Questions From Subscribers...

I think you have to take a step back and take a more universal view of what happens on the basketball court. You say you don't see the reason for a 180 degree pivot. Using it to get away from a defender, as you stated, seems like a pretty good reason to me. But, let me take you through some situations: You have a player come to the high post from the low post and receives a pass from a player on top, how does your post man turn to face the basket? 180 degree pivot. You have a player come from the right block, off a downscreen, to the right wing and receive a pass, how does he get around to face the basket? 180 degree pivot. You are on defense, a shot goes up, how do you turn to box out your man? 180 degree pivot. You are defending in the lane, the ball comes on the drive down the right side, you step to cut off the driver and he lays the ball off to the other side of the lane and you not have to cut off the driver from the left. How do you get there? 180 degree pivot. I suppose you could just turn around but even that would be a pivot. If not, it would be a travel if you had the ball.

The next time you watch a game (or a practice) watch and see how many times the players change direction 180 degrees and face the opposite direction. Watch their feet and see how many times they pivot. You could just move your feet I guess but the more efficient you are when you change direction the more efficient, quicker and effective you will be.

In regard to the drop step, there is no "most important pivot." You do have to give your pivot some context. As illustrated above, pivots are made in so many places that sometime they have to be pointed out to you or you don't realize that you have done one. Coaches may have a different terminology for each situation but the fact remains that a drop step is a drop step whether it is made as a post move or a retreat step or to throw an outlet pass. If you are good at it in one situation, you should be good at it in all situations.

I teach drop steps using the chair pivot drill that is on the website.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/ChairPivot.html

To help players understand the technique and subtleties of the pivot, I try to give them a specific goal. Put a chair outside the lane, with the seat facing the basket and a ball on the seat. Have the player come across the lane to the ball. Here are the point of emphasis and the goals: Jump stop and get low (bend at the knees not the waist) and stay low through the entire pivot. Using your right foot as your pivot foot, swing your left foot back, in a DIRECT LINE to the basket. Make this step as long as possible and be sure the player is still as low as he was when he picked up the ball. I, now, have him take off on his left foot, drive his right knee at the basket, allow your body to turn and explode to the basket to make a layup (later I will add in power dribbles and different types of shots). I will practice using both pivot feet. As they get better with their feet, they will make more shots. As they make more shots, they will gain confidence.

Then when they get into other situations, I will refer back to that situation and they transfer the step into the other situation easily. For example, when teaching recovery after being beaten on the dribble, I can say "drop step to a point where you can get ahead of the dribbler. It is the same footwork we used in the lane, just turned sideways." It seems to give the players more comfort knowing that they have executed the step before and they then make the step in a direct line and are able to recover more quickly

I don't know if this helps. I think a little sideways and sometimes things get lost between my head and the computer keys. This stuff is much easier verbally. Feel free to get a contact me if you need more help.

Don Kelbick
Contributing Editor Breakthrough Basketball
http://www.DonKelbickBasketball.com

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