People love to play and compete in the popular game of basketball, which has attracted many since its inception decades ago. Focusing your attention on your skills goes a long way toward making you a more effective player. If you want to become a better player, you are sure to appreciate these tips.
Perfect your free throw. As easy as these shots may seem, they are rather hard. Put this technique into practice as often as you can. Place the ball right in line with your face. Have your eyes on your goal and picture your ball going into it. Once you’ve visualized this, take your shot as you just saw it in your head.
When using the ball a lot, you must relearn a crossover. This is when you switch hands while dribbling. The move must be done quickly if it is going to work. By having the ability to move either way quickly, you will become a better all-around player.
Put the emphasis on your strengths can help you to be a better basketball player. You can contribute to the team by consolidating your best skills, even if these skills do not make you one of the star players. Understand your strengths and use it to your advantage to help your team win!
Constantly practice layups. Layups sometimes wind up being 4 out of every 5 shots in basketball. Whenever you practice, approach the goal full speed, jump and take a smooth shot. This method will teach you to improve your jumps and shots throughout the game.
Bounce Pass
Perfect your bounce pass. A useful bounce pass will hit the receiving player at waist level. A good estimation is to target the ball to bounce at about 3/4 of the distance that the receiving player is. There are other factors you have to think about too, however.
Free throws require as much mental focus as physical skill. Training your body is important, but you also have to be mentally ready for the shot. Relax and focus on the net, and you’ll be able to make more.
Passing the ball is an important part of playing basketball so practice making and receiving passes. When practicing, try catching great passes as well as really bad passes. Understand that during a game, you will receive very scattered passes. Some will be good; some won’t. So do your teammates a favor by learning how to consistently haul in their less than perfect passes.
Before, during and after the season, play out games by yourself. There are times you may not find anyone to play with you. That should not matter. You are able to do a lot with solo games. Work on your pivot moves or practice your free throws. There is always something to practice.
To get better at shooting free throws, make sure to keep a consistent pre-shot routine. Whatever you do, from bending your knees to dribbling three times, do every time. When you have a steady and consistent routine, your muscles will remember what to do to shoot those free throw shots.
A consistent pre-shot routine when at the line will increase your chance at success. When you stay consistent, you get better success. Repetition is an excellent way to improve your ability to make each free throw. Stick with a routine until you can perfect it. Failing to stick with your routine can adversely affect your shooting accuracy.
Practice drills where you strive to make it across the full court within 5 dribbles. You will need to learn how to push the basketball in front of you while making long strides. You will have easy layups on fast breaks and you will be able to advance your team easily.
When you are defending, keep your stance low. Staying low will help you to be a more swift opponent when you mirror the man standing in your path. You always want to have a strong defensive stance on the court. The only time you should be out of your stance is when you are jumping to block an opponent shooting.
Stop Dribbling
Only stop dribbling if you want to shoot or pass. You do not have many options after you stop dribbling. If you decide not to shoot a basket or pass the ball on, you are only allowed to pivot on the heal that is furthest back. This leaves you vulnerable to being double teamed by members of the opposing team, and it is far more likely that the ball will be stolen.
A good way to improve your game is by finding out from your teammates what they plan to do. Basketball is nothing if not a team sport. Offense and defense aren’t 1 on 1. Instead, all players help and support one another. If you believe others can help you improve, let them know. The result benefits you and your entire team.
Once you know the right basketball information, everything else falls into place. Read the article carefully and head out onto the court to get all of the practice you need before starting your next game. Keep all this information in mind to become better.