| 1 Tony Barone
One of the biggest shortcomings of their teams has been a lack of conditioning in their legs.
They do not allow you to drive middle, you have passing angles.
On a whistle, get in stance, athletic position, right foot forward, left foot even with the heel of the right foot, on each subsequent whistle, advance step, push off the left foot, step with the right foot, keep the ball hand moving.
Progressions
- retreat step (on each whistle), push off the front foot, step with the back foot
- swing step on each whistle, the attacker drives at your front foot, pull your elbow through (change front foot)
- on a second whistle, advance, retreat, swing, retreat, retreat. Aaron Blakely - players are down in stance on one sideline facing a baseline, arms out, each time coach calls "step" they take a step with the lead foot then the trail foot [wide, wider, wide], repeat across the court and back, pitter-patter if coach calls "hot feet". Don Showalter - on "big step", players take a big step with the lead foot and push off with the other foot, continue from sideline to sideline, repeat coming back, on "sprint", sprint to a sideline. M. Gajic (FIBA) - start with hot feet for 10 seconds, shuffle sideways to a first line on the floor, hot feet, continue to the other sideline and back, do 3 sets of 8 reps, first set 50-60% intensity, then 70-75%, final set 80-85%.John Calipari - lunges - players start on the sideline, slap the floor, take a lateral lunge step each time coach calls "lunge", progressions - two lunges on each command, then three lunges (the most you will ever need in a game, it means four dribbles). You have to move your feet and keep your hands up. See Defending - Close-out and reach step, Popping, Push-point slides, Calipari box close-outs. |