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Finishing Footwork – 10 Phases

On all finishes, get the ball high and outside to your power pocket for your gather. Meet the contact early and with physicality. Attach to the contact, and drive through it to create space. Hold your line, don’t be pushed wide or run away from the defender! You control the contact, don’t let the contact control you.

We need be teaching a “Second Bump” drive mentality. Create first bump on your drive through the defender’s hips, and second bump on your finish. 

Also, players have to get comfortable going fast out of moves to attack the basket. Drop your hips and shoulders and dive forwards as you drive. Get low and full sprint forward. 

Early on, we simply want to teach players to get comfortable playing off of two feet in the paint. NOT that this is the only option, but we do have to develop this. Our whole offensive philosophy revolves around being able to get into the paint and play on balance and score or make great decisions. 

Stride Stop Back Pivot (Hook Shot or Jump Shot)

Drive into a two foot gather – one foot forward, one foot back. Ideally you want to generate contact with the defender as they start to cut you off. Gather with wide feet, and then whip around with a spin pivot off of your back foot (the one furthest from the rim and defender), to create space from the defender. You can finish with a shot or baby hook/floater.

Spin Move

Plant your inside foot across the face of the defender (towards the outside), and take a pound dribble as this inside foot hits the ground. Then you’re going to spin for a layup. You must change directions on the spin. You want to think dribble into the spin to get the timing right. And make sure you pull the ball backwards after that last dribble – let the ball pull you backwards into your new direction on the spin, don’t pick it up too early.

Step Through

Attack and land with square feet, facing the rim. You want to start your shot fake while you are still in the air on your gather/jump stop. That means eyes to the rim as early as you can, and land with the ball fully lifted into a shot fake platform. Land with wide feet, and your weight fully on your outside foot. Then, push off the outside foot hard to front pivot step across the face of the defender and score it.

To make your step through explosive, yank the ball up and across, towards where you are stepping, in order  to generate extra momentum. Remember, you can run through this finish, picking up your pivot foot, just as long as you do not put it back down prior to releasing the ball.

Euro-Step

The shortness and sharpness of that first step so that it fully sells the idea that you are going in that direction, but doesn’t over extend you to where you can’t push off back the other way.

The shoulder’s need to aggressively turn as you make the final push off. 

Giannis Punch Jab Euro (sometimes called Inverted Euro)

The first video is a good guide to the move. Understand that if you time the sharp dribble with the jab step across, then you have two more steps out to finish. You have options.

One key is as you approach, slow down. Then, take a pound dribble in one hand, and jab the other way with the foot opposite of the ball. The ball and foot need to hit at the same time. After the pound dribble and opposite foot jab, pick up the ball, push off sideways with your jab foot and go two hard steps to the side where your pound dribble was. 

Swing Step

Let the momentum of your last dribble carry your momentum into the swing step. You have to change directions in the swing step. If you do not, you will run straight through the help defender.  

Pro Hop

Attacking a help defender that is in front of you, you’re going to step across the face to the outside of the defender with your inside foot. While you step across like this, you need to get your whole body leaning back the other way towards the inside.

You need to take a pound dribble that hits when your cross step hits the ground. Let the momentum of this pound dribble carry you up and across into your move as you cross the face of the defender, and this momentum has to fully turn your shoulders so that your back is turned to the defense once you go back inside.

On X-Hop, you’re going to power hop sideways off this inside foot to change direction, back across the face of the defender. On X-Slice you are going to keep full sprint momentum as you change direction, pounding the ball and letting the momentum carry you up and sideways.

As a coach, it’s good to get players to work on Pro Hops into different pivots too.  

Kyrie 2 Foot Slice Gathers

This finishing footwork starts at the 1:35 mark of the video. 

Rim Flow (Interior)

This footwork is so that when we catch a dump off pass we don’t have to settle for an 8 foot jumper. Instead we can instantaneously get on the rim before our man can recover. Classically from the short corner areas, this is where the player would push off the back foot and reach forward with the front foot, toes towards the rim, as they catch the pass (NOT after they catch). Everything keeps forward momentum as the back foot whips around and they “close the door” with their shoulders. No dribbles needed. 

There would be an additional option to take a pound dribble as the back foot comes around, and then hop further to the other side of the rim.

Split Catch

Footwork for perimeter catches to quickly attack an off balance defender on a closeout. As you catch the ball you land in the diagonal split stance similar to what you would dribble into on a Hezi/Drop-Go. Create forward momentum into landing in the diagonal split for extra speed going forward. But you get some stillness and look relaxed and slow while in the air, but as soon as you hit the ground, you dive low and get to a full burst forward.

Yan use the Split Catch Jab and go the other way. Or, you can also use the Split Catch Shimmy. See below:

Ball Handling/Go Moves – 10 Phases

Go Moves Progression

The key for all the go moves is that we get the timing and footwork and leverage right. On go moves (crossover, etc.), we must get players to sprint through that move – body and ball moving together and the shoulders dropping/legs pushing off efficiently into that sprint. We can’t have players that make a move with the ball, and then start going with their body. It’s too late.

