HoopsKing

Basketball Passing Skills with Dorian Lee

Passing is one of the most important skills in the game today. A sign of a great player is his or her ability to make everyone around them better. Passing is one of the major skills that make this possible. Many coaches talk about a player’s ability to drive left and right or to finish inside with both hands, but do not place enough emphasis on passing effectively with both hands. The ability to pass the ball with the hand nearest the intended receiver allows the passer to use a better angle and release the ball quicker. Releasing the ball quickly and establishing a good passing angle are two skills that all great passers must have.

Players often make the game more difficult by not making reads, dribbling into a danger zone, creating a poor passing angle, or simply trying to do more than what is needed with the pass (i.e. Unnecessary behind back passes). Remember to make the easy play. The best pass is the pass that finishes with a basket or leads to a basket. Great passers understand that they must be able to deliver the ball to the right person in the right place at the right time.

Great passers are also great ball handlers and see the floor at all times never missing an opportunity to create a play for a teammate. It is important that we understand concepts about passing in transition passing vs. pressure driving the lane for a kick or a dish feeding the post initiating the offense. Remember in practice to work on releasing the ball quickly and accurately and that every pass is a transaction between two players and every missed pass is just as much the passer’s fault as the receiver’s fault. Passing workouts should be progressive and focus on drills that simulate game situations that involve communication between passer and receiver while teaching players to create angles that make the game easy.

Basketball Passing Skills with Jay Hernandez

Passing is as fun as any skill set because it involves more than 1 person.  Any opportunity you get to involve a friend in an activity it usually makes that activity more fun.  Players who are prolific passers are usually the same players who know how to handle and get into seams.  Players who can do this usually force help which opens up passing lanes for your teammates.  Passing is a great pressure release.  When you play against great defensive teams or a great individual player the best way to get them off of you is to make a pass and cut. 

A couple of keys to passing includes:

1. Don’t telegraph your passes.  Look to score and just that threat alone will have the help defense come over and you will instinctively make the read.

2. Fake a pass to make a pass.  If you want to go chest pass off of triple threat you will fake low and get the defenders hands down and you quickly pass high or vice versa. 

3. Use different types of passes through out the game.  Using the same move over and over will be easy to stop after a while.  Same goes for passes.  If you only use one type of pass the defender will be able to get their hands in a position to get a deflection or a steal.

4. Try to hit players in rhythm.  This means if a player is coming off of a screen the ball should already be in the air as they are going shoulder to shoulder off of the screen.  There is nothing worse than a player fighting to get open and the ball arrives 2 seconds too late.  This hurts the chances of scoring and also negates the assist for you.  “Train like a Pro!”