Got mad skillzz?? can you dunk at 5' 7"?? we need you.

[[Q]]

I got a couple questions for help on my bball game. I just got back from the gym and I noticed a glaring problem with my rebounding that i never noticed before. I'm pretty thin but I can jump so I can usually get tips to my teammates but for the most part, I play a lot of help defense so I lose the boards to my man a lot. any tips?

also, an ongoing problem of mine since i was a kid is my bad ballhandling/decision-making. I've never been good at handling despite me being a guard all my life. any help with learning to handle the ball?
when I get pressured, i tend to make bad passes or make silly turnovers or take off-balance shots.

[mvpshaq32]

I have the same problem on my ballhandling. If I'm pressured, I can make the pass, but if I try to dribble it and make a move, I usually turn it over or take a bad shot.
Just work on your stamina. I'm doing so over the summer because I play rough defense and I never have any strength left to run up and down, grabbing the boards.

[dizzle]

well if you double on d you gotta be sure you got some help from your teammates first, for ball handling, try not to be tenative too much, dribbling a couple hours a day can help with the handles, helps a lot for making your move, shield the ball, iono..lots of stuff you can work on to improve ball handling

[[Q]]

Just work on your stamina. I'm doing so over the summer because I play rough defense and I never have any strength left to run up and down, grabbing the boards.

the only problem is my stamina gets worse as i grow older. my dad smoked a shit load when my mom was pregnant and when i was a kid so my lungs are fucked up. a couple trips up and down the court and im winded. I usually walk up to play offense or just stay back on D. 8 years ago in middle school I could run a 7-8 min mile no problem. I probably wouldn't be able to get under 10-11 mins nowadays.

[dizzle]

damn 10-11??..thats pretty bad..hop on that treadmill..i get tired too since i look to break a lot..only time i never go up on offense is when someones trying to cherry pick, and i play up on d and of course always looking to crash the board which gets pretty tiring

[Axel]

I could run a mile in 8 min or so in middle school, and I never played sports much.

Now... well, I could probably huff it out for a whole minute. I think the speed is still there, I just don't have any endurance. Just keep pushing yourself. All you're doing is increasing lung capacity.

If you were lazy you could always just hold your breath for prolonged periods of time throughout the day. That wouldn't help with the muscles in your legs, but who knows, at least you'll have stamina.

[Joe']

Hell, I thought I was slow! I did a PE test today and run a kilometer in 3:35 minutes so probably I could run a mile in less than 7 minutes. But yeah, I'm still in ninth grade.

For some reason I have better stamina this year (being 5'11" 170 lbs.) than last year (I was 5'9" 155 lbs).

My advice regarding stamina would be trying to run with faster people than you and keep the rhythm: I was slow and lazy as hell when school started in September but I started running with the fastest guys in my basketball team and tried to keep the rhythm; It took me nearly three months but now I have better stamina than ever before.

About the ballhandling, well, all you can do is practice.

[Andrew]

I got a couple questions for help on my bball game. I just got back from the gym and I noticed a glaring problem with my rebounding that i never noticed before. I'm pretty thin but I can jump so I can usually get tips to my teammates but for the most part, I play a lot of help defense so I lose the boards to my man a lot. any tips?

Getting into good position and boxing out is the key. If you look at the great rebounders in NBA history you'll see that they had a knack for knowing how the ball was going to come off the rim and managed to get themselves into position to beat everyone for the board. I know it sounds cliche but desire plays a part in it as well. You can hurt your team by wanting to score the most points or take the most shots but it doesn't hurt to want to grab every shot that comes off the rim. Also, there's a time and place for tipping a rebound to a teammate but it's best to go up strong with two hands so you can grab the ball, bring it down and protect it.

[---]

^ That and always watch the ball once the shot has been released, no where else. Some people glance away for a second while boxing out and lose track. Just box out and "feel" where to move if you have to, if your man is trying to get past you for the boards. Just watch the ball the whole time.

When I played in the first half of last year, I probably averaged close to 10 boards a game, and I played PG and I'm 5"7, 5"8 at the very best with shoes. I was never a good rebounder until early last year and I credit it to that, just one of those little things you never think of that helps immensely.

Another thing is timing. If your timing is superior to the rebounder, you'll grab the board 90% of the time despite the size of the other guy. I worked on my timing by going outside and either shoot myself from close range or have someone else shoot everywhere from 10-25 feet, with me grabbing the rebounds. I just tried to make sure everytime I got possesion of the ball, I was at the highest point of my jump. It really helped, and its cool when you out of nowhere, shortest guy on the floor who just made the pass to the shooter, come flying in and grab a big offensive board.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[BigKaboom2]

If you learn to box out well, the guy you're covering will pick up so many stupid over-the-back fouls. In several high school games, I drew more of those calls than I had rebounds because everyone thinks jumping high is the secret.

[Patr1ck]

Sounds like you are lacking some confidence when you are being pressured, and you panic, because you aren't sure what you want to do at that time. I used to be the same way when I was younger. What I did in that situation was, make a decision and stick with it no matter what. If you mess up, you know what not to do next time.

Rebounding, I can't really say. I have a good knack for anticipating where the rebound is going to go when I am watching the shot trajectory. They say position is key, but outright quickness and hussle will get you the ball more often than not.

[[Q]]

Sounds like you are lacking some confidence when you are being pressured, and you panic, because you aren't sure what you want to do at that time. I used to be the same way when I was younger. What I did in that situation was, make a decision and stick with it no matter what. If you mess up, you know what not to do next time.

yeah i tihnk it has to do with the fact that i didn't play organized ball until i was like 13.

[Abctest123]

CLICK ME

Here's a site I've been looking at some time that has a lot on basketball stuff. I was looking for a shooting form that would finally work for me (I've had bad looking versions of Calderon, Bargnani, and a super slow version of Redd's shot), and I found this site. I'm now practising with the form they taught me on this site, and it's been the most accurate shot I've had ever. Caught me off guard that I hit like 4 or 5 straight college threes in a row the very first time I tried the shot.

In terms of ball-handling, theres some drills that you can see and try on this site; simple little excercises you can practise, info on offense and defense. I don't know how effective those little excercises are, but I wanna try them cause I wanna work on my non-existant handles (though I never really quite get into liking and playing basketball till gr.8, and never really improved and anything; and no, of course I've never played on a team, I play for excercise ).

Hope the link helps .

[Drex]

Q, we're like made for each other, I can relate to you in every problem except rebounding. My stamina is as low as Kobestar's IQ. That gets so annoying especially when I'm shooting. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me, I've always been a bad (like, really, really bad) shooter, but recently I found out that jumping helps my shooting. Yes guys, I couldn't believe it either. The bad thing is that after 30 or 40 minutes shooting, I'm so tired that I can't run anymore.

[[Q]]

well I'm a pretty good shooter, but I get tired fast so my shot gets REALLY streaky. i can hit a few 3s in a row, but then i get into bad cold streaks. I would say just try to work on consistency in your form. from the time you bring the ball up to the followthrough try to make it the same at all times. the jumping part of the shot is the only thing that should deffer in your shots.

[deihatein]

I think we have the same attidude on the court Qballer, i am thin and small so not really a rebounder but a good shooting guard but no shooting on the 3 whatsoever. My teammates respect my passing but sometimes my ball-handling have been pretty bad and also i want to play like Nash cause of his passing ability