It’s amazing to think about how far the game of basketball has come since I transitioned from a player to a coach and trainer. It’s equally as amazing to look at the growth of the strength and conditioning industry in that same timeframe. As someone who operates in that “gray area” developing athletes both in the weight room and on the court, I view basketball development through a pretty unique lens.
I’ve written previously about this gray area and received some awesome feedback from coaches out there who view training the same way and, honestly, solid feedback from coaches who completely disagreed with my stance. These conversations led me to dig even deeper into my training philosophy and develop even more clarity around how I coach, program, and see movement.
Right now, I’m really into “deconstructing” sports movements and building them back up based on the precise physical qualities we can enhance through training.
Right now, I’m really into ‘deconstructing’ sports movements and building them back up based on the precise physical qualities we can enhance through training, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on XThe goal is not necessarily to mimic those sports movements under load, although sometimes it may appear that way. I won’t have athletes shooting medicine balls or trying to dunk while strapped to a VertiMax.
This is more about determining what actions lead to effective basketball movements and finding ways to enhance those actions with as much bang for the buck as possible. If we need to improve our defensive slide, how can we do that besides just performing the same poor defensive slides we already have? We may look at lateral strength and power. We may need to enhance hip internal and external rotation. And then, we can plug in lifts, drills, and exercises that enable us to enhance those qualities.
Likewise, if an athlete has a flat jump shot because their release point is low, we may uncover that their release point is low due to a lack of shoulder mobility. So it’s not that their form is bad; they just cannot physically replicate consistent shot form because of their lack of shoulder flexion. If we deconstruct that, we can potentially give them more access to a range of motion, strength in that range, and shot reps in that range, which could lead to a more consistent jumper with a release point that allows them to improve their shot trajectory.
I use those overly simplified examples because they revolve around the two most important skills of the game—defense and shooting. But the examples I want to cover here are based more on attack moves and different ways to create separation from a defender.
One of the core principles of training that I think we can all agree on is moving from general to specific and finding ways to progressively overload stress for the athlete in front of you based on where they are and what their goals are.
I throw that disclaimer out there just to set the record straight that this approach is most useful for advanced or specialized basketball athletes or individuals who plan to become one very soon. I don’t think this is the best plan for a 14-year-old first-year student who is probably in dire need of general strength, speed, and skill training.
So let’s break down three of the most basic and common basketball moves, analyzing the goal of the move, how the athlete can successfully achieve that goal, and what qualities we can train to help this process.
1. Jab Steps
The jab step is one of the most basic but effective options a ball handler can use out of a triple threat position, with or without a live dribble. It has several variations and progressions, but today we’ll look at a classic hard jab step.
If you want a master class on using an effective jab, most will agree that Carmelo Anthony is the gold standard for this move. Kobe Bryant and Deron Williams were also masters of this move.
The primary goal of a jab step is to do one or more of the following:
- Disrupt the rhythm of the defender.
- Cause your defender to get off balance.
- Relocate your defender.
- Set up your own predetermined countermove.
The jab creates the illusion of a potential drive in the direction of the jab, so the defender must react to that accordingly. And as an offensive player, you can read the defender and attack based on that.
Sometimes the defender will shift back, giving you space to shoot. The defender may shift to the direction of the jab, giving you space to drive opposite. The defender may shift late, giving you space to turn the jab into a true drive in that direction. The possibilities are truly endless in this game of chess, not to mention some of the additional moves an offensive player can add with pump fakes, eye fakes, and other misdirection options.
So, what are the elements of a great jab step? The key factor is the intent behind the move. The offensive player must sell the jab; it can’t be lazy or submaximal. It is crucial to make the jab step believable, meaning it looks like the offensive player is actually going to move their body through space in some way.
What are the elements of a great jab step? The key factor is the INTENT behind the move. The offensive player must sell the jab; it can’t be lazy or submaximal, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on XAnother critical factor is the angle or projection of the jab step, which can vary based on the situation. The angle of the jab will determine where the defense shifts or reacts, which is critical to the next read as a ball handler. It’s important for an offensive player to understand that their jab step must make sense geographically on the court. Jabbing to where the help defense is already set up or toward a straight-line drive out of bounds isn’t going to put pressure on the defensive player. It’s usually best to use angles that invade the defender’s space or sell a drive because this will cause the defender to reposition themselves, leaving the next read up to the ball handler.
Next, balance is a critical component to a great jab—this will help avoid travel violations, sell the move, and, most importantly, get to the next movement efficiently. Jabbing forcefully into one direction without the balance or strength to decelerate that momentum will make the subsequent move slow and delayed or cause the pivot foot to be inadvertently moved. Another component of balance to consider is that if an offensive player is going to shoot out of the jab fake, they must return to a balanced position for that shot to have any chance to go in.
