for me when i was coming through college i mostly played the shooting guard

position so i was mostly off the ball um you know receiving passes and i had a
great point guard that i played with at davidson that you it was my setup man and
he always found me when i was open but there came a time where he left school um
after he graduated and i had to make the transition over to being a full-time point
guard um still being a shooting threat and a scoring threat but really having to
work on my ball handling and and becoming a much more efficient ball handler being
able to create space being able to have that control of the basketball to still
have a quick release when i needed to shoot the basketball and also being able to
set other people up and always having the ability to to be a threat in those three
areas and so i spent a lot of time working on my ball handling skills and the the
mechanics of it the details of it and being able to use those options to help me
become a better a better shooter because i feel like i'm i'm more connected to the
ball than ever no matter what position you play on the court there's going to be
times where you have to handle the ball and for me getting from point a to point b
and having that control over the basketball is so important to being a extreme
threat and a very hard person to guard on the basketball court doesn't mean you
have to have all those bells and whistles and tricks and all that kind of stuff but
just being able to have control of that basketball and knowing no matter what move
you try or where you try to get on the floor that that ball is going to be
connected to you is so important

the keys to becoming a great ball handler in your body position are very similar to
those of you know being a great shooter because your foundation is the same so that
you're always you know ready to shoot it at a moment's notice so we always want to
keep our nose behind our toes we want to have um you know our base really loaded uh
we don't want to have our our back arched over like this so we're off balance we
want to be able to be able to see the whole floor so i'll talk about nose behind
our toes when i have our hips loaded and we want to be able to dribble away from
our feet we don't want to have those those situations where the ball is going to
knock off your feet and you're going to lose your rhythm and your balance so we
always want to have that ball away from our feet in a very solid position i'm in
one position right now obviously that doesn't happen in the game but the foundation
is still the same no matter if i'm moving laterally straight forward or back or if
i'm in a static position

so the key to all that is balance uh we want to be able to to really work on what
it feels like to move the ball around our body from a static position so that when
we are moving in a game-like situation that ball is moving at the same speed as our
body is and we are always in balance and always ready to change direction always
ready to be shot ready always having control of the basketball at all times so we
work on that by being in a solid athletic position nose behind our toes hips
loading i can always just dribble out here i can pound the ball into the ground
when i'm talking about doing between the legs move i want to be able to work on
turning my shoulders and moving the basketball around my body as opposed to moving
my feet and becoming a less efficient dribbler so i can work on that by just
keeping my feet still pounding the ball going between my legs so we always want to
have that ball on a string and being able to do whatever you want to do with it

we like to teach having your the basketball come up somewhere between your knee and
your hip which coincidentally is about the same space and the same height that you
need to get into your shot pocket so we don't want to dribble too low down here
having to reach for it we don't want to dribble too high but there's so much time
in between you know the ball being in your hand and the ball being on the floor
there's that really really cool sweet spot that you can find somewhere between your
knee and your hip that you can get that basketball bounce into and i can also get
shot ready from there at any moment's notice

becoming a great dribbler is centered around mastering the three simple dribble
moves that everyone should have in their arsenal at every time we talk about the
crossover we talk about between the legs we talk about behind the back those three
moves are the foundation for any combination that you want to put together any
footwork that you want to have any way that you want to create a shot or create
space can all be based off of those three dribble moves and mastering what it feels
like to have that ball moving around your body in those different patterns all
those come from being in a solid position keeping our nose in the center of our
body i never want to be leaning from side to side out of balance and shifting like
that i want to be able to have everything centered and have that ball moving as
fast as possible and under control around my body so we start we do the crossovers
is here we keep everything centered the ball is moving we're between the legs my
shoulders are moving and throwing the ball between our legs and on the behind the
back we want to make sure it's almost the same drill and the same feeling of
movement as a crossover i'm just doing it behind my back here i don't want to have
to be able to wrap it like this or do any of that because that's it's much less
efficient to be able to move the ball from side to side and keeping everything
stacked and everything centered and everything in balance from all these dribble
moves i can always get to my shop pocket whenever i want to so keeping everything
the same if i'm in the crossover position at any time i can get into my shop pocket
no matter if it's at the right hand or left hand going between my legs i can always
keep it here and even on the behind the back you might seem like it's a long way to
get into my shot pocket but if i have everything under control and my body's in the
right position i can always hit a moment notice bring it here and keep everything
stacked keep everything solid and keep everything

