10 Basketball Skills You Should Learn

Learning how to play basketball is learning its fundamentals. Here are those:

1. Dribbling – is important to penetrate to the hoop, move the ball across the court, get away from the defense, and find a good passing lane. There are different types of dribbles:

• change-of-pace,
• crossover dribble,
• behind the back,
• pull back dribble,
• low dribble,
• basic dribble,
• between the legs dribble

2. Passing – A good offensive attack requires good passing from players. This helps find an open man, to find a good shooter or to get away from a defender. There are several types of passes you need to learn:

• Overhead Pass
• Chest Pass
• Push Pass
• Baseball Pass
• Off-the-Dribble Pass
• Bounce Pass

3. Shooting – The object of the game is to win by scoring the most points. Therefore, improving the team’s shooting is important to win a game. There are several ways to score in the game:

• Jump Shot
• Dunk
• Alley oop
• Free throw
• Layup
• Three-Point Shot
• Hook Shot

4. Rebounding – is essential to gain or regain possession after the shot. Usually, the team who has the most number of rebounds after the game has more shot attempts and chances to score.

5. Offense – is the only chance that the team has a shot at the basket and scoring. Playing a good offense requires coordination among players and individual skill to execute well plays.

6. Defense – To be able to get a chance to score and gain possession, the team should play good defense and try to stop their opponent from scoring. As said, “A good defense is a good offense.”

7. Moves – There are different kinds of basketball moves that are important in executing both a good offense and a good defense. Moves are helpful in finding an open man, make a good shot or create an amazing play.

8. Violations – Knowing the kinds of basketball violations improves your game.

9. Assist – is given to a teammate to help him score easily. Thus is it important to find an open man on the court

10. Foul – is often an accidental contact made by the defender to his opponent or an aggressive move by the ball-handler towards his defender. However, a foul is also used as a strategy to stop the clock or to keep the shooting player from scoring easily. Learning how to use your fouls well is important in the game.