Make em do what you want....

Hey Basketball Fans,

Just a personal heads up. This is the start of the intramural program for the girls 5th and 6th graders at my daughter's school. Now I wanted to be more involved with both my daughters sports programs so I am the director of it this year. The reason I am sharing this with you is to let you in on how I am a planner. I was at a 4 day business marketing event this weekend and during the breaks I was outlining the skills and foundational plan to get this program started. Being a good coach is all about being willing to plan.

Because I feel planning is so important I also took the time to do the practice plans for the coaches that are doing the 5th and 6th grade. I did their outline for them. The reason I am doing this is because the girls program at this school has been down and out for the past several years and I want to see it turn around. One of the most important components to turning a program around is building continuity throughout. If everyone is on the same page then we can build a strong program from within. We will see how it goes...

Weekly Basketball Tip: By TJ


Skill: Ball Handling

Drill: Behind the back dribble

Action: - start at one end of the court and jog up
the court dribbling the ball

- after 3 or 4 dribbles wrap the ball around
your back and maintain your dribble with
the opposite hand

- make sure that you wrap quickly around
your back and push it out in front of you
so you can stay in stride


Workout: Dribble the ball behind your back 4 times
every 1 trip up the court
repeat the drill 5 trips up the floor switching
hands after each behind the back dribble

Make 'em do what you want

In this article I want to touch on the importance of making a defender do what you want them to do so you can go where you want to go. This is called dictated the play. Too often offensive players react to what the defense gives them (sometimes you can't avoid this). When an offensive player needs to be able to get to a place on the floor to have a better angle to pass or to get a better shot off or what ever... the offensive player must dictate the play. Let's look at a few examples of how this works.

One of the most important skills any basketball player can have is handling the basketball. If a player can dribble the ball well and control it against any kind of defensive pressure they will be successful in moving around the court. When an offensive player needs to get to the right side of the floor to create a better passing angle for his or her low post player and the defense knows this they better be good with the ball. The key is to not sell that you are trying to get to the right side of the floor. if the defense forces you left- go hard left and make them pay for it. This way they will be less likely to give you the left side. The other thing to do is to use a screen. Set up the defensive player to run them off a screen which allows you to get to the right side. The last thing to do is to act like you are going to go hard to the hoop by crossing over left but immediately pull back and reverse dribble to the right side. None of these options would be open if you didn't have a good handle on the ball. This is why I say you MUST be able to dribble the ball well.

Here is another way to make the defense do what you want them to do. If you have a great shooter on the team and you want to get them open one of the best ways to do so is to dribble at him or her and the defender guarding them. It is a natural instinct for the defender to take a peek and want to help out. this is when the shooter can make a cut away from the defender and get open for a quick shot. The other way to do this is to beat your man off the dribble toward the shooter side of the court. The goal is to penetrate to draw the defense and use a kick out pass. If the defender on your teammate is told to not help out- I guarantee if you beat you man to hoop several times in a row the defensive will change. They will either go to a zone which is great for your shooter or they will start helping on penetration. In either case you are dictating what you want them to do and not allowing them to dictate play.

Finally, I want to talk about facing a zone. Anytime you face a zone (which isn't as popular these days) you want to make more than one player play you so you can get teammates open. If you are a point guard on top versus an even front zone you want to force a double team by the top two defenders then kick to a wing. If you are on a wing you want the top and bottom defenders to adjust to you so you can dump down to a diving post payer or skip to an open wing man. The key to beating zones is making the team overplay so you can fill in the gap and score easy hoops.

The key to getting the defense to adjust to you starts with being a great ball handling team. If you can't do things with the ball that put you in a better position then the defense can shut you down one on one. But if you can handle the rock and force the defense to adjust to you by helping out....YOU WIN- of course you have to knock down open shots.

As always, I love talking shop. The game of basketball is full of skills, techniques, strategies, and tactics and I love sharing mine with you.

Play Hard,

Lee

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