Basketball questions to help our youth players

[ray 1,560]

I'm not sure if there is a thread like this that exists already. If there is, then forgive me and we can shut this one down. 

I know there are a lot of smart Indiana basketball fans. Why not ask a group of them some questions to benefit our youth players wishing to better understand the game. 

First question of this thread, if I may:

My son is just now learning basketball. He asked to watch college basketball tonight to better understand how to move without the ball. NOTE: We've already watched plenty of video of Reggie Miller (as well as Curry, Klay Thompson, and others). We're watching Duke and Arizona and I'm not that impressed, unfortunately. Neither seems to be a Brad Stevens coached Butler team in terms of great ball movement and teaching a kid how to move without the ball. 

What, in your opinions, are some of the best current college basketball teams to watch for impressive ball movement and moving without the ball. I know some coaches are just better than others at teaching this and expecting this. I used to know some, but I've mostly only watched IU games over the past 15 years.

I'm also open to any YouTube videos anyone thinks are worth showing him. I'm mostly interested in videos that will show him how to best move without the ball. Again, he's watching Reggie...who I strongly believe was among the greatest ever. Who else should he watch? Any great videos to teach this, or videos to showcase this?

Many thanks!

[Stuhoo 75,890]

How old is he?

[ray 1,560]

He turned 12 last week. 

He never had interest in basketball and was diehard into soccer. Now, he's super into basketball. He's been at it since July. I created a handles routine for him and he's done it every day since. He went from literally being unable to dribble a basketball to now where he's doing crap with his dribble even I wasn't able to do.

The problem is, it's hard to teach him some things when it's only the two of us. We're trying to introduce him to more now, and this is his most recent request...how to move better without the ball. Videos seem like a good option. 

[Muskie for three 281]

Watch Creighton and Izzo has some good stuff on YouTube .  Self at Kansas  runs some really good sets.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Muskie for three

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,238]

Just from players to watch...

Reggie obviously a great one along with Steph and Klay.

Ray Allen

JJ Redick at Duke if you can find it.

Kyle Korver

Doug McDermott

Unfortunately there aren't a ton of drills you can do. Especially with just two people. So much of playing off ball is just making reads within the offense and has less to do with you and more about the defense. Drills that can be done are just catch and shoot drills.

One drill I did with my dad was shooting and if I miss, Chase the ball and shoot it from where I rebound. If I made it, my dad would throw to a random spot to chase and shoot. No dribbling. It's a great stamina shooting drill that will keep you running around the court.

You can also have him work coming off screens by just using a chair or chairs coming off screens. I know nowadays it's all about shooting 3s, but I'd start him shooting 12-15 footers off screens. A chair on one blocks, start him on the other block, gave him come off the screen for a baseline jumper x amount of times, then curl off the screen for x amount of times. Then have him start on the wing same side as screener. Have him jab step and curl off screener x amount of times and then have him take curl and flare(as if the defense is cheating the curl). You can work on backcuts as well. Great shooters *should* be great back cutters(and from there great playmaking opportunities). Outside of that, you can really put the chair anywhere. And other than that it's just a mental game, something you just pick up as a player as you learn to read defenses, something I am sure he's had to do in soccer in a way. Hope any of that helps.

[Stuhoo 75,890]

The problem is… he’s playing with other 12 year olds, and unless he has a helluva coach it’s gonna be a lot of chaos and one player on his team trying to do too much

But to start… I LOVE this 3:30 of RMK:

If he’s an IU fan Gallo is my current favorite guy who plays offense with purpose and energy. Ware was very active in our first game too.

Here’s something else really good. The original master of off-ball movement was Pete Carill at Princeton:

 

[maxwell 576]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

The problem is… he’s playing with other 12 year olds, and unless he has a helluva coach it’s gonna be a lot of chaos and one player on his team trying to do too much

Very much agree with Stu here.  If you have a coach open minded to learn the "Read and React" philosophy, I know that years ago Bill Self endorsed the idea.  I enjoyed teaching the system to 4th & 5th grade boy and girls with a wide range of skills and athletic ability about 11 years ago. There are reads and cuts that he can learn as an individual that could help in his development if not implemented in a team situation. A good system you could promote to a coach. 

 

[btownqb 8,386]

12 hours ago, ray said:

I'm not sure if there is a thread like this that exists already. If there is, then forgive me and we can shut this one down. 

I know there are a lot of smart Indiana basketball fans. Why not ask a group of them some questions to benefit our youth players wishing to better understand the game. 

First question of this thread, if I may:

My son is just now learning basketball. He asked to watch college basketball tonight to better understand how to move without the ball. NOTE: We've already watched plenty of video of Reggie Miller (as well as Curry, Klay Thompson, and others). We're watching Duke and Arizona and I'm not that impressed, unfortunately. Neither seems to be a Brad Stevens coached Butler team in terms of great ball movement and teaching a kid how to move without the ball. 

