Basketball Ball Handling

Most coaches have seen a freestyle performer, in basketball or soccer, do things with a ball that look impossible. On episode 37 of the podcast, Alex Sarama pointed out that when those players step into a real game, we're often disappointed.

That's why you won't find two-ball dribbling, cone weaves or tennis balls in the games below. Alex said on the same episode that he sees no value in static dribbling of any type, whether it's one ball, two balls or a tennis ball, because it's a completely different task from the game. Every activity on this page has someone trying to take the ball.

Chapter 1 of Transforming Basketball quotes Jamal Crawford, who says he never did ball-handling drills at all. His explanation:

Transcending Basketball is precise about the ceiling of 1-on-0 work.

In a game, the book goes on, players dribble to create space to pass, shoot or drive, and what matters is the relationship between the player and the ball, the defenders, teammates and the rim. A cone never moves. A defender does, and the dribble that works is coupled to what that defender is doing. That link between what a player sees and what they do is perception-action coupling, and a cone gives it nothing to work with.

Transforming Basketball makes the same point about fatigue. A player who struggles to decide well when dribbling under pressure, especially when tired, won't fix it with two-ball or static routines. The tiredness those routines produce comes from standing still and repeating near-identical movements, and it is nothing like the fatigue of a game. The book's answer is to design dribbling games where the picture keeps changing, such as Shield Tag and Gauntlet 1-on-3 below.

Transcending Basketball's chapter on pseudoscience takes on props directly. A tennis ball has none of the information a defender provides. It's arguably more variable than stationary or two-ball dribbling, the book concedes, but both options miss the bigger picture. The alternative is constrained 1-on-1s and the many formats of dribble tag.

Coaches who use props often argue that players need the technique first: "If a player cannot stationary dribble with their eyes up, they cannot dribble moving." The book's reply:

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The book lists why players dribble: to advance the ball, to create time and space, to create an angle for a pass, or to keep an offensive advantage. Each is a different problem. Pick the game for the job your players struggle with, their rate limiter, as the book would put it: the thing currently stopping a skill from showing up.

Dribble tag is the simplest live handling game there is, and it works with any age. On EP45, answering the coach who asks how a beginner can ever dribble in a game without static drills, Alex's answer was tag.

Alex shared that version on EP26, his episode on the CLA with beginners. Once you start thinking about different ways to play dribble tag, he said on EP45, you can quickly have ten activity ideas. George Vaz's 10 ideas for improving ball handling collects games from coaches in the Transforming community, including George Cremos's dribble-tag warm-ups and Verdell Billingsley's knee-tap game with third- and fourth-grade girls.

With the very youngest players, you don't even need an opponent at first, as long as the space is crowded. In her case study in Transforming Basketball, Samara Funnell, an assistant coach with Skyliners Frankfurt, describes her miniball games: everyone dribbles inside the three-point line and tries to keep the ball alive without bumping into anyone. Then she adds rules. Change hands after three dribbles, high-five a teammate as you dribble past, or try to steal someone's ball. She doesn't teach crossovers or tell players to keep their eyes up. Those show up on their own because the game asks for them.

For older players, raise the pressure. Francesco Rossi's cage, from EP39, puts a point guard with the ball in a small area marked with cones or lines, against a "pit bull" defender whose only aim is to touch or steal the ball. There's no basket to defend. Francesco sometimes adds that the handler has a basket to face, so they can't turn their back to the defender, only a shoulder. He uses it with senior and under-19 guards. Alex's Stay Alive 1-on-1 is the same idea with a reward: survive five seconds of pressure in a small area, then play. Both are covered in our press-break guide.

Getting past one defender is a different problem from getting past three in a row, because the solution that beat the first may not be there against the second. Transforming Basketball calls these nested affordances: beat the first defender with a hesitation and a gap may open, or a new defender may suddenly be in your path. Start with one defender and a target, then add more.

Transcending Basketball asks three questions of the zig-zag drill. When would a defender let the ball-handler dribble in front of them without trying to steal or pressure the ball? When would a defender wait for the offense to reach the sideline or lane line before changing direction? How often do you see a step-slide in a game?

The book's make-over adds a live defender. It constrains the offense to half of the full court, with a 10-second shot clock to advance the ball and get a rim finish. For beginners, the defender holds a bib or defends with their hands behind their back. If there's a violation or turnover, the defense goes straight into offense instead of stopping the rep.

On EP37 Alex added a way to manage the load, since full-court 1-on-1 is intense. Put extra defenders in segments of the court as "octopuses" who can only move within a narrow rectangle, playing in groups of three and rotating in. Or use pylons and floor mats to make irregular shapes, and award points for reaching the end of the area within a time limit without losing the ball.

Coaches often ask how to teach a specific move without drilling it. Jonas De Bruyne, a coach in Germany, answered exactly that in his guest article on developing shifty dribble moves. Jonas had reposted a particularly shifty move on Instagram, and another coach asked how he'd teach it with the CLA. His answer was to design a game where the chance for a similar move might appear, knowing the exact move may never emerge and may not be functional for every player.

• Play live 1-on-1 off the dribble in a third of the half court, with the half court divided into three areas: sideline to slot, slot to slot and slot to sideline.
• The offense starts behind the half-court line and the defender inside the three-point area. It's live as soon as the offense enters the space.
• If the offense scores, they stay on, starting the next rep in a different third.
• If they struggle, give the defender a ball to hold with both hands. If it's too easy, make it 1-on-2 with the second defender starting two meters behind.

This takes longer than teaching a move on air and then adding a dummy defender, Jonas admits. In the short term the scripted version would show the move more often. His point, borrowing from Rob Gray, is that those short-term gains don't last, so players should keep experimenting with perception and action coupled.

Transforming Basketball has a 1-on-1 built around deception. When you demo it, the book says, don't show one ideal technique. Make it clear the offense can drive however they like, whenever they like.

If the ball is stolen almost every time, the game is past the optimal challenge point, too hard for players to learn much. Keep the defender and make the task easier, what the book calls task simplification. Alex's beginners presentation lists the options for constraining the defense:

• The defender can't jump.
• The defender plays with one hand.
• The defender dribbles or holds a basketball.
• The defender has limited steps or a limited space.

The slide before it lists ways to help the offense instead: a numerical advantage, a larger space, two baskets, a bigger head start, or scaled equipment. On EP26 Alex said he especially likes having the defender dribble at the same time, since both players are working on their handle. Remove the restriction once it's too easy and the offense is scoring without having to read the defender.

Handling games isolate the dribble, so after a handling activity, play 2-on-2 with the options to shoot, drive or pass, and watch whether the ball-handler recognizes when a teammate is open and when there's space to advance.

A player may protect the ball well but miss the chance to pass out of pressure. When that happens, put the receiver and their defender into the next game so the player works on the decision as well as the ball. Transcending Basketball suggests a 1-on-1 + 1 at a basket, where the offense has a passing option if they pick up their dribble, as a far more game-like replacement for the line drill.

For full-court pressure, see the press-break guide. For scoring around defenders, see the finishing guide, and for designing the choices players face, the decision-making guide.