I find that the traditional wisdom on [tag]basketball techniques[/tag] is a bit stale. Here’s an idea from Chad that has livened things up quite a bit in my [tag]basketball[/tag] practices.
I have done something with my point guards that has seemed to make a difference in the speed at which they get the ball down the floor.
After they are warmed up, I have them individually start from the baseline and sprint at 100% to the free throw line on the other end.( Have them run through the line and not stop as they get there.)
I was timing them with a stopwatch from the free throw line. I had them do this three times and took the best time. This encourages competition between the players as all of them want to have the best time.
Now the kicker–We do it again, but this time they dribble a ball while running the same distance. You will find, as they will too, that their times are slower with the ball. They will try to correct this the second time by [tag]dribbling[/tag] faster, but dribbling the ball harder/faster does not mean that your feet are moving any faster. After this illustration, teaching them how to speed dribble seems to make more sense to them.
We start again from the baseline with instructions to not touch the ball more than three times between the baseline and free throw line. Teach them to “pass it to themselves” in the open court in a fast-break situation. They learn to push the ball away from them at a great distance, and catch up to the ball at a full sprint.
You will see that, with repetition, their times of [tag]sprinting[/tag] and speed dribbling will get closer together.
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