How To Become A Better Ball Handler - 20 Day Challenge

The 20 Day Challenge For Better Ball Handling

To be a great basketball player in today's game, you have to be an exceptional ball handler.  Whether it's 6'11 Kevin Durant, 6'8 LeBron James, 6'4 Russell Westbrook, or 5'9 Nate Robinson, you need a good handle to be able to get wherever you want/need to get on the court.   If you want to be a better basketball player, start by improving your control of the basketball.  

To do that, there is a 20 Day Challenge that is very simple - dribble the ball for just 20 minutes straight each day for 20 days.  So, start your 20 Day Challenge right now.  Today, dribble the basketball without stopping for 20 minutes straight.  Don't stop.  If you mess up or lose your dribble, immediately pick the ball back up and start dribbling again.

If you do that for 20 days, you will see a drastic improvement in your ball handling.  You have to build muscle memory in you finger pads (tips), your hands, and your wrist, and you do that through repetition.  

When doing the 20 day ball handling challenge, what you do is not as important as doing it.  We have posted ball handling drills that would be great to use.  Do those over and over again.  Watch videos of your favorite players and practice their moves.  You can also do it while you are watching TV; you can do the drills stationary and don't have to be moving.  The key is to DO IT!

Some possible drills to do during the 20 Day Challenge-  Right hand dribble (dribbling high and low)
-  Left hand dribble (dribbling high and low)
-  Crossovers
-  Between the legs
-  Behind the back
-  Figure 8's

Important keys to becoming a better ballhandler
-  Dribble with your finger tips
-  Keep your hand on top of the ball (don't build a bad habit of carrying the ball)
-  Bend your knees, keep the ball low, and keep your eyes up so you can see what is going on around you
-  Pound to the Ground - Push the ball to the ground with your fingertips; don't slap it or hit it.

Do the 20 day challenge and I promise you will see improvement.  Let me know how it goes!

RaiseTheBarAthletics-Antwan Scott Workout

Grambling State guard Antwan Scott goes through a skills training session with the coaches from RaiseTheBarAthletics.  Antwan has been working out with RaiseTheBarAthletics for several years and has seen his skill set increase tremendously.  He has earned honors including Leading scorer in the DFW metroplex, Honorable Mention for McDonald's All-America, and is now a Division 1 basketball player.

The Tony Parker Footwork and Finishing Series

This video features two of our athletes going through the Tony Parker Footwork and Finishing series.  It is vital in basketball to have great feet, and this drill concentrates on finishing different ways around the rim.

Steve Nash Dribbling

Antwan Scott (current Division 1 basketball player) demonstrates Steve Nash Dribbling, as he works out with Raisethebarathletics trainers.  This drill really teaches athletes ball control, which is one of the most important skills an elite guard must have.

CP3 2-Ball Progression

This is a great 2 ball dribbling series that NBA stars such as Chris Paul work on to get to get their handles right.  All it takes is spending 10 minutes a day working on this drill, and you will see great improvements in your ballhandling.

For The Love Of The Game

There is nothing like watching somebody do what they love to do; even if that person is Kevin Durant, ranked by most to be top 5 basketball player in the world playing summer league basketball in a junior high school gym.  I love watching the NBA guys playing in the summer leagues around the country in the off-season.  It shows that the game is still just a game and that even the best in the world can have a little fun while competing and proving why they are considered to be the best in the world.

KD is known for jumping on some of the most competitive street ball courts around the country.  Here, in the first part of a new series titled "For the Love of the Game" where we show the some of the best basketball players in the world doing what they love to do for the love of the game rather than for a paycheck, KD is performing at the famed Drew League in Los Angeles, California.  The Drew League is arguably the best summer league in the world, as the Charles Drew Junior High School gym in the tough neighborhood of Compton California hosts 28 invitation only teams that attracts streetball legends, college athletes and many NBA stars such as Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and James Harden.

Check out KD below.

How Chauncey Billups Matured Into A Point Guard

ESPN writer, Tom Friend, wrote an outstanding article about Chauncey Billups, that every aspiring point guard should read.  Chauncey Billups was a superstar guard growing up in Colorado.  His father introduced him to basketball and taught him about being a blue collar worker. 

Basketball was easy for Billups, where in high school he was a McDonald's All-American, and in college he brought a lot of notoriety to an otherwise unknown University of Colorado team.  But after he was the 3rd pick in the 1997 NBA draft, things began to change.  Billups had always been a scoring PG, but at that time in the NBA a scoring PG was somewhat frowned upon.  So, through his first 5 seasons in the league, Billups was on 6 teams.  People began to doubt him, and nobody believed in him.

Billups too began to doubt his game, and who he was as a player.  In Minnesota, Flip Saunders had him running the 2, and was the backup PG.  The next thing Chauncey Billups did was pivotal in his development.  He followed his teammate Terrell Brandon, who was an All-Star caliber player, around everywhere.  He also spent a lot of time learning from another teammate, Sam Mitchell.  Billups picked his brain and tried to figure out how to play the point guard position.  One thing Mitchell told Billups was that if you take care of the person to your left and to your right, the one who benefits the most is the one in the middle.

Chauncey Billups eventually became the starting PG in Minnesota and led the Timberwolves into the playoffs, where he had a series which really put him on the map against the Mavs.  Confidence, a hefty contract, and a Finals MVP were now in line for Billups over the next few years.

It wasn't easy for Billups, but he had great mentors, and more important than anything he had a blank slate mentality.  He wanted to learn and knew what he would have to do to become a great NBA point guard.

To read the whole article click the link.  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=090511/billups