Basketball is a funny game.  When played well, it looks effortless, almost easy.  Great players make it look as if the casual fan could walk out of the stands and join the game.  It can look that easy.

On the flipside, when the game is played poorly, it can look as ugly as it does effortless.  Turnovers, bricks, discontinuity of motion, all of these things can drive a fan to not want to watch another game.

So what are the elements that create the difference between the effortless and the ugliness?  We believe the answer is found only when you break down the game into its parts.  Effortless basketball begins when the parts of the game are so well trained that when you combine them into a fluid series of actions on the court. i.e. the move, the shot, the pass, it all becomes effortless.  Without the foundation of strong parts, ugliness occurs.    The trick is to break the game into its parts, measure proficiency of the parts, improve the parts that need attention, then put them back together.  It’s what we do for a living.  It’s what every player and program should do to increase W’s.

This entry is about breaking down ballhandling into its parts.  The next in this series will be on shooting.   We will cover more aspects of the game as the season continues.

Four things create great ballhandlers: 1) control of the ball 2) hand speed while maintaining control 3)consistency of the dribble and 4) coordination.

There are certain things that improve each element, and of course we measure for these skills.    For example, control of the ball is improved through muscle memory training (repetition, repetition) and technique (pads and three finger dribbling).  Muscle memory is the dominant element so you have to put in the time – literally tens of thousands of dribbles to build control to a point where you dont think about the ball.   Hand speed is developed through strength in the wrist and technique (pads and three fingers), while consistency is a function of technique (same as above) – which puts the ball exactly where you want it at the precise force, which is built through specific repetitive practice.   Finally, coordination is the element that pulls it all together, allowing a player to do all of these things at once while thinking about something else in the game (like the cat quick defender in front of you).    The BEST way to become a great ballhandler is to work on these parts and develop each of them to great proficiency.  At that point, you can start to work on more complex moves that bring beauty to the game.

We cringe – no – we CRY – when we see young players trying to skip the development of the parts and try to go to the moves before they are ready.  Bad habits are developed, ugliness raises its head.  Cats and dogs start living together, and sheep start to speak.  It is the equivalent of basketball Armageddon to us.   The 94Fifty way is to allow players to very quickly see the parts, measure their skill, and assign very specific training to quickly build the parts to a point where complexity can become the training.

So remember, the sum of the parts, the core skills, will create opportunity for you.   Don’t allow yourself to fall to the temptations of of the devils of basketball ugliness.  Once inside your house, they can be very difficult to exorcise.