Basketball Daily World

Cross-over is the easiest and the most difficult change-of-direction move in basketball. Why? It’s one of the first moves young players adopt, and it’s the last one they do right.

Tobin Anderson explains how to do it right. In order to execute it properly the player has to have a good handle on the ball and perfect foot work.

Credit: Five-Star Basketball

Tobin Anderson explains what the receiver of the pass needs to do to put yourself in the position to be passed to and then to catch the pass.

Credit: Five-Star Basketball

Often, I say that passing is more difficult than shooting. When passing, you are trying to hit a moving target, you don’t solely depend on yourself but on the receiver of the pass, there is no goal tending when pass is intercepted, there are more decisions to be made in short time than when you decide to shoot, anticipation of the receiver movement is critical which is not the case when shooting the ball. I could go on and on. There are fewer good passers in NBA, and any other league, than shooters.

Yet, good passing is critical for success of a basketball team. Good passers make it easier for everybody else to score, and when scoring is spread out defense is in trouble.

The paradox is that I’ve never met a young player who is willing to work on his passing. As soon as kids are beyond 4th grade they start thinking that passing is too easy. The adopt the “everybody can pass, I wanna shoot” mentality. Then, you go see games and more than half of them are lost on bad passing and thus caused turnovers.

Tobin Anderson explains the mechanics of good passing

Credit: Five-Star Basketball

The Half Crossover or Inside Out is a devastating move that’s been used by
fluid offensive playmakers from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant.

Here are the steps to perform this move right handed. After you master this pattern,
master it left handed as well.

While dribbling the ball right handed:

1. Take big hard step with left foot, making the defender jump.
2. Take the ball and go inside out halfway across your body. This makes the defender jump even more.
3. Blast by your defender body to body. Do not step too wide of the defender. Tight spacing is key because this denies the defender any maneuvering space to cut you off.
4. Remember to stay low as you blast by.

Credit: Five-Star Basketball