What, in your opinions, are some of the best current college basketball teams to watch for impressive ball movement and moving without the ball. I know some coaches are just better than others at teaching this and expecting this. I used to know some, but I've mostly only watched IU games over the past 15 years.

I'm also open to any YouTube videos anyone thinks are worth showing him. I'm mostly interested in videos that will show him how to best move without the ball. Again, he's watching Reggie...who I strongly believe was among the greatest ever. Who else should he watch? Any great videos to teach this, or videos to showcase this?

Many thanks!

IU women. Hands down. They play modern ball, 4 around 1, cut off of it.. see the next pass.. shooters do a good job of finding openings and being ready to shoot.. 

Reggie was great, but the offenses he played in and the way it was designed FOR him.. won't be 100% relevant for middle school kid in 2023. Not that they can't help, undoubtedly they can, just mentioning.. the games different. 

I'd teach relocating on passes, being in a scoring position when they catch the ball.

1. He catches on wing, passes to you top of the key relocates to the corner and shoots.. 5-10x. 

2. He has the ball in the corner, passes out to at the nail hole, relocates to the wing and shoots. 5-10x 

3. He catches on wing, passes to you top of the key relocates to the corner and shot fakes, one dribble to the middle pull up of some sort.. 5-10x. 

4. He has the ball in the corner, passes out to at the nail hole, relocates to the wing and shot fakes 2 dribbles some sort of finish (euro step, simple layup, pro hop shot fake finish with weak hand, pro hop shot fake step through finish with strong hand, runners, etc. . 5-10x 

That's 40 reps. Then do that all on the other side. 80 reps in all. Full speed cuts, purposeful cuts, change of pace cuts. Every shot is game speed. 

 

[Stuhoo 75,890]

3 minutes ago, btownqb said:

IU women. Hands down. They play modern ball, 4 around 1, cut off of it.. see the next pass.. shooters do a good job of finding openings and being ready to shoot.. 

Complete +1!!

They play beautiful, active, purposeful basketball.

[btownqb 8,386]

Also.. I'm a firm believer in film. Film him in his drills, film his games... reflection is everything and you can't hide deficiencies on film. My dad filmed every sporting event I ever had until HS when the team would film.. loved it. 

[rcbowla 6,770]

Don't remember the year/years but Spurs with Parker, Ginobli, Duncan, Green etc were elite at ball movement. I remember watching games in awe at how they moved the ball and themselves off screens.

 

Disclaimer: I often remember things more fondly than their reality. So that said I could be absolutely remembering it all wrong

 

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[btownqb 8,386]

Great topic btw. Coaching youth sports (football, basketball, and baseball) used to be my life. 

[ray 1,560]

On 11/11/2023 at 3:18 AM, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

Just from players to watch...

Reggie obviously a great one along with Steph and Klay.

Ray Allen

JJ Redick at Duke if you can find it.

Kyle Korver

Doug McDermott

Unfortunately there aren't a ton of drills you can do. Especially with just two people. So much of playing off ball is just making reads within the offense and has less to do with you and more about the defense. Drills that can be done are just catch and shoot drills.

One drill I did with my dad was shooting and if I miss, Chase the ball and shoot it from where I rebound. If I made it, my dad would throw to a random spot to chase and shoot. No dribbling. It's a great stamina shooting drill that will keep you running around the court.

You can also have him work coming off screens by just using a chair or chairs coming off screens. I know nowadays it's all about shooting 3s, but I'd start him shooting 12-15 footers off screens. A chair on one blocks, start him on the other block, gave him come off the screen for a baseline jumper x amount of times, then curl off the screen for x amount of times. Then have him start on the wing same side as screener. Have him jab step and curl off screener x amount of times and then have him take curl and flare(as if the defense is cheating the curl). You can work on backcuts as well. Great shooters *should* be great back cutters(and from there great playmaking opportunities). Outside of that, you can really put the chair anywhere. And other than that it's just a mental game, something you just pick up as a player as you learn to read defenses, something I am sure he's had to do in soccer in a way. Hope any of that helps.

Thanks.  We've done some similar drills to what you describe with the chairs.  I just need to keep adding to the routines, and he just needs to keep watching videos.

I appreciate your comments, as well as everyone else's.

[ray 1,560]

On 11/11/2023 at 5:53 AM, Stuhoo said:

The problem is… he’s playing with other 12 year olds, and unless he has a helluva coach it’s gonna be a lot of chaos and one player on his team trying to do too much

But to start… I LOVE this 3:30 of RMK:

If he’s an IU fan Gallo is my current favorite guy who plays offense with purpose and energy. Ware was very active in our first game too.

