The fundamentals of the game

Фото: FIBA Assist Magazine

In this section, we introduce the latest books, videos, CDs, and other tools that are primarily aimed at coaches, but certainly useful for all of our readers. Please send your suggestions and comments about our basketball-related media for review in this section.

Raffaele Imbrogno has been coaching since 1980. He is an Instructor for the Italian National Coaches Committee of the Federation and has been Director of the Italian Basketball Federation Study Center. Imbrogno is also the author of several technical basketball publications.

If you don't practice the basketball basics and gain complete control over them, it’s going to be very difficult for you to bring your game to the highest level possible. With that important message in mind, I want to review some recent DVDs that provide sound fundamental instruction in various aspects of the game.

The Hoops King (www.hoopsking.com) has always produced excellent DVDs aimed at teaching fundamentals rather than game tactics. Their latest offering, “Pivotology: Ultimate Footwork Drills”, by Michael Kennedy is a case in point. This interesting DVD puts a well-deserved spotlight on footwork, a basketball fundamental that is too often ignored. All of the drills focus on the correct use of the feet for the internal, external and middle (mid range and mid-post) positions. Every section is rich of drills and you can also print, from the DVD, a short and very useful technical book.

For those who think that the first step is most important part of every one-on-one situation, here is a great DVD that covers an important aspect of basketball that has rarely been addressed: “Drills & Workout to a Quicker First Step.” This innovative program by Dorian Lee is designed to increase quickness, help you read the defense, and act accordingly so you can easily get by your defender.

Also from this DVD you can print a little book of various drills. “The perfect Jump Shot,” “Extreme Full- Court Dribbling Workout,” and “Triple Threat Attack” are three new DVDs from Jason Otter, a basketball player who played professionally in Europe, but now works with elite college and NBA players. The first DVD, “The Perfect Jump Shot,” shows how to develop the best shot, not only on the catch, but also off the dribble. This DVD is for someone who is just learning to shoot or wants to perfect their existing shot. With “Extreme Full-Court Dribbling Workout” Otter will help you develop both hands equally well in full-court dribbling situations and help you become a player that can handle the basketball under extreme pressure and still make the split-second decisions that will win games. In “Triple Threat Attack,” Otter details the proper triple threat position and then moves into shooting from the triple threat.

Finally, coach Jay Hernandez has produced an excellent DVD aimed at teaching point guard skills. His “Advanced Point Guard Skills and Drills” focuses on dribbling drills, how to be both a slasher to the basket and a jump shooter, and how to get by a defender who is on you from one end of the court to the other. Coach Hernandez’s easy-to-follow teaching methods will help bring your game to the next level.