Playing effective defense on the basketball court requires a wide array of physical skills -- speed, strength, agility and endurance -- but also requires just as much mental toughness. Combining athleticism with experience, which comes from knowing your opponents' plays and how to stop them, produces consistently effective defenders capable of shutting down rival teams. However defense cannot be a solitary pursuit; proper defense requires all five players on a team to communicate and move as a unit.
The center's role in basketball has changed significantly during the past half century. Stars such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the dominant players on their team. If you did not have a powerfu...
The two-hand overhead pass is a basketball move designed to start an offensive possession and trigger a fast offensive attack. A defensive player gets the rebound, moves the ball to an overhead position and then fires a two-han...
The Magic offense in basketball, as of 2011, is based off of head coach Stan Van Gundy's scheme for the Orlando Magic of the NBA. Van Gundy relies on motion to counteract the fact that his teams have rarely had a dominant one-...
Offensive basketball sets range from relatively simple formations with basic variations to complex schemes such as the triangle offense, which forces each player to play all five positions. Some offensive sets are designed to b...
Yao is a 7-foot-6, 310 lb. center who dominated Chinese professional basketball before coming to the NBA in 2002. While Yao was met with skepticism when he joined the Houston Rockets, he quickly developed into an all-star and b...
There are many ways to improve your offensive game in basketball. The most obvious way is through improved shooting, but it is by no means the only way to help yourself and your team. Improving your shooting will help you becom...
When a coach takes over a basketball team, he often wants to institute his preferred style of play. If he feels like his team is loaded with great athletes, he may want to institute a fast-break style of play that takes advanta...
To help your players execute the motion offense to perfection, have them run through drills that use repetition to teach its principles.
To run the flex, it is best to have versatile players who can play all positions and forwards and posts who have perimeter skill. Drills can help your players simulate scoring areas that occur within the flex offensive sets.
Basketball is a team game that requires players to develop skill on offense and play with effort on defense. Players who want to succeed often start off as effective defensive players because they are willing to put in the work...
Add specific rules and requirements to the offensive drills to challenge players and make them work on all areas of team offense. Incorporate points and goals to give players a number to aim for during these drills and make the...
While the point guard leads and directs the offense, the position used to require a player who only looked for open teammates and would take a shot only as a matter of last resort. Modern basketball requires a point guard to ha...