Driving To The Basket

How do you get young players to drive to the basket?  I have seen so many young talented ball handlers stop outside and take the jumper rather than drive.  Can you recommend any good drills for this offensive skill?

Coach Dave Areford
West Virginia

Coach,

There are two factors that you must address.  Being a good ball handler doesn't necessarily make you a good penetrator, although generally speaking good penetrators can handle the ball.  I have written in a previous ask the coach question some detail about the technique for making an effective penetration step to the basket.  From my years of experience I believe the biggest reason that players don't feel comfortable penetrating is that they don't bend their knees and get close the floor as they make their first penetration step and they leave the ball behind them by taking a short dribble.  Both of these things can be practiced and improved to give the young player a great sense of confidence in making an aggressive penetration dribble.

Most important I believe in putting the dribble low and behind the defender and teaching your dribbler to sprint after the ball once it is pushed well behind the defender.   The problem that usually arises here is that the young player will normally drag their pivot foot before releasing the ball.  This occurs because they are leaning too far forward with their head trying to gain momentum when instead they should be bending their legs more, keeping the back relatively straight and pushing out immediately after releasing the ball for penetration.

The second factor which may contribute to your player's inability to penetrate may simply be that decision making at this age (10-14) on the court has not fully matured in most players.  They are still learning the game.  Often at this age, penetration results in gang defense by the opponent.  Teammates of a penetrator may stand around and not find the open spots to spot of for a pass off the dribble. I would strongly encourage you to take portions of your offense or fastbreak and break them down to show your penetrator the options they have when they penetrate.  Uncertainty of what to do from penetration will stop many young players from evening thinking, "go to the hole".  

You should also use this practice time to show the receiving players where they should go when a player penetrates from a given position.  If your player has the option of jump shot or penetration and indecision which one would you think they will take. There are certainly other factors including the court sense of the players involved but these two factors: improving the individuals skills, plus providing them options which are clear cut will help them overcome their hesitation to penetrate.

Thanks for asking the Coach!