Freaks Scoring Essentials

Principle 1: Efficiency Is Key

The secret to success when training or playing is simple: invest fully, put in the maximum amount of work and youll receive maximum results. Once were on the court and its game time were going to alter that principle. Come game time our goal is to be efficient, simply: Minimize the work input, maximize the resulting output If you watch an NBA game closely, players like Kobe Bryant dont have a lot of unnecessary movement in their offensive game. When Kobe decides its go-time he is both quick and efficient in his movements as he gets into a scoring position. If Kobe can get 30 points per game on 20 shots, hes much more valuable and efficient than if it takes him 30 shots to get those 30 points. Taking it even further, aimlessly dribbling is not only wasting energy it is not resulting in any positive output. As an offensive player we want to minimize our wasted energy and wasted movement while maximizing our distances covered and results of our moves. As you go through this program and your skills improve your game will become much more efficient and, in turn, youll become a Scoring Machine.

Principle 2: Live Low, Live Athletic

Elite players start low and stay low. Its no secret that, in any sport, when your hips are dropped you become quicker and more explosive. When playing defense, attacking the basket or even waiting for the ball to be swung your way, if youre living low, you are putting yourself in a position to be successful! Lets take a look at a game situation. Youre facing a defender and have the ball in your hands. You take a couple slow dribbles, size up your man and get ready to make a quick between the legs move and explode to the rim. You drop your hips, make your move and explode but somehow the defender cuts you off! What did you do wrong? If you have to drop your hips and get low before you do something youre simply wasting time. Had you been low to begin with you would have been able to explode right by the defender. A crucial teaching point for increased efficiency on the court is: Never stand straight up to immediately drop right back down. Some players get in the habit of raising their hips and standing up in effort to fake-out their defender. As well cover later, we fake with our eyes, our shoulders and the ball but never by standing up. These small details make the difference; these small details make you a Scoring Machine!

Principle 3: HandsEqually Active, Equally Dangerous

Your hands are your weapons as a player. They handle the ball and finish on offense and force steals and deflections on the defensive end. As a star basketball player you need to have true ambidexterity, simply, you need to have equal ability with both hands. The underlying principle to this true ambidexterity is simple:

Your right hand can never affect what the left is doing, and vice-versa. To work on this principle of becoming ambidextrous, well give you numerous drills working on each hand at the same time. Many of you have probably worked on 2-ball dribbling drills and have heard the saying, If you can dribble 2 balls you can easily dribble one. Were going to take that a step further. By dribbling two balls at the same time or working with a tennis ball youll be working on a basketball specific teaching point: You must always keep your non ball hand active. If we can make a move with one hand and keep the defender from reaching with the opposite we are not only truly ambidextrous but were also taking steps to becoming a more Elite player. Your hands, in addition to having equal ability, must be both quick and powerful. It is very difficult for a defender to steal the ball when the ball is in your hand or on the floor. That being said, the quicker the ball gets from your hand to the floor and back the smaller the chance the defender getting a deflection. In all of your dribbling drills, focus on pounding as hard as you can to make your handle both quick and powerful. Whether youre dribbling, passing or finishing you must ambidextrous. The more ambidexterity you possess the more unstoppable you become!

Principle 4: Beat With Your Feet

Your hands may be your weapons but your feet are the foundation. Just like a beautiful house without a solid foundation will crumble a player with a great handle but no footwork will fail to be truly Elite. Youll find that if you have great footwork and use your feet correctly the game will be much easier as: Your feet get you there, your hands to make the play. This game is filled with tremendous details and, when it comes to your feet, the value is all in the details. Just to name a few, there are way to use your feet that will make you quicker, ways that will create more ball protection, ways to create space laterally and ways to create space forward and backward. Regardless of what youre doing, you must always keep your feet under your hips making sure you always stay on balance. By paying attention to detail and adding numerous footwork options to your game, you become much harder to stop as youll be putting yourself in positions for your hands to make a play. Were going to give you numerous footwork options to add to your arsenal of moves. Add them, practice them, use them and your game will go to a whole new level!

Principle 5: ShootingComfortable, Confident, Consistent

Coaches all around the world are teaching the fundamentals of shooting. From having the elbow in to following through, finding tips on shooting form can be found from any number of resources. Were not going to spend a ton of time talking about form, what we will discuss is how to get comfortable and confident in taking game shots! The shot is the reward, you work hard to get in a position to take a shot and once youre there you should be comfortable, confident and consistent as you rise up and release the ball for the score. To get to this point, our workouts must be filled with:

Game Shots at Game Speed from Game Positions All too often players get in a habit of putting themselves through shooting workouts where the continually step straight towards the rim and get up shots; this is not game like! In your workouts you should attack the rim from different angles while working on different shots. There are numerous shots that are taken in a game; shots can be taken off of screens, off the catch, off the dribble, etc. etc! When you get in a workout, you should work on all of these. Regardless of what shot you focus on make sure to remember: There are a multitude of different game shots, You only have one form. Say today you work on your step-back game, tomorrow you work on coming off of screen, no matter what shot youre taking you should maintain your perfect form on each and every shot. The fundamentals of the shot that youve heard over and over must be consistent regardless of what game shot you take. One final principle on which to focus when working on your shot is: Leave footprints: Start where you finish, finish where you start When you leave the ground imagine that youve left footprints on the floor and attempt to land in those footprints every time. By doing this, you wont fade left or right, you wont fall backwards nor will you jump forward. These footprints are your accountability; no angle, speed nor shot should change the fact that when you rise up to shoot you are going straight up and coming straight back down!

