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PostPosted: 20 Dec 2016, 11:30 

Posts: 7
My son is is a 14 year old high school freshman. He's 6'2" and 145 pounds (which I mention because it may be relevant to my question).

He plays shooting guard on his high school's Freshman team. He starts and is typically one of the leading scorers for his team, but almost all of his points are 3s. He's a good 3 point shooter -- he can reliably make open 3s in games and isn't bad when being aggressively closed out. The problem is that well-coached teams recognize shooters, and after my son hits a couple of 3s, the other team puts one of their best guys 100% on him (no help defense) and he tends to get shut down because he's very reluctant to try to drive, even though he knows how.

He's known how to do basic jab step/shot fake/rip stuff for years, and the skills coach we're working with has taught him lots of great moves for getting to the basket. When he plays one on one, he uses them with a lot of success, even against older, stronger, more skilled kids. Against his teammates, he can beat most of the JV kids in one on one, but he's reluctant to try the same moves in 5 on 5. He has not had an and one all season, and when he's started to drive he's pulled up almost every time for a jump shot or a floater. His coaches see him dunking in layup lines and tell him to try to dunk over guys in games (even if he fails completely) just to get used to trying to go up strong, but so far he has not even tried many regular layups all season. He does make offensive rebound tip ins/one handed putbacks and lots of defensive rebounds, so he's comfortable jumping and banging around inside to some extent.

I've tried doing contact layup drills with him using a karate kick target, and he's gotten to the point he can finish through contact. I (and his coaches) have also tried to convince him that it doesn't matter if he makes the shot or not, but to just try driving. He has many short, less experienced/skilled teammates who try to drive a lot and get blocked, so I wouldn't think he's nervous about what his teammates will think.

At the start of the season, he was also very reluctant to dribble the ball at all (even though he's a good ball handler). That's getting much better --- he brings the ball down court like 10% of the time depending on who is playing point guard, and he makes good assists and can dribble out of traps (or pick it up and find an open teammate).

Any suggestions for helping him get over the hump and learn to try to drive?


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PostPosted: 20 Dec 2016, 12:47 

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Have you asked your son why he doesn't drive to the basket? What's going through his head? It sounds like you've done a lot of what I would have suggested, plus he seems to know what to do. Just curious if he sees not driving as a problem or is he comfortable with his game? In other words, if he isn't getting benched, maybe there's no incentive to drive.

I've heard a lot of interesting reasons behind why a player does something a certain way. Had a kid in 7th grade whose shot had one of the highest arches you can imagine. We'd count the seconds before it dropped. Turns out, his shot was blocked a few times, so he wasn't going to let that happen again. Worked on a few fundamentals in terms of being prepared to shoot off the pass adding some shot fakes and the arch slowly came down. Point being, there may be something that happened to your son when driving to the basket a while back and it stuck with him.

I always say this, but if you can afford a few private lessons with a good coach, that might help. Sometimes a good coach (once he/she knows the situation) can tweak a player's game both physically and mentally to help get them over a hump. They can reemphasize the need to be multidimensional out on the court.
.

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PostPosted: 20 Dec 2016, 13:39 

Posts: 7
Yeah, I should have included what I think he's thinking. We've talked about it, and he's said repeatedly that he knows he needs to try to drive. Each game, he says "I need to drive this game." Afterward, he either says "I did try" (by which he means he took a couple of dribbles toward the basket and pulled up for a jumpshot or floater) or "I forgot." I don't want to press him about it too much because I don't want to hurt his confidence or create a bad dynamic.

We are doing private coaching, and the coach is great. He's taught my son some great moves to get to the basket, but he's not doing them in games yet, although he does do them in one on one.

I think part of it may be fear of contact -- my son is taller than most kids on his team, but he's 40 pounds lighter than the next tallest kid, so he may be afraid of getting hurt.

I also think he really wants to score at least 10 and preferably more than 15 points in every game because the coaches seem to expect a lot from him (they are talking to him about playing varsity next year). His 3 is pretty reliable, so he may be reluctant to try something new because he feels like he has a tried and true skill to fall back on.


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PostPosted: 20 Dec 2016, 16:24 

Posts: 900
I was thinking the weight might be part of it, the good news is he's just a freshman. Some time in the weight room and a few extra biscuits might get the momentum going in the offseason and over the summer.

My son is 6'3" and 180lb, but looks lean. Wasn't always like that though. Things turned for him when he began working out on his own. His buddies would comment about how he looked bigger, a few looks from girls and parents throwing in some positive comments fueled his fire to keep working out. That translated into more confidence to drive to the basket. He began to realize not many guys were willing to really go up against him, so that added to the confidence and more drives to the basket.

Any type of physical workout in the offseason will probably increase his confidence overall. Plus, you already know this, there are some big boys as you move up to varsity.

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PostPosted: 21 Dec 2016, 12:04 

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One final thought, at 6'2" 145, he's actually pretty good size for a freshman playing against other freshman. If he was able to drive a few times in a game and see how easy it is to score, he'd probably start doing it more. It's just those first few times.

As a dad, you can only do so much with suggestions and nudges. It's really on the coaches at this point to tell him what they want to see from him in a game. In this case, you almost have to tell him to drive every chance he gets and then reward that. I'm betting he'll figure this out in an upcoming game and see how easy the points are if he's quick. Especially if he's playing against a weaker team defensively, it's a good time to go for it.

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PostPosted: 21 Dec 2016, 13:42 

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Thanks. I'm hoping you're right that he sees it's easy (at least to get fouled) and keeps trying it. We'll see. 4 more games this week, so lots of opportunities.


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PostPosted: 21 Dec 2016, 21:47 

Posts: 26
Does he play ball year round (AAU or Club)?

DId he drive in the past and now doesn't anymore? Or has he always liked to shoot the jumper?


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