Driving to the Basket: Key Skills and Techniques

Overview

• Coach Conley discusses the essential skills required to drive to the basket effectively.
• Focus on improving driving to the basket as it's becoming harder at all levels.
• Emphasizes the importance of practice and skill perfection.

Key Skills to Improve Driving

1. Strong Ball Handling

• Dribble Hard: Dribbling the ball hard increases control and confidence.
• Pounding the Ball: Practice stationary and full-court pound dribbles to improve.
• Examples:
  • Brunson uses hard pound dribbles to maintain control.
  • Trey Young’s quick ball snaps enhance his handle.

2. Stay Lower than the Defender

• Lower Your Body: Get your shoulder and body lower than your defender to turn corners.
• Displacing the Defender: Helps in creating space and getting to the rim.
• Examples:
  • Curry uses low body positioning to turn corners.
  • Brunson achieves space by getting lower than his defender.

3. Use Straight Lines

• Direct Path to the Basket: Avoid indirect paths to maintain momentum.
• Angle Strategy: Use angles effectively to go through defenders.
• Examples:
  • Doncic takes great angles post-dribble to reach the rim.
  • Mitchell uses baseline drives to maintain a straight path.

4. Be Patient

• Reading the Defense: Avoid rushing; read the defense and space.
• Changing Speeds: Use speed variability to find and exploit open areas.
• Examples:
  • Curry takes his time to assess space before attacking.
  • Utilize patience to create better driving lanes.

5. Have a Counter Move Ready

• One Counter Move: Make an initial move, then read and counter the defender.
• Examples of Counters:
  • Curry uses a spin move in transition to navigate to the basket.
  • Donovan employs a pump fake to avoid blocks.

Importance of Finishing

• Compete to Finish: Focus on scoring, not just shooting.
• Finish with Contact: Improve confidence and open more driving lanes.
• Practice: Work consistently on handles and driving lanes.

Final Thoughts

• Key Takeaways:
  • Dribble hard, get lower than the opponent, and attack in straight lines.
  • Be patient and have a counter move ready.
  • Compete to finish and be determined to score.
• Continuous Improvement: Emphasizes regular practice to improve scoring ability.

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• Coach Conley offers training and encourages feedback for future topics.
• Goal: Help players become better scorers and confident players.