Handling Ball Screens Like Steve Nash

By Joe Haefner

While watching game 4 of the Bulls-Celtics series, Jeff Van Gundy stated that Derrick Rose needed to handle the switches on ball screens more like Steve Nash.

Towards the beginning of the game, the Celtics were switching on ball screens leaving a bigger, slower post player guarding Rose. Rose was settling for the jump shot or he would try to attack when he was already too close to the hoop to take advantage of his quickness.

When Steve Nash gets a big player switched onto him, he takes a couple of dribbles backwards.

This does a few things:

1. Lures the bigger player out further away from the hoop.
2. Allows the offensive player to gain momentum while dribbling towards the player which makes it easier to blow by the defender or change directions if needed.
3. Gives teammates an extra second to space the floor properly. This spreads the defense out which gives the player with the ball more room to penetrate.

After you draw out the defender, how should you attack the defender?

• If the defensive player drops into the lane, you can use the mid-range jump shot.
• If the defensive player stays parallel and does not move, you can explode straight past them.

• If the defense comes up and puts a foot forward, you can fake an explosion move or inside-out move, then cross the defender over.
• If the help defense collapses, you can kick the ball out to an open teammate.

In the 4th quarter of the Bulls-Celtics game, I noticed Rose started to draw out the defender with a couple of dribbles backwards like Van Gundy had mentioned earlier in the broadcast. I don’t know if he figured it out himself or a coach told him to do it, but it sure contributed to his 12 point explosion in the 4th quarter that helped the Bulls come from behind and eventually squeak out the victory in double overtime.

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Importance of Communication With Your Coach & How It Helped the Villanova Wildcats Reach the Final Four

By Joe Haefner

If any of you have followed the Villanova Wildcats, you’ll know that Dwayne Anderson has played a huge factor in Villanova’s run to the Final Four this year. Despite being an impact player averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game this season, Dwayne barely played in his first 3 seasons at Villanova.

Alan Stein is a Strength & Conditioning coach for the perennial powerhouse Montrose Chrisitan and has trained NBA players such as Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley. One of the many players he has trained and developed at Montrose has been Dwayne Anderson. Alan recently wrote an article about Dwayne Anderson and the reason behind his sudden success this season.

“He worked brutally hard every off season and exercised great communication with the Nova coaching staff on not only his desire to earn playing time, but exactly what he needed to do to earn it. He basically worked as hard as he could to fix the areas he (and the Nova staff) found weak in his yearly evaluation. In other words, he didn’t make excuses or point the finger and he didn’t feel entitled to more playing time… he rolled up his sleeves each and every off season and put in serious work. He was focused and determined.”

So many players want instant gratification and would quit within 1 or 2 years if they’re not getting playing time. This happens because a lot of these players have never faced adversity and were “The Star Player” throughout their whole playing career. When they’re not getting big minutes and scoring a lot, they quit.

Players are not the only ones guilty of this. The North American culture is obsessed with short-term success and has forgotten the long-term approach. Dwayne could’ve easily transferred to a mid-major and been an impact player, but he stuck it out and worked his butt off to get to where he’s at. He didn’t take the easy way out.

John Wooden once said, “Don’t look for big, quick improvements. Look for the little improvements one day at a time. That’s the only way change happens. And when it happens…it lasts”

If you want to play, if you want to improve, and most importantly WANT TO WIN, you need to communicate with your coach. You need to put your ego aside, improve your game, and do whatever your team requires you to do to win.

If that requires you to score 0 points, make the good pass (notice, I didn’t say assist), dive for the loose ball, take the charge, and stop the star player on the opposing team, DO IT!

If it requires you to be patient, work hard in the offseason, sit on the bench, be a great practice player and challenge the players who get the playing time like Dwayne Anderson did for Villanova, DO IT!

If you have this mentality, you’ll not only be successful in basketball, you’ll be successful in the most important game…

LIFE.

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Shooting Tips - Finger Placement & Analysis Paralysis

By Don Kelbick

Question:

Position of the shooting hand before releasing: Is the middle and/or index finger in the middle of the basketball?

Response

To be honest with you, I don’t know where those fingers are. All I want is for your hand to be behind the ball (as opposed to on the side) and in the same place every time. Again, it is a feel thing.