Here’s something else really good. The original master of off-ball movement was Pete Carill at Princeton:

 

Yes, I agree.  He's playing with kids who mostly know very little (if anything) about spacing.  I coached youth soccer teams, and spacing was what I placed the most emphasis on...and after "beating it into their heads" for months, they were quite good near the end of the season simply because they understood spacing as a team.  But, then I would get a whole new set of kids the following year who weren't taught about spacing and it was months of chaos again. 

I appreciate the videos.  I'll show them to him.  I'm aware he could move better than any 12-year old and still never get a pass made to him...but, I want to keep feeding his hungry mind because it should pay off down the road when other kids begin to better grasp the concepts.

[Stuhoo 75,890]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:05 AM, btownqb said:

IU women. Hands down. They play modern ball, 4 around 1, cut off of it.. see the next pass.. shooters do a good job of finding openings and being ready to shoot.. 

 

But no Stanford 11/12/2023 game film!  :)

[Golfman25 4,765]

Ok, my $.02.  I'll agree with watching the girls teams -- they'll tend to play a more "historical" basketball.  Also, anything from the IU 80s and early 90s -- some games available out in youtube land.  I don't think you'll find a lot of today's NCAA teams doing a lot and probably no NBA teams.  As above, if you can find a team today running the Princeton offense, there will be some good stuff (Bill Carmody at Northwester ran it a lot -- so you can search for some of their video).    

Some of the best teaching you can do is put him in situations, either via video or on the floor, and simply ask the question -- ok, what do you think you can do here?  He'll start to develop 2-3 options for each situation.  And eventually will learn them and make them a habit.  But it takes a lot of time.  Good luck.  

 

[ray 1,560]

48 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

Ok, my $.02.  I'll agree with watching the girls teams -- they'll tend to play a more "historical" basketball.  Also, anything from the IU 80s and early 90s -- some games available out in youtube land.  I don't think you'll find a lot of today's NCAA teams doing a lot and probably no NBA teams.  As above, if you can find a team today running the Princeton offense, there will be some good stuff (Bill Carmody at Northwester ran it a lot -- so you can search for some of their video).    

Some of the best teaching you can do is put him in situations, either via video or on the floor, and simply ask the question -- ok, what do you think you can do here?  He'll start to develop 2-3 options for each situation.  And eventually will learn them and make them a habit.  But it takes a lot of time.  Good luck.  

 

Thank you.  I agree with your entire first paragraph.  Also, I have been asking him those types of questions while we watch games, and I've even pulled out the dry erase/magnetic board to have him "move himself" in different situations.  I appreciate your feedback!

[Home Jersey 5,394]

Went down a bit of a wormhole and thought some with young players may find this particular video worthwhile: 

And if you are responsible for coaching a youth team... You won't find many more high quality drills/videos than Hurley's IMO. Coach K used to put out a bunch of good ones in the early 2000s that are probably out there on Youtube too. 

The 12 key points from his daily practice tips video: 

1. Players are responsible for the mood every day at practice and correcting mistakes. Coaches are responsible for creating a learning atmosphere but players need to bring energy and enthusiasm. Older players need to hold others accountable as a group. 
2. Hold a 30 second team meeting at the start and end of every practice 
3. First 15 mins of practice, want players to mention names of all players on team - every pass they throw, every shot that’s taken. 
4. As a head coach, want to mention every kids name in first 15-20 mins of practice, say something positive so as practice goes on and you become more demanding, there’s balance in the relationship. 
5. Create something you have to earn (EX: starters get to wear the team color shirts). Have the bench wear an opposite color. It’s the opposite color’s goal to get themselves on the team color’s shirt at some time that day (win it from them). At the end of the day, the 5 with the team color shirts get to wear them the next day. If there is a game the next day, that 5 starts (if feasible). “No such thing as a game player” you come to practice to improve every day. 
6. Change up practice partners - matching up in drills by position, don’t be in the same position each year. Rotate a bit to help them push each other/get looks they’d see off switches in a real game. 
7. Keep stats at practice. Tracking shooting numbers and setting PRs/challenges, etc. 
8. Listen to practice. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sound of your players voices and the sound of the sneakers on the floor. Are they communicating? Are they cutting sharply and moving with energy? 
9. Use a variety of skill drills and tell kids where you’ve gotten a drill from. Gives kids a feeling of confidence that their coach is putting in the work too. 
10. Do conditioning with a basketball. The only time we run at practice for the sake of running is if someone has done something to earn a punishment.
11. Utilize your assistants at practice every day, help bring them along and instill ambition. Make use of all the space you have in your gym. 
12. End practice on a positive note and make sure that you reward effort in some way, you can make this fun.