Intent, angles, and balance are not the only components at play but are definitely the most important from a physical preparation aspect. We can enhance these in the weight room and our on-court training with athletes.
For intent, a lot of improvement can be made as the athlete’s basketball IQ increases. Physically, we can implement rotational training that requires the athlete to improve their ability to powerfully rotate, as well as the decelerative qualities needed to put the brakes on their rotational movement.
Two general movements I’ve had significant success with include a rotational med ball throw and a half-kneeling plate or band chop.
Video 1. Medicine ball throws with a rotational component are an excellent way to help athletes improve that propulsive aspect of rotating with max intent.
Video 2. Half-kneeling chops are great for doing the exact opposite. Whether done with a plate or a band, they allow the athlete to start to use the entire core system to decelerate some of those rotations, which we know is crucial for the athlete to ultimately stay on balance within the jab.
If we inch closer to the line of specificity, we can use some drills that are a little bit closer to those sport actions we see in a jab step. One of my favorites is this “walking throw” with the Tidal Tank.
Video 3. This incorporates elements of momentum moving in similar angles to a jab step but in a much more dynamic environment. The movement forces the athlete to now link their torso up with their footstrike to propel themselves in a new direction.
To go completely specific, we can start to use weighted balls to hit the exact jab step pattern on the court or use band tension to apply overspeed or resistance to the jab movement, then contrast those reps with moves on air or within a drill.
Video 4. Like contrast training in the weight room or during speed work, we can apply the same concept to the court.
Here are some great examples of various other contrast methods. We can incorporate these loaded movements to excite the central nervous system, then contrast those reps to get the ultimate intent and precise movement we want, and help the athlete feel what they have unlocked in the process.
2. Side Steps/Step Backs
Side steps and step backs are now an essential fundamental skill for a hooper to have. At one point, they were considered advanced or “fancy,” but they are undoubtedly a part of the game now that every single player needs to have access to. Being able to shoot out of a step back or side step is just as essential now as a catch and shoot, layup, or floater.
Being able to shoot out of a step back or side step is just as essential now as a catch and shoot, layup, or floater, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on XIt would be hard not to crown James Harden the “King of the Step Back,” but props are also due to players like Steph Curry, Luka Doncic, and Damian Lillard. Speaking of Damian Lillard, he would probably take the cake for the best side step in the NBA in today’s game, with players like Jayson Tatum and Brad Beal as other notable masters of their craft.
If you want to watch someone with both of these moves in their bag at the most elite level, look no further than the WNBA’s Arike Ogunbowale. She is one of the best scorers on the planet in basketball, period.
The primary goal of both a step back and a side step is to do one or more of the following:
- Create separation from the defender to get a clean look at a shot.
- Force the defender to contest the shot too early or too late.
- Relocate your defender or force them off balance (or sometimes fall).
- Set up your own predetermined countermove.
These moves work so well because they are rapid changes of direction that allow the ball handler to get into their shot quickly. The threat of a drive to the basket makes the step back lethal because many defenses are predicated on keeping ball handlers out of the paint. With shutting down paint touches being a high priority for defenses, drives can be turned into step-back jumpers to give the offensive player an extremely clean look at a high-percentage shot. Similarly, the side step uses misdirection concepts and alters the defense’s rhythm and/or timing to get into the shot. Side steps are usually more subtle and cover less ground but work equally as well because of the disruption they cause to a defender’s balance and ability to anticipate movement.
Since these are technically two separate moves that I’ve grouped together for the sake of this article, we will look at what generally makes an effective step back or side step. One of the biggest factors is the athlete’s ability to change direction, which, in this case, requires multiplanar strength and power. Driving downhill and turning that into a step back requires a great deal of linear deceleration and also single-leg power to be back to reaccelerate back into the shooting position. A side step can also be added to a step back for even more separation from the defender, adding another layer of change of direction.
Believe it or not, mobility is another essential ingredient to make a good side step or step back: athletes get into some crazy positions during these moves. Coaches would look at some of these positions and call them “bad” or “dangerous,” but they are just naturally occurring postures that the game of basketball requires.
Video 5. For teaching athletes change of direction, there are a million-and-one ways to get great results. From a general strength approach, I really like the use of eccentric-focused training. I am a big fan of the Exxentric kBox because we can get the benefits of overloaded eccentric and overspeed eccentrics, both of which have a great deal of transfer to the decelerative qualities needed.
Videos 6 and 7. I also use simple basics for general changes of direction, like multidirectional jumps, speed cuts, and sprints with controlled decelerations to a lunge.
To start bridging the gap toward sport-specific skill, we can use multidirectional rhythm bounds and rapid bound backs to get into the angles we typically see in the step-back or side-step moves.
