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ShareThis“Stoppin’ on a dime.” All of us in basketball have heard this phrase before and even your average basketball fan knows that special basketball players have the ability to go fast and stop quickly; but have you ever thought about why it’s one of the most critical skills every championship level point guard has in his or her game? Here are some simple reasons:
- A controlled, on-balance stop – especially in the lane – gives you time to make decisions. By nature we are good decision makers but often lack enough time to make the proper decision.
- The added time gives you a chance to supplement your move with a variety of fakes. Every great point guard knows that the essence of the game is deception and adding fakes after a stop makes you a more dangerous offensive player.
- Many of the specific finishing moves we teach at our Essentials program originate from an on-balance body position. Stopping on a dime allows your body the ability to get on-balance and then finish with greater control than taking off on 1-foot.
- When you take off on 1-foot, shot blockers can easily time their jump due to the simple law of gravity: everything that must go up, must come down. Leaving the floor with 1-foot take-offs leaves you susceptible to shot blockers; however, a stop leading into a 2-foot take-off does not allow for a shot blocker to easily time their jump - especially with the use of numerous fakes.
Here’s some video that’ll help give you a visual of what I mean:
Come join myself and the other Directors at a PGC summer basketball camp as we train the many key skills for effective play, including the ability to stop on a dime.
Droppin’ Dimes… Lyndsey
Basketball camps…? Point Guard College is called a ‘College’ for a reason. We’re more than your average basketball camp.
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Tags: 1-Foot Finishes, 2-Foot Finishes, body balance, body control, body position, critical skills, decision making, jump stop, summer basketball camp
Lyndsey (Medders) Fennelly is a full-time director and clinician with PGC. An insatiable hunger for growth and development, you can follow her at @PGCbasketball or @lyndshoops.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 1:25 PM and is filed under Lyndsey Fennelly, Our Team. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
