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All posts for the month October, 2012
Everyone knows that bounce passes are good passes to throw inside to a man posting up, or to a cutter going backdoor, or perhaps on a 2-on- 1 fast break, but a lot of players don’t seem to realize that a bounce on the perimeter is a careless pass. It takes longer to arrive and, therefore, gives a defender a better chance for an interception.
Although a lob can be great for a backdoor cut, would you throw it to the teammate next to you on the perimeter even when there is no defender between you? Everyone answers no to that one. Even little kids don’t throw a lob for no reason. Yet, stars often drop a bounce pass to a teammate for no reason.
Don’t do anything for no reason. If there is no one between you and the man you are about to pass to, don’t throw anything other than a crisp, straight pass to his chest.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right? Lobs and bounces are used to throw over or under people; otherwise, don’t use them.
From Dick’s book Stuff
To block out effectively, stay low, keep your feet wide apart, back straight up, and your arms straight out to the side while your hands are up (and just out from the ears).
There are certain advantages to using this position. By being low and wide, you stay tough and are hard to move even by a stronger player. Also, you force the man behind you to jump when you do, or after you do, since jumping for the ball first certainly looks like he is fouling by going over your back.
By keeping your back straight, it is obvious to the referee that he, not you, is fouling. If you bend at the waist as many players do, it often looks as though you have moved under the man behind you and therefore the foul can be called on you. This is especially important if you are the one initiating contact. If you move to the man with your back straight up, the contact will be incidental and not be called. But if you move toward the man with your back bent forward, a bit of forward momentum will carry him over your back, and it will look as though you are guilty of the infraction.
By having your arms out to the sides, you can feel the man on your back with your triceps and you can hold him out without getting a foul called on you—as long as the referee can see your hands in the air.
This is one way of blocking out. It is not the only way, but if you are not given any specific method, this one will serve you well.
Stay low, feet wide apart, back straight, arms out, hands up
The most important point of blocking out is not related to the hands, the arms, the back, the knees or the feet.
The crucial factor in blocking out pertains to the position of the head. The head must want to block out. The head must want to get in someone’s way. The head must, as a matter of habit, enjoy getting in someone’s way every time a shot goes up.
In drills, it is very difficult to block out well. Offensive rebounders have an assortment of clever spins and fakes and turns that are hard to handle. However, in games, these are hardly ever used. Hardly ever. Almost never. Or so seldom they don’t even need to be considered. In games, what needs to be considered is attempting to block someone off the board every time. If you attempt to block someone off, most likely you will because in games there is rarely much time or effort put into faking and jockeying for position. The huge majority of offensive rebounders do nothing at all; the good ones go straight for the ball with no fakes and no effort to spin once they are cut off, and there are one or two guys in the world who hit and spin and fake and change direction—and these guys are superstars.
Go back and read how many superstars there are in offensive rebounding. One or two in the world and maybe a little guard somewhere that no one knows about because he’s too small to get the ball even though he often gets to it. The point is, there aren’t many “hitters and spinners” that you need to worry about. Your primary concern needs to be with getting into the every-time habit of attempting to block out. Why?
When you review game film after game film, regardless of the level of play, you find that the majority of offensive rebounds are gotten not by clever “hitters and spinners” but by players who simply move to the ball without anyone ever getting in their way and without anyone having made any attempt to get in their way.
Technique is not crucial. Do it the way your coach tells you, or if he says nothing, do it the way it is done in the line drawing. But do it. Do you understand? Do it.
The times you let your man get an offensive rebound will very seldom be when he outfakes you. Usually, his rebounds will come when you simply forget to block him at all.
From Dick’s book Stuff
Another name for the bent-elbow pass might be “the greatest pass in the world,” and yet few players use it. By using this pass, you can get the ball past a defender immediately, every time, without delay, without having to fake a lot or waste valuable time.The pass is begun by putting the ball at your side, just above the waist, and then leaning a bit to that side and stepping to that same side. Your arm is not extended but bent. And bent is the key. Because then all you have to do is check the defender’s hand on that side. If no hand is there even with the ball, you throw the bounce pass right past him. If the hand is there, you roll your wrist over and flip the ball just over your opponent’s ear. The pass, though it doesn’t sound like much, is like magic, because it works again and again. A defender simply can’t get his hand up to his ear in time. In fact, the motion of having a hand beside the ear is so unnatural that there is usually room to get the ball by his head, even if the defender has anticipated your pass.
The key is the bent elbow. If you extend your arm and cannot throw the bounce pass, you have to cock your arm for the pass over the ear, which gives the defender time to react. But if the fake is made with the elbow bent (with the arm in a cocked ready-to-throw position the whole time), the pass over the ear can be thrown immediately and won’t ever be blocked.
The usefulness of this pass can not be overemphasized. This is a weapon every player needs, but even most good players don’t have. Guards especially will find this pass magical for getting the ball to the big man inside at the split second it ought to arrive.
This pass can be learned in a few concentrated minutes and used against anyone over and over for a lifetime. This pass is a great, great weapon. Be attentive to the details—there aren’t many, -and learn to throw it and its value will prove itself a thousand times. This book has no more useful piece of advice. The world is filled with good players who have trouble passing a ball by a defender. With this pass, your troubles are over.
From Dick’s book Stuff
Good players beg for the ball, not so much with their mouths (though they do sometimes shout) as with their body movements and facial expressions. Good players want the ball, and that want is obvious to whoever has it.
The average fan would likely say that all players want the ball, and they do, but not like good players want it. Good players want it in a way that puts them always close by, always “popping out,” always looking at the guy with the ball with a sort of desperation, as though two points would be automatically marked on the scoreboard just by completing the pass.
This whole desperate begging business would really seem like some sort of nuisance except that mediocre players don’t—can’t—do it, too. You have to be a good player to know how to beg with your body and your eyes and the muscles in your face. Good players don’t have to say a word, but everyone knows a beggar when he sees one.
Do you beg for the ball? Or are you usually out on the periphery, hoping the ball comes to you? There is a huge difference between begging and hoping.
From Dick’s book Stuff
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