Principle 6: Play in Combinations, Slow is Game Speed Too!

Dont be fooled into thinking that going as fast as you can all the time is Game Speed. A player who plays at one speed is extremely easy to guard and very ineffective on the court. On the other hand, a player who can play at multiple speeds while stopping and going quickly is very, very difficult to guard. If you can play and constantly change your pace or speed, the defender is never going to know what to expect. Slow is a Speed, Slow is a Skill Lets look at one simple, double move: Between-the-Legs to Crossover. You make this one move into 4 separate moves by adding changes of pace. You could go: Fast-Fast, Slow-Slow, Fast-Slow or Slow-Fast. This is just one move! Imagine that you add changes of pace to all of your moves; youre going to become unguardable! Doing things at one pace my allow you to do them correctly; however, its not game like. Make sure you Dont just do things correct right, do them real! There are limitless combinations as to how you can incorporate different speeds into your game. NBA players like Derrick Rose and Chris Paul are experts at using hesitations, stop-and-goes and changes of pace when they have the ball in their hands. The next time youre training, keep in mind there are Game Speeds not just one game speed. Playing the game from speed to speed is going to make you not only a scoring machine but nearly impossible to guard!

Principle 7: Space Equals Opportunity

Any time there is space between you and a defender you have an opportunity on the offensive end. Space may allow you to get open, get into a shot, make a pass or just reevaluate whats going on around you on the court. A prime example of principle is in a closeout situation. As a defender quickly tries to close the space between you and him, you have a huge advantage. If you decide to drive the defender not only has to come to a stop but has to change his momentum and energy close to 180 to stay with you. That being said, because of the space: A closeout is the best time to drive with the ball. Elite players dont luck their way into space or closeouts, Elite players create their own closeouts and thus their own opportunities. Again looking at the importance of your feet, you can use jabs, fakes and movement to change the defenders stance and thus create space. Any type of space you create is some sort of an opportunity and, the more Elite you become, the more space youll see and the more opportunities you will have!

Principle 8: Awkward is Awesome

The first time you ever shot a layup with your off hand it probably felt a little awkward for both your feet and your hands. Reason being, you had never done it before! There are numerous things that Elite players do that feel awkward for the average player. Deron Williams often finishes right hand off the right foot. Is this natural? No. Is it efficient and effective? Absolutely! Something feels awkward if you havent done it before. To get rid of the awkwardness, go to work! Every time you work on a move or a drill and feels awkward you should get excited! If something feels awkward then you havent done it before and you now have the opportunity to add something new to your game! As you practice and train what was once awkward will become normal and eventually become second nature. Were going to give you drills with tennis balls, cones, chairs and medicine balls; when you start out some of these may feel awkward. Just remember, this awkwardness only temporary and is an opportunity that will eventually take your game to another level!

Principle 9: Dont Search for Rights & Wrongs, Search for Solutions
Basketball is a game with an infinite number of game situations. Every time down the court and every time you touch the ball is going to be different than the time before. That being said, there isnt going to be a right thing to do in every situation. The correct way to shoot a layup on the right side is with the right hand off the left foot. But, if the defender is on your right side then it doesnt make sense to put the ball right in front of him. In situations like this you may need to: Abandon whats Right if there is a better solution.

With infinite situations you need to have numerous solutions so that there isnt a situation for which you dont have an answer. You may have to perfect a finish that others arent practicing or work on your behind the back passes even though some discourage it. The more you are capable of doing the more solutions youll have on the court and, the more solutions you have, the more Elite you become!

Principle 10: Be a Student, Not a Fan

We all love playing, practicing and even watching basketball. Most NBA players will tell you they are basketball junkies and watch basketball anytime it is on just like you and I. But, when you turn on your favorite team and watch the game, are you merely watching the game or are you studying it? Here is a piece of advice that you wont likely here but will greatly help your game: Watch your favorite player, Dont watch the game. Lets assume for a second that youre a big Lebron James fan. Next time the Miami Heat is on TV, watch the entire game but every time up and down the court watch only what Lebron does. Watch how he works to get open, how he plays help side defense, how many different ways he finishes at the rim. If you spend an entire game just watching a player youre going to learn a great deal about how you can develop your own game. Now, imagine you do this for Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron and Dirk Nowitzki. If you watch four games focusing only on these four players you will learn four completely different styles and while seeing numerous things you can add to your game! You can take it even further, though; approach the game like you would approach a subject in school: Study basketball, take notes about basketball, learn about basketball. When you watch a game take notes on what you like and what youve learned. When you go through a workout write down recollections of what you learned or where you feel you can improve. When you go into a class and truly want to learn something, you takes notes and study what you were taught. Do the same thing with basketball. Dont just practice or train, learn how and why youre training the way you are. NBA and college players spend hours watching film and breaking down footage now, as your strive to be Elite, you can start doing the exact same thing!

The Kill Boxes The Most Effective Places on the Court

The highlighted regions represent The Kill Boxes. These are the 5 most productive areas on the court.

Benefits of Getting the Ball to the Kills Boxes

Forces defensive breakdown allowing for offensive opportunity Create Double Teams Increased opportunities for teammates (assists) More offensive rebounding chances

Higher shooting percentages More free throws