Basketball: Fast 5 - Offensive Footwork, No Secrets Just Work...Plus Candy!

Dance like your life depended on it. Dancing is footwork, not totally, but critically. So is basketball. Identify players committed to craft by their footwork. 

Coaching legend Pete Newell emphasized mastery of footwork, balance, and maneuvering speed. Footwork and balance are inseparable. Master the details. What techniques define you? 

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then videos are force multipliers. No single comprehensive footwork blog post exists, but excellent videos teach it. Don't reinvent the wheel. Show your players the videos...

Bad footwork inevitably leads to poor balance. As coaches, we routinely see footwork struggles because:

1) Feet are too close, not at least shoulder width apart.
2) Players are too upright, with a high center of gravity.
3) Players fake with too big a step.
4) Players forget to protect the ball. 
5) Players have slow feet. 

The videos: 



Kevin Eastman calls it perfect feet...six boards apart to maximize balance and range. Steph Curry would say, build your shot from your arches with your nose behind your toes. 



1) Drop step
2) Fake drop step, shot
3) Fake drop step, face up, crossover



1) Reverse pivot, shot
2) Reverse pivot, rip to basket attack
3) Reverse pivot, crossover 

Learn to finish with either hand from either side. 



Basketball is a game of separation. Eastman demonstrates the shoulders game where low player wins...using footwork, shoulders, and hips to separate. 



This introductory video (series of ten) introduces a series of ten videos of Newell footwork...sharing the reverse pivot into the deep step from the wing.   

Lagniappe: Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, David and Goliath, What the Dog Saw, and others gives readers the entree and candy. The entree makes us think; the candy gives us something to talk about. They work together. Sharp coaching gives players the entree and candy, too..."knockout", "dribble tag", "capture the flag", "three-point contests" and more.