If you want to be successful at anything in life, it is important that you have a certain level of confidence. You must have confidence in yourself, in your ability, and in your preparation. The best performers across the world have a confident swagger.
The most confident players on the basketball court are the ones with the best handle. Some of the most flashy, confident players the game has ever seen have been the ones who have the “ball on a string”. Allen Iverson (Click link, it’s our favorite crossover of all time) , CP3, Derrick Rose, just to name a couple, could get anywhere on the court due there amazing dribbling skills. In a prime example of how electrifying a great ball handler can be, we look no further than this past All-Star weekend where Kyrie Irving crossed Brandon Knight to the floor, just hours after proclaiming he gained his ball handling confidence from dribbling a basketball with a plastic bag covering it.
If ball handling is the foundation of a player’s individual basketball game and the better you handle the basketball the more you will excel in game situations, then you must work dribbling everyday. There are numerous drills and games we can use to develop you ball handling ability but today we here at The Locker Room want to highlight some unorthodox ways of practicing your dribbling skills.
Below are four different ways to spice up your ball handling workouts and challenge your ball control in ways you never imagined. A word of warning; do not get discouraged when it doesn’t go smoothly at first. These are all advanced methods and you may never master any of them. But if you add in some dribbling under these overloaded conditions as a change of pace during your workouts, it will make dribbling through a double team seem like nothing.
Dribbling with Plastic Bags over the Ball
This crazy method, now made famous by Kyrie Irving, is the ultimate in creating an unpredictable feel for the ball during dribbling. What are the exact benefits of putting a plastic bag on the outside of the ball? The bag on the outside of the ball takes the bounce out of the ball and makes you dribble harder. The smooth, plastic surface also reduces the feel you have for the ball, so that you have to focus more on the controlling the ball using your fingertips and finger pads. Once the bag comes off, the ball now feels more sticky in your hands and you can trust in the new sense of touch you have developed with your basketball.
