Five Tool Player – Kobe Bryant

Five tools of a great basketball player:

1. Shoot - Off the dribble, the post, three point range.
2. Pass – Correct pass at the right time, give it to a teammate in a position where they can make a play.
3. Dribble – Handle the basketball, go left, go right, create the shot.
4. Defend – Guard multiple positions.
5. Intangibles – Know the time, read the situations, rise to the occasion, make the right play to win the game.

Emeka Okafor Teaches Shot Blocking

Emeka points out the most important skills to be a great shot blocker.

• Timing. You are blocking as soon as the ball leaves the scorer’s hand.
• Body control. You don’t want to block the shot and give a foul. You want to be on your feet as long as needed, don’t go for the head fakes, have PATIENCE!
• The real job of the shot blocker is to ALTER shots, not block them in the first place. You want to project certain awareness to the opposing team that you are somewhere near to force them to alter the way they shoot. As long as the person misses it, the shot blocker has done the job.
• It is much more difficult to block your own guy’s shot as compared to weak side defense. With your own guy is aware of you and will try to create space. Not a lot of body contact is allowed.
• The most difficult shot to block is one-on-one fast break. The timing has to be especially right because you typically have a smaller guard coming at you.
• How hard you want to block the shot? Most times you want to just tip it to yourself or your teammate. There are times, though, when you want to block it as hard as possible, because you want to intimidate and send the message across.

Shane Battier Teaches How to Take a Charge

Things a player needs to be a great charge taker:

• You have a great vision. You have to know where basketball is on the court at all times.
• You need great anticipation. You have to know in a split second whether the player going to the hoop is out of control.
• You need courage. They hurt as much as it looks on TV.
• Awareness is important. If your feet are backwards just a couple of inches – it’s a foul, not a charge.
• You need to beat the player to the spot, put yourself into square stance, then go down and slide on the floor (use the sweat on your back).

Bruce Bowen Teaches Man-To-Man Defense

• No drills per se which teach how to improve defense.
• Take challenge in practice and guard the best scorer on the team.
• Keep hands active to create diversion!
• If offense posts up, front him or side him to create diversion. Keep hands active! Move constantly back and forth to throw offense out of balance.
• Scorers can’t score without the ball. Deny the ball and your defensive job is done. Make it difficult for them to get the ball where they want it. Force the pass to the area where it’s easier to defend, further from the basket.

Man to Man Defense (Woman to Woman, Better to Say)

This video teaches man defense, or better to say woman defense. The practice starts without ball dribbling so that players can grasp the concept. Then, it continues with ball dribbling. It talks about when to penetrate, how to close up the gaps, help the player who didn’t switch and all the other aspects of the most common and important defense scheme in basketball.