposite hand.  Once again, make sure that you are catching the ball with your arm up and palm facing out.  You could also have a partner toss you the medicine ball while you are dribbling the basketball.  This is a little more challenging since the medicine ball is now travelling a greater distance towards you for you to catch.  Finally, execute a change of direction move such as a crossover, a between the legs move, or a behind the back move while the medicine ball is in flight.   This will make the drill even more of a challenge because you now have to focus on the change of direction move as well as the medicine ball catch.  (These last two progressions that I mentioned are viewable in the video below).

If you have any other ideas on how to incorporate the smaller medicine balls into you basketball training workouts please let us now in the comments section.

A ball handling drill that can be used during your basketball training to help keep your head up is dribbling a basketball while tossing a tennis ball to yourself and catching it.  This drill requires extreme concentration and focus on the tennis ball in order to catch it, so there is no way that you can look down at the basketball while you are dribbling it.  Start this ball handling drill off by simply standing in place, pounding the basketball with one hand, and tossing the tennis ball up and catching it with the other.  The next step would be to add a change of direction dribble (ie. a crossover, between the legs, behind the back, etc.).  So stay in one spot, toss the tennis ball up, do a crossover dribble, and catch the tennis ball with the other hand.  The third step after you have mastered the first two would be to add movement.  Going full court using a zig zag pattern dribble the basketball and when you change direction with the basketball, toss the tennis ball up and catch it with the other hand.  You can and should use all your change of direction moves with these drills.  The final two steps would be to add double moves (double crossover, behind the back crossover, behind the back between the legs, double between the legs, etc.), and then double moves with movement. 

These final three steps can be seen in the video below where the player is first going full court zig zag  with a single move while tossing the tennis ball to himself.  Then he does a stationary double between the legs while tossing and catching the tennis ball.  Finally, he does the double between the legs move while dribbling full court.

When we train for ball-handling, things are no different.  There is always a series of fundamental ball-handling drills that my players start off with in order to  improve their base.  These drills usually consist of finger tip control, figure eights, circles, pounds, cross-overs, dribbling figure eights, push-pulls, etc. and they can be done for either a set amount of time or for a predetermined number of reps.   

Below is one of the fundamental ball-handling warmups that my players use before beginning their full court dribbling series.  The warmup only takes about five minutes and is great for building finger tip control, grip strength, balance, posture, and keeping their head up.  All of these are essentials to being a great ball-handler.