I do not get into the really picky little things, such as what direction your fingers face or making everyone put there hand in the same place. It will be different for different people. I think that the most damaging aspect of any skill, which coaches seem to add to, is “analysis paralysis.” That is a saying where you worry so much about the little things, you examine what you are doing so much that you paralyze yourself and can’t perform the skill at all. I prefer to remain focused on the big picture.

If adjustments need to be made, make them generally. For example, I will say, “put your hand under the ball,” instead of “put your hand here.” I want players to shoot the basketball without thinking of anything. The more minute you get with technique, the more they think about and the less effective they become.

Related Articles & Products

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Developing A Basketball Workout For High School & College Tryouts

By Don Kelbick

Question:

Is there any way that you could send a workout schedule using your drills in order to be ready for some basketball try-outs in April? I’m a 6′2 guard and will go to college because of my shot. I really need to work on dribbling, defense, speed, and quickness in order to be up and going at the college level.

I know I said I’m going to college because of my shot, but I’d still love to continue to get my shot better and better.  I’d appreciate it if you could come up with a workout routine for me, even if it’s the same workout repeated daily or a 3 or 4 day different routine.

Response:

It is difficult to come up with a workout program without seeing you play or knowing how much time you have to work. I can give you some guidelines that might help you.

• You can’t work on everything at once. It is counterproductive because you don’t spend enough time working on anything to improve. Pick a couple of things you want to get better at and develop a plan. In general, it will take 6-8 weeks for any adjustments or new skills to take root. Probably longer in competition, so you have to stick to it.

• After you decide what you want to work on, pick some basketball drills in sets that you think will help you. What I mean by that is to pick 3 drills that are progressions (eg. jump shot, 1 dribble move, 2 dribble move) and that is a set. Work that set several days in a row. Then change to a different set.  Same thought, but different drills so you have some variation in your workout to fight boredom. After using the new sets for a couple of days, go back to the original set. Keep that rotation for a while.   As you gain more confidence and improvement, you can start to put in some new sets to work on different skills.  Remember, it takes more time to develop a skill than to maintain a skill. So as you move on, occasionally throw in some old stuff to maintain those skills as well.

• Be honest with yourself as to how much you practice. If you are alone every time you shoot the ball, you also have to rebound it. So, in reality, if you practice shooting for an hour, you are really spending 15 minutes shooting and 45 minutes chasing the ball. Make use of every minute you are on the court. Multi-task, but don’t mix skills. I use ball-handling drills to stretch out. I also use it to condition. You can use defensive drills as conditioners. That is what I mean by multi-tasking. However don’t mix skills. Don’t practice your dribble while practicing your shooting. There are no moves that will have you put the ball through your legs 3 times, change direction 4 times, spin twice and end up with a jump shot.  Then, the only thing you are practicing is ways to spend time on the bench.

What is “Perfect” Basketall Shooting Form?

By Joe Haefner

Recently, I received an interesting email about Dave Hopla’s shooting form. It was in response to listing Dave as one of the shooting experts that we interviewed in our new Basketball Shooting Guide.

The email stated that Dave Hopla did NOT have great shooting form in the picture that was displayed on our site (you can see the actual picture on the right).

Now in all fairness, this is not a good picture of his actual shooting form.  But this comment brings up a really interesting and important point about shooting the basketball.   

Here’s my response that explains what I’m talking about:

You know what. I thought the exact same thing when I first started studying shooting. I thought Dave Hopla doesn’t have that great of shooting form, but after studying shooting for countless hours and developing our new Shooting Guide, I have came to a NEW conclusion on basketball shooting form…

You don’t need “perfect” or even “great” mechanics to be a great shooter. You need CONSISTENT & REPEATABLE shooting mechanics. If your shot is the same every time, it’s easier to make adjustments.

While I do highly recommend using “good” shooting mechanics, you can also look at Larry Bird’s and Peja Stojaković’s shooting form. Anybody with some knowledge of how to shoot would quickly notice that they had bad shooting form, yet they are arguably two of the top shooters that the NBA has seen in the last 25 years.

Even though, they didn’t have good shooting form, they did have the same shot mechanics on every shot. Now imagine if a coach would’ve said to Larry after he won back to back 3-point shootouts, “Now Larry, your form doesn’t look good so we’re going to have to change it.” As the old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I think us coaches (me included) get a little obsessed sometimes with perfection not only when it comes to shooting, but other areas of the game as well. We want the players to have the perfect defensive slide or the perfect passing technique. We forget that basketball is an art. There is no perfect way to do anything. The real question is “Is the player effective?” which pertains to anything in basketball.

