Since the NBA started cracking down on palming the ball a couple years ago, and they’re paying more attention than ever to players in the triple-threat position, shuffling their feet before a dribble drive, it’s important to pay attention to the basics when Coach Rocky of I Love Basketball TV teaches you Chris Paul‘s patented head fake while keeping your dribble.
Rather than palm the ball, which is easy to do when you’re faking a shot, you’re going to use your off-hand as “an illusion” according to Coach Rocky. It’s easy to mess this up because you’ll naturally hesitate with your hand cradling the ball from underneath — a good way to get whistled for the palming infraction — any time you’re faking a shot on the playground. In fact, this is one of our pet peeves in pickup ball.
But with Coach Rocky, you use the off-hand to sell the fake, like so:
This will only work if your defender is scared of your pull up, so watch as Coach Rocky brings you through a drill to first take the shot, then do a series of head fakes to throw off your defender…
What do you think?
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