The Art of Dribbling

Outside of shooting the basketball, dribbling the basketball may be the most important fundamental skill that a player can learn.   If you can't dribble to spots on the floor you just won't be as effective a basketball player as you can be.  We have all witnessed the great spot up shooters who when they get the open look they will hit the shot.  We have also witnessed these same shooters being easy to stop because their game is one dimensional.  If you add a dribble game to your spot up shot then you are now tougher to guard. 


But what makes a good dribbler?  I've seen a lot of kids go thru dribbling drills with flying colors only to be ineffective when they dribble in games.  This is because their dribble is too loose.  In action you can see they are exposing their dribble to easily.  When I say exposing it, I don't mean that they aren't protecting it but rather just by looking at them dribble you can see their dribble is too loose and slow.


What makes an effective dribble?    How can you improve your dribbling?



What Makes an Effective Dribble
There are 3 qualities that all good dribblers have when they dribble.  All 3 of these qualities help the player minimize the amount of time the ball is out of his hands.  When the ball spends more time in the hands of the dribbler the more controlled the dribble is.  Below are the 3 qualities:

1. Range of dribble - This section covers two points.
• Keep your dribble low -  This is one that most coaches will stress in practice.  When in traffic or under pressure you should never have the dribble go above your waist and the lower the dribble the better.
• 360 dribbling - This one is not as obvious as keeping the dribble low.  What I mean by 360 dribble is that a good dribbler will be able to dribble the ball in front of him, to either side of him, behind his back, between his legs etc.  It covers all locations around the ball handler where he may be required to dribble the ball.  If you notice young kids who are first learning the game, they are only comfortable dribbling the ball in front of them.  Even when you teach them a crossover, the crossover is basically an alternating hand dribble in front of the body.  It is important as a coach that you improve this range for kids to become better ball handlers.  They need to feel comfortable handling the ball in different locations.
2. Semi-carry - the "semi-carry" is my own catch phrase for what many of the best players in the world learn when dribbling.  This point of the dribble is when the dribble touches the players hand and it seems like the ball stays in his hands for that extra moment.  You can see this action in effect on a crossover dribble.  On a good crossover a player will bounce the ball from one hand to the other and when the ball arrives in the second hand it almost seems like the dribbler is catching the ball for a brief moment.  As your working on this point remember that putting your hand underneath the ball is illegal and considered a carry.  Putting the hand on the side of the ball is not illegal however and allows you to have more control of your dribble.
3. Force dribble - the last point on what makes an effective dribbler is the amount of force that the dribbler uses to  pound the ball on the floor.  The more force the dribble has, the quicker it will bounce back up to the dribbler's hands.  This will minimize the amount of time the ball will be out of the dribbler's hands.

How Can You Improve Your Dribbling
Now that I have introduced the 3 keys to improving your dribble I want to explain what you can do to improve your dribbling.  In a nutshell there is no secret.  It's all about repetition.  Keep doing the dribbling drills you do but always make sure that you stress the 3 points mentioned above.  Always make sure you keep your dribble low, get used to having your hand in the semi carry position (on the side of the ball), practice force dribbling, and dribble the ball in different areas around your body.


Keep practicing all the various dribbling moves with the above in mind and master all of them (with your eyes up and not looking at the basketball) and you will see your dribbling skills improve.




To end this post I'll include a video available on Youtube showing Kyrie Irving and his amazing ball handling.  Notice how he applies all 3 elements that I spoke about in this post to his dribbling. 

Note: Not many of us will get to the level of Kyrie Irving but think of the fun we can have trying!!!