The Fundamentals

Off the Dribble Fundamentals:

Crossover – “Look and lean” to set it up, and accelerate as you cross over with power. Change pace, change direction.  

Through the Legs – Toes to your go. No wasted steps. Go between the legs and sprint by the defender at the same time. No delay.

Spin Dribble – Pull the ball back, dribble, and then switch hands.

Triple Threat Fundamentals:

Shot Fake Go – All the way through under 14’s, if a player has a great shot fake, they’ll be able to get to the rim off the catch, almost at will. The eyes must tell the lie that you are shooting. Wide eyes, tip the head back, look excitedly at the rim. Be efficient and explosive in the way you rip through or jab out of the shot fake. 

Rip Through – Ball rips under the knees, extend to your dribble, out in front of a long and low first step.

Jab – Ball rips to under and the knees to the shin. Shift your weight to the jab, go slow to fast. 

Off the Dribble Building Block Skills:

Pound Dribbles – Ability to dribble with speed and force with both hands.

Pocket Dribbles – Ability to pull the ball into the hesitation pocket (and then eventually perform this with the drop/split stance at the same timing).

Ability to manipulate the ball side to side to dribble back and forth over a cone or other object.

Weak Hand Development – Players must be able to use both sides of their body.

Retreat Dribbles – Getting the ball back behind the player and protected from the defender.

In-N-Out and In-N-Out Cross

Big keys are that as we start the In-n-Out move, we must really stab and sell the cross with our foot, shoulder, head, and eyes. Then, if we go to the In-n-Out Crossover, we want to make sure we freeze for just a second after the In-n-Out move, and fully sell the go to get the defender leaning, and then crossover violently back in the other direction. Don’t rush through it. 

Double Moves

Shift and Sprint – Have to shift to the side on the first move, then sprint through the second move. The primary option for this combination would be a between the legs dribble to shift the defender, and a crossover in front to sprint through and go by the defender.  

Drop-Go

Keys that work: “Spray the feet” you want this to be spastic/quick as the feet widen, not smooth and slow. And wide knees. Push off of the back foot. The stance has to be wide (wide knees), not a straight forward lunge stance.

Drills that work on players getting the ball to the hesitation pocket help with the ability to perform this move. Also, doing this off of a side-to-side “drag cross” (where the ball pulls the player sideways first) is crucial for the initial development of this move. We need to start teaching the concept from there.

Float and Go 

This is another way to hezi and go, but you are just having a lateral glide (“float”) first. On landing, push off the back foot and get to your drop stance to explode past the defender. 

Drop Stab Cross

For Drop Stab Cross see the example at 1:15 of the video above in the “Drop-Go” video (#4). Same split hezi pocket stance, but then push and lean towards that front foot and crossover back the other way. Effectiveness of this move is about the quick burst to stab the foot and sell the first direction, prior to crossing over back the other way. Short sharp acceleration into the stab, and then crossing over back into your go move – how much speed can you get on the ball in your crossover?

Hip Swivel Go Move

Same keys here as the drop concepts. Spray the feet, wide knees. Get the hip all the way around, further than you think, and push off sideways in a way that feels like a lateral defensive slide movement. 

Cross Jab

Keys – get to your front foot early in the crossover. Wide feet/knees in the foot/body jab.

Can combine this so that we are also building the opposite foot jab off of a hesitation pocket dribble and not having to always do it off of a crossover.

Hezi Between Counter

First we are looking to go by the defender with a hezi go move. But then if the defender shifts that way at all, you cut your next step back the other way and go between the legs.

Back Foot Punch Hezi

Stop/Space Creation Moves Progression

Bounce Out Dribble Cross – Inside foot stop

Punch Drag (Switch-Thru)

The punch drag is the stop move of going pound dribble and outside foot at the same time, and pulling back and creating space. There are options on the back end of it, but the most valuable one to work on in my opinion is to switch the feet, and take the ball between the legs to go in the other direction.

Speed Stop (Cutoff Behind Back)

A quick behind the back dribble stop move. Outside foot swings forward and sticks in the ground to stop you as quickly as possible, turning your frame towards the inside. And the behind the back crossover then goes to a location behind you, protected from the defender. In this drill, I have players pound their dribble as quickly and hard as possible following the cutoff move, to demonstrate/develop control.

Snatch Back (D-Wade Pull Back Crossover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K5poR6PnwI

At the Rim Decision Making

Once you have beat your player you need to “Read the Trees” – meaning read the help defender. Just branches – arms in front of the driver only – score it. This would be a lane advantage. Tree trunk – meaning the help has slid their body over in front of the driver – find a pass. This would be a two on the ball advantage. The best pass we can get is the dump off pass. Getting the help defender to commit to contesting your layup, then pass to a teammate for a layup. If the defence collapses to help the helper, then we have a kickout pass to a perimeter player.

Helpful Links:

• Skills and Drills for Players – USA Basketball

• Individual Skills | Basketball Australia Coaching Resource