Where has the Back to the Basket Game Gone?

Back to the basket basketball is a lost art form.  The ability to use size to your advantage does not exist to the extent it did 20 years ago.  Back in the day you had centers that would dominate the game.  Guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Wes Unseld,  and Shaquille O'Neil could all influence a game with their God given size and their ability to use their size and coordination to their advantage.  There's no debate that these were all world class athletes where the tag "freak of nature" would aptly apply.

However, it wasn't just centers that used back to the basket moves to great advantage, it was great players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Adrian Dantley, and Magic Johnson that realized that adding a back to the basket game to the arsenal would only help them compete.

Nowadays the big men you see are much more skilled at dribbling the ball and shooting from distance.  They play more like guards and seem to be afraid of mixing things up in the paint.  Along with the big men who helped define the NBA, gone is the skill of playing with your back to the basket.  You don't see turn arounds, jump hooks, or general post up play.  This skill was effective not just for bigs but also for smaller players who wanted to take advantage of a size mismatch.  Today, if you're not dunking at the basket or shooting a three your not playing basketball (those analytics).

To people like me who have been watching the game for a while, today's game feels incomplete.  This is why I still like to teach kids how to play with their back to the basket.  It's an invaluable tool to learn and it gives them another option when they need to finish around the basket.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drill: 5v5v5 Fast Break

Image
This is a nice drill that emphasizes a whole bunch of game like situations.  Here is the list:  Fast Break Secondary Break Offensive sets Transition Defense Transition to standard defense Recognizing and attacking odd man opportunities.
Read more

Burpees (HIIT) Bakers Dozen

 Below is a great burpee workout that you can use to challenge yourself.  This challenge is called the baker's dozen.  Below is the rep range for each set and rest intervals between each set. 13 burpees 1 minute rest 12 burpees 1 minute rest 11 burpees 1 minute rest 10 burpees 1 minute rest  9 burpees 1 minute rest 8 burpees 1 minute rest 7 burpees 1 minute rest 6 burpees 1 minute rest 5 burpees 1 minute rest 4 burpees 1 minute rest  3 burpees 1 minute rest 2 burpees 1 minute rest 1 burpee 1 minute rest During the rest period you should be walking and getting yourself ready for the next set.  Don't sit down. Once completed you will have done a total of  91 burpees in about 20 minutes. It should be noted that the balers dozen method to HIIT training can be used doing different types of exercises including mountain climbers, push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, 20 yard sprints and others. If you are in outstanding shape then you can decrease your rest per...
Read more

Layups, Layups, Layups

Image
 When we go to youth games we like watching how the kids warm up.  To us youth basketball is an easy game to coach.  As a youth coach you need to teach your kids how to play good aggressive man to man defense and on the offensive end teach them how to pass and move towards the basket.  In a pass an move offense, layups are so important.  This goes back to our opening statement about watching youth level warm ups.  Most of the teams warming up spend a lot of time shooting shots, but the good ones are always working around the basket.  We've always found it entertaining that youth teams spend so much time working on jumpers and so little time on layups.  In addition, the little time they do spend on layups is spent doing basic layups using the right hand on the right side and the left hand on the left side.  There is so much more to it than this however and kids should be exposed to different types of layups in practice.  No one can predic...
Read more