Question by ppdiirjf
Hey Coach! I need help so I can be a better dribbler. I need drills and tips. Can you also send videos of them? It’s hard to play ball in South Dakota, especially in the same town where Mike Miller comes from. Its tough so please send me tips!
First of all, just because this NBA player, Mike Miller, comes from your small town, Mitchell in South Dakota, it shouldn’t have anything to do with your performance. If anything, it should inspire you to believe that even small town people can make it to the big leagues.
Mike Miller from Mitchell
Dribbling Doughnuts
The best drill to learn how to dribble is to dribble doughnuts. This is how you do it:
- Start dribbling in the middle of the court
- Now imagine you’re a race car making doughnuts at full speed
- Go around and around
- Keep your head up… do not look at the ball
- change directions
- make small doughnuts… make large doughnuts… get creative
- Add variables (wide dribbling, tight dribbling, between the legs, behind the back)
Killer Cross-Over
Breaking ankles
Once you have mastered all the different types of dribbles with your eyes closed, it’s time to learn the cross-over. If you can master this move, you will earn your spot as a point guard[/kwlink]. It can be used over and over again to fool a defender and make room for you to penetrate, create shooting space, or drive to the hoop. Here’s how you do it:
- While you are dribbling at a normal pace, PRETEND that you are going to accelerate to one side by making a hard dribble to the other hand or even a dribble through your legs.
- Look to that direction or shoulder fake to that direction
- When you receive the ball with your other hand, let the ball bounce up nice and high to further fake out the defender
- NOW… in a split second, dribble to the other side of the defender (the cross-over) and receive it back to the original hand
- Rhythm is everything. It should sound like this: (Normal Pace) Bam… Bam… Bam… (cross-over) Bam-Bam
Watch and Learn
You can get a lot of good ideas by watching videos on [kwlink 3909]youtube. Just type in "dribbling" or "cross-over", try to find some slow-motion crossovers and see if you can pin-point how all the things the dribbler does to fake the defender out of position.
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