July/August 2022 - 22

and if you study the great shooters in the league, their
head stays still when shooting with their eyes fixed on
the target. Then, I instruct the players to place their
feet shoulder-width apart, right foot slightly ahead (the
opposite for left-hand dominant players). Their arms
should be close to the body and bent at the elbow with
their chest held high and their hands facing out.
Instruct them to move their head again
and it's obvious that they have better balance
in what I call the basketball stance - head
up, chest out, butt down, knees bent, arms
bent, chest high, and hands held at the
90-degree angle.
This might seem elementary to a lot of
coaches, but having had the opportunity
of going to hundreds of practices and
games as the player personnel director
for the Cavaliers and Clippers, I think
it is very important to be successful in
developing your team play at
a high level on both ends of
the floor.
Once balance is
established, I go into jump
shots. When demonstrating
the jump shot you want to
display landing on the balls
of the feet, getting the butt to drop down, and
keeping the head and chest up. The head must
stay centered at the midline of the body. It's a
little bunny hop with the feet landing on the floor
as quickly as possible. I describe the chest as
" King Kong " and the head as " Up Periscope. " In
order to be a successful shooter, you must stop
22 JULY/AUGUST 2022
with a solid base and balance. How many times have you
seen a player sprint down the court and get a shot and
not be in balance? It's very important to get stopped -
depending on the level slowly begin incorporating this
concept. The ability to control your body is paramount
to improvement.
Next, we transition to pivots. Whether it's forward or
reverse, pivots are instrumental in playing basketball the
correct way. Rebounding with block-outs, outlet passes,
running lanes to shoot, coming off screens, rolling off
screens, spin dribbles, post play, wing play, defense,
quarter turns, slides, if a defender is off-balance they have
difficulty guarding the dribbler.
In teaching pivots, I always have right-handed players,
in the beginning, use their left foot as the pivot foot and
vice versa for left-handers. One of the obvious reasons is
it is easier as a right-hander to shoot off the left foot and
vice versa. It's better to do one skill 25 times than 25
kills one time. Using the left foot set up Adrian Dantley
in one-on-one moves.
I divide the pivot like a pie, four quarters teaching
the forward pivot calling out 1,2,3,4. I stress having
elbows out, the ball on the shooting side, and keeping
the head level so the body doesn't go up and down. If
you stand up, players need to get back down to shoot or
make one-on-one moves. Tell them there is an electric
wire over their head and they must not bob up and hit
the wire.
Once the callout gets to 4, the players are back to
where they started - facing the coach. Then teach
reverse pivot, calling out 4,3,2,1. Again, elbows should be
out, pivot on the same plane, keep the head up and use
the off-foot and leg to drive themselves so they can pivot
with quickness.
July/August 2022

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