I’m not saying that coaches shouldn’t critique and help players make adjustments to become a better player, we just need to be careful and use logic and rational when doing so. If a kid knocks down 50% of his three point attempts, but his elbow sticks out while shooting, I’m not going to be the one to change it. Now, if you have a kid with bad shooting form that shoots 20% from the field, you should try to help the player make some adjustments to his/her shooting form. That’s where coaching comes into play and where the top coaches/trainers earn their money. They know when to leave players alone and when to offer advice to help them become a better player.

And back to Dave Hopla, the guy makes about 98% or 99% of his shots. I’ve never personally seen his speeches or shooting demonstrations, but I’ve heard they’re simply amazing and very few people in the world if anybody can do what he does. He’s had demonstrations where he’s made 350 of 350 shots while talking to the audience the entire time. If any of my players could do that, I couldn’t care less how he shoots the ball.

Some of the NBA’s best players such as Kobe Bryant have consulted with Hopla. He is also currently an assistant for Washington Wizards. So I do highly value what he has to say.

The end goal is to put the ball in the basket. It doesn’t matter how pretty it looks. I know Dave Hopla does a heck of a job, so I’m more than willing to listen to what he has to say.

What are your thoughts about basketball shooting form?

Announcing our NEW Basketball Shooting Guide and Limited Time Discount: Increase Your Shooting Percentage

By Jeff Haefner

After 3 rewrites, over 1000 hours of research, 6 interviews with shooting experts, and tons of hard work…

We have FINALLY released the NEW Breakthrough Basketball Shooting System and Step by Step Guide!!

In this brand new system COACHES will discover…

• How to improve your entire teams shooting percentage.
• 55 new basketball shooting drills.
• 8 super effective shooting workouts.
• How to consistently develop long range shooters.
• The mental aspects of shooting.
• How to teach shooting fundamentals.
• How to easily break your players out of shooting slumps.
• Tips from the world’s BEST shooters and instructors.

Basketball PLAYERS will discover…

• How to become one of the best shooters in your league.
• 8 super effective shooting workouts.
• The mental aspects of shooting and how to easily get an edge on your competition.
• How to get more playing time.
• How you could earn a college scholarship.
• How to increase your shooting range.
• 18 basketball shooting drills for players.
• Tips from the world’s BEST shooters and NBA instructors.

Limited Time Discount 

You can get this new system at a discounted rate during the next 7 days, so be sure to check it out soon…

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/btshooting.html
 

Tips From the World’s BEST Shooters and NBA Instructors 

The most exciting part about this program is that we have gathered advice and tips from some of the greatest shooting coaches and resources in the world.  We gathered all the best information we could find and compiled it in ONE PLACE.

We interviewed these 6 basketball shooting experts that have unbelievable credentials.  We also reviewed and researched dozens of DVDs and books to make sure we knew everything there was to know about shooting the basketball.

We’re really excited because this allowed us to create a phemonal product that is very unique and unlike anythign you’ve seen before.

The off-season is the best time to improve…

One thing you’ll discover is that the best time to improve shooting is in the off-season.  Whether you’re a player trying to improve your shooting percentage, or a coach trying to improve your entire team’s shooting percentage… most of the improvements happen in the off-season.  We’ll show you step by step what you should do in the off season and during the full swing of your basketball season.

Check out it out and let us know what you think:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/btshooting.html

Basketball Workouts With NBA All-Star Joe Johnson

By Don Kelbick

I had the opportunity to work out with Joe Johnson, NBA All-Star of the Hawks. He was in Miami for a quick vacation. This was what his schedule looked like.

Thursday 3 pm - arrive Miami 5 pm - strength training 6:15 - speed and agility training Friday 10 am - strength training 12:00 - shooting workout (450 made shots) 2:30 - yoga and flexibilty Saturday 9:30 - shooting workout (430 made shots) 12:00 - strength training 3 pm - massage therapy Sunday 10:00 - strength training 11:30 - speed and agility 2 pm - yoga and flexibility

Photo By Chris Nelson

Monday - 11 am depart Miami.

This is a guy who is 26 years old, single, wealthy and on vacation in one of the most decadent atmospheres in the world for the first time. Don’t let anyone tell you that NBA players don’t work hard.

