By Brian McCormick
Director, High Five Hoop School
While pundits and experts complain about the state of the
game, the diminishing skill level and the heightened premium on athleticism,
few mention the de-emphasis of passing as a culprit. However, the failure of
guards and wings to feed the post properly contributes to a loss of back to the
basket play, an area Kareem Abdul Jabbar bemoans as one of the problems
plaguing today’s game. A guard’s inability to deliver a good pass to a shooter
contributes to the low shooting percentages that keep Tom Nordland awake at
night. And, the inability to make the correct pass in transition contributes to
low scoring, despite a significant amount of transition play. Collectively,
these deficiencies lead commentators like Charles Barkley to state that today’s
game is significantly inferior to that played ten years ago.
Of course passing is not the only element involved in these
deficient areas; however, passing is a part of the game that receives less and
less attention (especially since the retirement of Magic Johnson) and emphasis,
despite its prominent role in every facet of offense. Simple skills like
passing and catching sometimes overwhelmed my junior college team this year,
leading to countless unnecessary turnovers simply because players could not
catch the ball on balance or pass to the correct side of the player’s body.
Late in the season, I pulled players out of practice to play catch as a means
to focus their attention (and to slightly embarrass the repeat offenders) on
catching the basketball, a skill thought to be so simple it is taken for
granted.
As a coach, I know it is hard to coach passing. It is
frustrating to spend time working on chest passes when there are so many other
aspects of the game that require attention. And, with youth players, it is
nearly impossible to maintain their attention during passing drills. However,
it is imperative to teach passing, or every other phase of offense will suffer.
I was dumbfounded this year at the lack of skill and knowledge the player’s
possessed just in the area of post entry passes and the total inability of some
players to pass the ball ahead off of the dribble. This problem was more than
just a lack of hand-eye coordination or motor skills; the players did not
understand, had never been taught, passing angles. These players had never
thought about why they should make one pass over the other and nobody had
bothered to instruct them. They simply reacted, and many times, their reaction
was incorrect, thus leading to a turnover. Or, there previous lack of success
would prohibit the player from making a pass to the post when the post was wide
open.
Passing is more than just the skill of throwing the ball
from one person to the other. Passing incorporates the timing of the pass, the
receiving of the pass and the intelligence of the pass. Just as any knucklehead
can throw a football, only a select few are successful passers in the NFL. In
basketball, it is not difficult to throw the ball from one stationary,
non-defended person to the other, to play catch; however, passing is
increasingly a lost art in basketball, as players fail to understand all the
nuances involved.
While watching the NBA play-offs, the impact of a great
passer became clearly evident. On consecutive plays for the Charlotte Hornets,
David Wesley came off a pick with a loose curl cut and caught the ball and
immediately shot it. On the first possession, Baron Davis led Wesley perfectly
into his shot by passing the ball directly to Wesley’s shooting pocket,
resulting in a swish. On the next possession, Jamal Magloire passed the ball
and, while it wasn’t a particularly bad pass, Wesley had to reach for the ball,
shooting the ball while slightly off balance and missing long. While it was essentially
the same shot and Wesley probably should have made the second shot as well,
Davis’ perfect pass enabled an effortless shot.
As a player, I remember astute coaches imploring my teams
during shooting drills: “Good passes make great shooters.” The Utah Jazz is one
of the best shooting teams in the league because John Stockton delivers the
ball on time and in the shooting pocket every time. The Jazz do not have a
plethora of “pure” shooters, but they do take open shots in rhythm, and that
allows them to shoot a higher percentage than some teams who possess better
“pure” shooters.
I admit that I all but ignore passing drills as well. I do
not warm-up with three-man weaves, nor do I spend a great deal of time teaching
the proper mechanics of a two-hand chest pass. However, I do try to practice
passing by making every shooting drill a passing drill as well. In whatever
shooting drill we do, I will penalize the team/group, if I see bad or lazy
passes. Because I strive to make every shooting drill reflect the offense in
some manner or make it a competitive shooting drill, it is imperative that the
passers work as diligently as the shooters. By incorporating passing into the
shooting drills, it forces the non-shooters in a drill to stay focused and
helps the players see where their teammates want to receive the ball.
The following are a few fundamentals of passing that seem
to be ignored but will help eliminate needless turnovers.
- 1. Post entry passes: Incorporate passing drills into post drills. Players need to know to pass the ball to the baseline
side when the player is playing on the topside and to pass the ball on the
topside if the defensive player is playing on the baseline side. Allow players
to take one quick dribble to improve a passing angle if necessary. Also, as I
have heard Rick Majerus say: “Air passes are preferable to bounce passes.”
While many coaches teach bounce passes in the post because it is easier to
catch the softer pass, the likelihood for error is higher with a bounce pass
and the defense also has more time to react and steal a bounce pass. Also, post
players are generally taught to keep their hands and arms high, which actually
makes catching a bounce pass more difficult.
- 2. Outside hand passes: Many turnovers
can be avoided if players develop the ability to pass with either hand, thus
enabling them to use the outside hand to pass the ball and avoid the defense.
Players need to possess the ability to turn the dribble directly into a pass.
If a player must bring the ball through the middle of his body to make a
two-handed pass or worse a pass with the inside hand, the defense has a chance
to defend the pass and the pass becomes slower, thus getting to a shooter a
second late, rather than perfectly in stride. The outside hand push pass is preferable
and is an important pass to teach.
These two basic fundamentals (post passes/angles and outside hand push passes) will increase offensive efficiency and decrease turnovers if perfected by your team. They are fairly easy to learn and teach and can easily be incorporated
into shooting drills or post work. Therefore, no extra work is required, just
an attention to detail by the staff and players. By eliminating any lazy
practice habits and focusing attention on passing in drills where it is already
an incorporated skill (shooting drills, shell defensive drills, etc.), teams
can very easily improve their team passing and offensive efficiency.
