Coach ,

As the summer is getting close to end and school begins, we are all excited to start our individual workouts and help our players develop before we start our preseason practices. 

We all hope most of our players worked on their game and their body and are ready to go to war this season. However, a lot of players tend to build bad habits during their AAU summer circuit and tend to over-dribble and hesitate to aggressively attack the rim and create an open shot. Therefore we absolutely must keep working on their efficiency with the ball, teaching them the right habits of attacking the rim with as few dribbles as possible.

Today, former Oklahoma City Thunder Assistant Coach Vin Bhavnani will be going over two micro-skills that can elevate your players' ability to drive and finish. 

The Drop 

The key here is to get in the position and attack. We will go over very detailed footwork off the dribble that players can use to shift their defender and create a gap to drive to the rim or go for an open jumper while focusing on using as few dribbles as possible. 

This “step” is extremely important, it helps us to use our back foot to be ready to burst and adds an extra explosiveness into our drive, we need to have the proper ball positioning - “in the pocket”.

The Drop 

The Drop 2

This is another great example of The Drop. Even though KD goes between the legs, his foot positioning is extremely on point, The Drop position, ready to explode to the rim. 

The Drop 2

Finishing

Two Feet Gather

Now let’s talk about finishing. The reason we like this two-foot gather is that it is more translatable for smaller guards and wings at the middle school and high school level. You can see LeBron getting really low, gathering his steps while protecting the ball, and going up for a close-up shot. Take a look at the detailed footwork off the cut. 

Two Feet Gather

Two Foot Gather Into Hop

Just like the previous finishing move, we can see how LeVert goes to the rim and is able to finish off two feet against contact. 

Two Feet Gather Into Hop

Both of these moves are great for any player in high school and middle school since all players have to do is to protect the ball and have the right footwork, and don’t have to be the most athletic to be able to withstand the contact. 

Even though these micro-skills are very basic, mastering the fundamentals is always the key to any successful offensive development  

Always exciting to add a drill or two that focuses on proper footwork during both driving and finishing and watch how they can become more efficient in attacking the rim. 

Hope you are excited for this upcoming season as we are,

Always keep improving,

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