3 Simple Steps to Improve Your Rebounding

By Jeff Haefner

Rebounding is one of the most important, yet underrated skills in basketball. Of all the uncertainties that exist in basketball, the one constant is there will be missed shots. Whether a team shoots well or shoots poorly, often the winning or losing team is determined by what happens to the shots that are missed. The team that gets most of the rebounds gets additional offensive opportunities and that often translates into more points on the scoreboard, which usually means wins.

Becoming a better rebounder is simple and you can get there in 3 simple steps.

1) Conditioning

Basketball is a physical game. Running up and down the court over the course of a game will wear you out. In addition, there is a lot of physical contact. The closer you get to the basket, the more physical it gets. Remember, close to the basket is where most of the rebounds are. The combination of the running that you do during the game and the body blows you take while going after the glass is enough to wear anyone down. Often, rebounding comes down to a war of attrition, whoever is left standing at the end wins. The better condition you are in, the longer you can last on the glass. You will find that being in great condition will allow you to get rebounds at the end of the game that you might not be able to get early in the game.

Conditioning is a great equalizer. A player that is bigger and stronger than you are in the beginning of the game might not be so effective at the end of the game if you are in better condition than he is.

2) Knowledge

Just knowing a couple of things will drastically improve your chance of getting a rebound.

First, know personnel, especially your teammates. If you know other players tendencies, when they shoot and from where, you will greatly enhance your chances of grabbing misses. Knowing when shots will be taken will give you a quicker start to the glass and allow you to get better position than your opponent.

Second, knowing where the ball is going to go will also give you a great advantage over your opponent. The simple fact that 80% of all missed shot rebound at the same or opposite angle should give you a head start on the rebound. What that means is, if a shot is taken from the corner, 80% of the misses will rebound back toward the same corner or over the rim to the opposite corner. Shots taken from the wing will rebound either back toward the wing or toward the opposite wing 80% of the time.

Knowing these two things will put you in great position to collect any missed shots

3) Technique

You don’t have to jump over tall buildings or be stronger than a locomotive to be a good rebounder. You need good rebounding technique.

You don’t have to know a lot of things, only how to swim. What does that mean? A swim move is simple, quick and effective.

This is how to execute a swim move. The objective is to get your inside hip and inside shoulder past your opponent. As your defender either steps to box you out, don’t fight his pressure, use it against him. As he steps out, step inside of him with your inside leg (the leg closest to your defender on the side you want to beat him on). At the same time, use your inside arm (the arm on the same side as your inside foot) and “swim” over the top of his shoulder. It is called a “swim” because it is essentially the same stroke you use when you are swimming in a pool. The “swim” will allow you to get your inside shoulder past your defender. When timed properly, you will find yourself between the basket and your defender and in excellent position for the rebound.

Rebounding is an important part of the game of basketball and it is vital to the success of your team. With these 3 simple concepts you can improve your rebounding and become a significant factor in the success of your team and make you an invaluable asset to any team you are a member of.

Basketball Tips: How to Get a Basketball Scholarship

By Jeff Haefner

Every year, thousands of high school and junior college basketball players compete to get one of the few basketball scholarships that are awarded each year. Here are some basketball tips on how to increase your chances of being selected to receive one of those coveted positions.

Talent and Ability

First and foremost, you have to maximize your basketball skill. Every day you are not getting better, someone else is getting better than you. You have to work and work to become the best player you can be. Work on your skills, be in condition and get stronger.

The jump from high school to college is a big jump. Players are bigger, stronger and more experienced. The game is longer, faster and more physical than anything you have experienced so far in your career. Don’t fall into the trap that you are doing enough to get yourself ready. Without exception, when new college players report for their first workouts they are surprised at how different it is compared to high school. Work to be ready.

The Value of Summer Basketball

Basketball recruiting has changed drastically over the last 15 years. Rules that colleges have to abide by have become more restrictive. The pressure to get commitments from players has resulted in players deciding earlier and earlier on what schools they are going to attend. It is no longer sufficient to be a good player with your high school team. Your senior year in college has almost become irrelevant! Colleges need to identify prospects earlier and earlier in their career. Coaches now go to places where they can identify and evaluate multiple prospects at one time. The places for that have become AAU tournaments and high profile “recruiting summer camps.”