Videos 8 and 9. Lateral bound with vertical jump and ViPR rhythm bounds.
Finally, to bring it all together in the most specific application, we can add resistance, instability, or overspeed elements. I like to tow athletes forward in a linear sprint dribble and really emphasize the decel, which then turns into resistance on the reacceleration into the step back.
Another contrast concept we can use with these moves is incorporating overcoming isometric holds in specific force vectors we want to enhance. Similar to the concept mentioned in the jab step series, we can use immovable objects as our anchor point to put maximal force into the ground and then recreate those footstrikes in the move to create massive separation and effectiveness of the move. Here’s an example of what that may look like in a training setting.
3. Hesitation Moves
For the third and final common basketball move I’ll deconstruct, we will look at a hesitation move: “the hesi.” When it comes to the hesi, I think of vintage Jamal Crawford. His ability to float the ball, relax, explode, and then attack out of the hesi is pure art. The beautiful part about the hesitation move is that it can be the move, but it can also be used to set up another move or series of moves.
The beautiful part about the hesitation move is that it can be THE move, but it can also be used to set up another move or series of moves, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on XThe hesitation move is so important and common to basketball players that it’s honestly sometimes an unconscious movement that occurs just as a part of the athlete reading the situation or trying to gather their own rhythm.
The primary goal of a hesitation move is to do one or more of the following:
- Force the defender to relax or misstep based on your position.
- Set yourself up for a subsequent move or series of moves.
- Regain your balance or rhythm as a ball handler without retreating from the defense.
- Change your pace or level of play, or allow the play to develop around you.
The hesitation is such an easy move to master because there is truly no wrong way to do it. Everyone will put their own sauce on it and make their own unique version within the principles or goals listed above.
The number one must-have piece of the puzzle when it comes to an effective hesitation move is having a change of pace. A hesitation move is named as such because it does exactly what it sounds like. While the ball handler hesitates or delays their next movement by floating the dribble, their defender also hesitates and often has to wait until the next move to know precisely what they need to react to. That is why it is so important not just to relax but also to reaccelerate rapidly for the most drastic change of pace possible. Here’s a great example of how we try to manage and quantify change of pace.
Another complementary part of a great hesi move is to change levels. Similar to a change of pace, this throws off the defender’s timing and ability to read the next move. Just like going from slow to fast is tough to defend, going from tall to low is equally difficult. And the best part is that slow to fast and tall to low usually go hand-in-hand. Tall is relaxed is slow. Low is accelerating is fast.
The underlying attributes that can enhance both of these things are ultimately rhythm and coordination. Hard to measure but very easy to see: both rhythm and coordination are very fun to incorporate into training.
Video 10. Sprint-relax-sprint run.
From a general approach, we can teach change of pace with sprint-relax-sprint runs, in which athletes do exactly what it sounds like—sprint 10 yards, jog 10 yards, and sprint 10 yards. This helps athletes learn how to turn it on when they need to step on the gas and how to control that speed when they need to dial it back a little bit, then turn it on again.
Video 11. Kettlebell rhythm switches.
Contract-relax rhythm drills are another great general approach. I don’t even have a name for these; they just are. Drills like these help athletes find their rhythm in an environment that forces them to contract and relax rapidly over and over under load.
Some more specific ways to get better at hesitations are to add an element of reaction to the move itself. I love to drill these into training with verbal cues such as commands, colors, numbers, or other words that indicate what the athlete needs to react to. We can have the athlete pull up into a jumper by using a hesitation move, but at the last second, call out a command like “drive” to make them drive instead. Or “blue” could be drive left, and “red” could be drive right. No command could mean shoot as planned. The possibilities are endless.
Videos 12 and 13. Adding verbal commands to hesitation moves.
Deconstructing moves is not just about the move itself but also about the residual effects of the training. As mentioned, I still believe that a progression from general to specific with progressive overload in various ways is a cornerstone for any program.
Deconstructing moves isn’t just about the move itself but also about the residual effects of the training, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on XImproving the Whole
Nothing mentioned in this article is solely effective for the move itself. We covered components of general strength, general speed, mobility, posture, awareness, rhythm, and coordination—all of which I think every athlete can surely benefit from. These all pay dividends to the moves we want to enhance but also the development of the athlete.
The specificity comes into play to add more relevant context to the training and help the athlete connect the dots between training and live play.
Many coaches opt to keep the sport and the athletic development training for that sport separate, but I think the more we can blur those lines, the more we can uncover that there are incredible opportunities to help athletes reach new levels that we never thought were possible before. All it takes is an open mind, an eye for the game, and the imagination to experiment in search of constant improvement for your craft.
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