fast when i'm in a game and i'm sizing up my defender trying to figure out how i
want to create space or set somebody else up for a pass or you know driving to the
lane to finish or even you know knock down a jumper 99 of the time it's all based
on one of those three moves or a combination of all three um so it seems very
complex at times but at its core it's very simple mastering that between the legs
that cross over that behind the back and making sure the ball is on a string and on
a rope attached to these hands the key to becoming a confident ball handler is all
about having intensity and aggressiveness and power behind your dribble we want to
have as minimal amount of time with that ball in the air it either needs to be on
the ground bouncing or needs to be in our hands so that we have full control over
the ball and we allow ourselves to have the upper hand and the control over where
the defender is for me i never worry about where the defender is or where his hands
are because i know i have control the basketball it's gonna be really hard for him
to catch up to me changing hands from right to left with a hard crossover or hard
between the legs or heart behind the back alternately if i do it as a soft dribble
and that ball is spending a lot of time changing hands and a lot of time in that
space in between that's plenty of time for that defender to be able to size it up
either get a deflection get a steal or change up the rhythm of my dribble because
i'm worried about where he is so when you're thinking about becoming a better ball
handler you should focus on one thing knowing that the harder that you dribble that
basketball and the more intensity that you put behind each bounce will allow you to
be a lot better you know suited to make those combination moves to um put together
all that footwork that you need to have the softer the dribble the harder it is for
those things to happen to happen with rhythm and to happen with flow and to
actually be able to help you create space on the basketball floor so don't be
afraid to make mistakes don't be afraid to lose the ball when you're practicing
because you want to go as hard as you can to challenge yourself to really
understand what it feels like to control that basketball this is a good way to
start every workout just remember that everything is a progression start simple
keep your hips loaded well balanced and drive the ball hard into the ground keep
the ball outside of your feet i'll usually start by doing 20 on each side then six
on each side then two then one on the crossover note how little my nose is moving
it's moving just a little bit but not enough to shift my weight from one side of my
body to the other
remember on these dribbles you always want to keep your eyes up never looking at
the ball

on the between the legs there's minimal shoulder turn it's okay if you pick your
heel up a little bit when you're going between your legs drive the ball under your
hamstring not under your butt to make it travel the shortest distance possible and
on the behind the back you're not wrapping and you're actually not going behind
your back you're just going right underneath your hamstring the ball is just moving
side to side just like a crossover just behind the knee stay seated in your hips
don't reach for the ball see how my offhand is just hanging there waiting for the
ball and the ball finds it don't reach a good way to practice these dribbles is to
string them together in a combination

try doing each six times then each two times then each one time

when you're thinking about the details of of ball handling the best way to check
yourself is to ask yourself why you're dribbling as if if i'm in this position can
i shoot from this position can i take that crossover move and turn it right into a
shot ready position and and get into uh into a perfect release if the answer is no
then you need to readjust yourself and readjust your body to be able to make that
correction so some of the mistakes that some players make when they're dribbling
the basketball is they get a little bit lazy with their feet they get a little you
know they lose the details and and your balance and your body positioning and it
creates a much larger distance for the ball to have to travel which when you have
you know that that time in the game when you create a little bit of space and you
have to get that ball in that shot pocket if i'm in this position and doing these
dribble moves and having to bring the ball back around and then shuffle my feet to
get back in the shot pocket it's going to take entirely too long for you to get
that shot off so if i'm here i'm doing crossover dribbles and i'm losing focus on
where my body is it just seems how loose the basketball is and i'm not really ready
to at a moment's notice get the ball here into my shop i can't shoot from this
position so we always want to keep our feet underneath us as close to shoulder
width apart as we can keeping everything intact and at any moment i can bring it
into the shot pocket and knock down that shot here brandon's dribbling with the
ball inside his feet eyes down and dribbling softly you want the ball outside your
feet eyes up and a hard dribble here he's got his nose outside his body he's
leaning on one leg dribbling too low and dribbling softly this is called palming
the ball you don't want to dribble with just the palm of your hand this is what we
call moving your body around the ball not the ball around your body

you see brandon's nose is turning and moving outside the frame of his body his feet
are too wide and it's really hard to move athletically when you're moving the ball
like this he's driving the ball too far back under his butt instead of under his
hamstrings and dribbling way too high off the ground here look at brandon's
shoulders you don't want to turn your shoulders too much when driving the ball
between your legs keep that shoulder turn minimal and efficient here he's shuffling
his feet which makes it hard to be explosive and hard to get up into your shot keep
those feet stationary when practicing these moves

don't bend your knees inward keep your lower body in a strong athletic position and
don't lean backwards to chase the ball