AAU (or Amateur Athletic Union) is an organization that sponsors amateur sporting events. In basketball, they sponsor spring, summer and fall tournaments in multiple age groups. The age brackets are usually 19 & under, 17 & under, 15 & under, etc. The advantage of that system is that you can play up a bracket to get in better competition (a 15 year old can play in a 17 & U tournament but a 17 year cannot play in a 15 & U tournament). The tournaments are usually played during “live” college recruiting periods so college recruiters heavily attend them. If you can find an AAU basketball team in your area and it is an appropriate age bracket it would be well worth your effort to join the program.

High profile “recruiting camps” are basketball camps that are held during the summer that attract high-level players, which in turn, attract college recruiters. Most of these are private camps, not camps owned by universities, colleges or high schools. They usually offer excellent instruction and very competitive games. Call a couple of colleges and find out what camps they attend to evaluate prospects and make plans to attend.

Summer basketball has become the most significant aspect of recruiting. At no other time can a college coach go to one spot and evaluate 300-400 players at one time. If you want to get one of those scholarships, you have to be where the coaches are.

Be Pro-Active

Don’t wait for a college to find you, go find them. If there are schools that you are interested in, contact them early, and let them know of your interest. Visit the campus, invite the coach to come and see you play. Have your high school coach contact the schools you are interested in. Be sure they have the information they need to evaluate you. Things like game schedules, summer schedules, etc. should be sent to all schools you are interested in. Return all questionnaires and comply with all the requirements that they have for acceptance to school.

Take Care of Your Schoolwork

Believe it or not, college coaches want athletes with good grades! Players in college are “student-athletes.” They attend class, write papers, and do research. Coaches really don’t like to take chances on academic risks. Get good grades; take your standardized tests (SATs, ACTs) as early and as often as possible. Unless you are truly a great player, coaches will not wait for you.

To get a scholarship, you have to register for the NCAA Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse. This is the organization that will evaluate your grades to determine whether or not you are eligible to play. Even if you are in junior college, they will go back to your high school grades to determine your eligibility (there are different rules for “qualifiers” and “non-qualifiers” coming out of high school and junior college). Take care of your registration as early as possible.

There used to be a saying, “if you can play, they will find you.” That is NOT true any more!! Being able to play is not enough, now. You have to be out where the coaches can find you.

For more basketball players tips, check out our free ebooks and resources on this site…

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/toptips.html
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/basketballfundamentals.html

A Secret to Chris Paul’s Success - Change of Pace

By Joe Haefner

How does Chris Paul blow by defenders so easily?

I feel sorry for all of the defenders trying to guard Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets as he blows by them for a jump shot or dunk.  I am amazed at the way he finds that 3rd and 4th gear and CHANGES PACE so quickly and effortlessly.

Chris Paul goes from really fast to super fast and he’ll stop at the drop of a dime which is nearly impossible to adjust to as a defender.   That’s why he has asserted himself as one of the top NBA MVP candidates along with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.  

Do you have Chris’s amazing speed and quickness? 

Most likely, you do not.  Don’t worry.  You can still be extremely effective by CHANGING SPEEDS.  Change of speed or pace can make a slow player very difficult to guard.  You think Larry Bird was quick?  If so, think again. 

Larry Bird might be one of the slowest players to play the game, but he still utilized the change of pace and was voted as one of the top 50 NBA players of all-time! Have you ever tried guarding somebody who changes speeds all of the time?  I have and it sucks!  You never know when he’s going to explode by you or slow down and pull up for a jump shot.  You can never relax as a defender!  

How You Can Practice Change of Pace and Become Harder to Guard

With that being said, you do need practice more than two speeds (Fast & Slow).   Good defenders can adjust to this after just a few possessions. Many of the great players have 4 to 5 different speeds to throw the defender off.  I remember watching Mike Conley of Ohio State in the NCCA Tourney in 2007.  I thought he had 6 different speeds and he was never out of control.

In order to practice this you can simply dribble the ball up and down the court.  Do your change of speeds at two to three times up the court.  For example, change speeds at the free throw line, half court, and the opposite free throw line. You can practice different speeds…. 3/4 speed to full speed, 1/2 speed to full speed, 1/4 speed to full speed, and stop to full speed.  Try to minimize the time it takes you to reach that top gear.  This basketball move is also known as the “hesitation dribble”. You can even practice using multiple speeds.  For example, going from 1/2 speed to 3/4 speed to full speed.  Mix it up to portray game-like situations. When you get the hang of this, you can practice at a hoop going in for lay ups and pull up jump shots.  Once, you perfect this, this change of pace will have defenders’ heads spinning.