Definitive Guide to Ball Handling – Ep. 2 – Why and When to Dribble

Wait… why dribble in the first place?

This is the second video in our series on the definitive guide to basketball ball handling (here is a link to part 1 (the definitive guide to basketball ball handling). There are two things I hope you get out of this video.

1) To realize that there should be a reason for using your dribble on the basketball court and to learn what some of those main reasons are
2) That most baskets do not come off of a series of dribbles, but rather off a pass. In fact only 15% of baskets in the NBA are scored by a player that has taken more than 2 dribbles.

It’s pretty simple, but those are the two things I hope you learn here. I’m not saying that dribbling isn’t very important. It definitely is important… and that is why we are doing a multi-part series on it! But I want you to realize that you can be more dangerous on the court if you are smart about when you dribble and how you set that dribble up.

I also know that there are a lot of dribbling videos and ball handling clips on Instagram and YouTube that show a talented ball handler stringing together a bunch of fancy dribble moves then finally shooting a step-back jumper or going in for a lay-up or dunk. And that just usually isn’t the way it works!

Here are the main reasons you dribble:

Advance the ball up the court (probably the most common)
Move the ball to set-up or within a team’s offense
… To shorten a pass or create a better passing angle
… With / for a pick and roll
Dribble penetration (drive to score or drive and pass)
Make a post move to score inside
Gather dribble for lay-up / dunk (often on face break)
Break pressure or space a double team, full or half court
Iso – move a defender to create space for a pass or shot

Now, let’s check out the video:

There are a lot of reasons to dribble the ball, and this doesn’t cover all of them, but making highlight-reel dribble moves against a defender is just really not that common. Remember that as you work on your ball handling training. You are working to be able to handle the ball in all the situations mentioned above, NOT just to make a top 10 play. Chris Paul has the ball in his hands a lot, but most of the time he is not breaking down a defender in isolation, he is dribbling for a reason above other than Iso.

That’s it for today, stick with us for the next episode!

Flickr photo credit: ftmeade