Anyone have any basketball tips.......?

Question

for playing defense? My feet are slow and i get crossed over a lot so any drills or things to try? any help much appreciated.

Answer 1

well if you get crossed over a lot STEP BACK and you wont

Answer 2

A person with slow feet can still be a good defender. Larry Bird is a prime example. Its good you realize you have slow feet b/c thats the first step.
To start. Understand that drills are great.. but great defense in basketball is played with the mind and the will more than anything.
Since you are not faster... you must be smarter. You must eliminate the advantage a quick player has over you. Start by giving people an extra 1/2 step room when you are isolated. Next..understand where your help is...Is it the sideline... ? Is it my boy next to me? And shade the opponent to the help. Remember that if the person knows you are slow....most of the time they will try to take you with their strong hand. Understand that and you can almost anticipate what your opponent is going to do and beat them to the spot defensively. You are already a 1/2step extra off... so it should only be a slide and a 1/2. Keep your feet moving when isolated and stay in your stance.. containment is the key. Dont be a hero and try for a bunch of steals. Keeping the player in front of you and forcing them to take shots with your hand in their face consistently can be just as frustrating to an opponent. Desire. How bad do you want to stop this person? Are you scared or confidently relaxed and determined. Basketball is a very personal sport. You should take defense very personal. Your opponent is trying to embarass you. Do you have the fortitude the stop him?

Answer 3

To play better defensively without improving yourself physically, you have to learn what the player cannot do well. If they can shoot off the drible, you'll have to be ready to play close, if they are only good from the inside, play off when the have the ball outside. Watch the person's gut/torso for movement, their head doesn't always give it away, and feet move fast in direction changes. Remember that your feet NEVER cross your feet... it is a shuffle, or a turn and run and such. Remember the person's goal (to get to the basket) so you can beat them to the point. Low defensiver slides, sprints, plyometrics (skipping, jumping), practice changing directions, pivoting and exploding out and such will help as well. If you haven't, please talk to your coach, he should have a lot more drills then I have time to write them down right now.
Best of luck

Answer 4

Practice a lot of side steps to increase your lateral movement. Also, make sure to watch their hips rather than the ball so you don't get faked out too much on the cross over. Another idea is to get one of your friends to work with you and just practice dribbling and defending up and down the court. This will increase your defensive positioning at least.

Answer 5

Work on not crossing your feet when moving side to side. Shuffle them. Keep low, but make yourself as big as possible with your hands up and out. Watch your opponent around waist level. This way you can use peripheral vision up to see a pass and down to see where his feet are going.

Answer 6

You need to work on your lateral quickness. You can make this better by doing lanes and if you want to get a better feel for defence from a specialist watch this video, it has given me a spot on our school team as the defender against the opposition's best player. And I won the defensive player of the year award this year for my region:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMWcwp-Kc1E&mode=related&search=

And if you want to go to the next level and sacrifice your body for the team then watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLGQ7lAyV-Q

Answer 7

Maybe you should try plyametrics...they are feet exercises that the Russians used in the Olympics awhile ago...Most of them consist of jumping, criss-crossing your legs as you jump, mainly for more agility manuevers.

Answer 8

Do lane slides, keep your butt down to the ground. Try to anticipate where the player is trying to go and take some chances. You have teamates for help, but don't rely on them to save you everytime you miss.

Answer 9

practice,practice,practice

before playing, do a couple laps and suicides to make your legs stronger.
wen playin D try to figure out which way the player is going by his dribbling and play heavy

Answer 10

instead of using your feet use your head. if the defender is faster than you give him space and when he tries to drive play physical.