Whether your player is a Guard, Forward, or Center, good ball handling skills are essential in basketball for accurate passing, effective dribbling and successful shooting.
The advanced ball handling drills and videos below can be completed alone, or in a group, and include figure of 8, spider and side-to-side dribbles. This category also includes two ball exercises for players to challenge older players and develop their hand speed, coordination and reaction speed.
Good spacing is only the start. The best modern offences teach players to attack the defence's rotations and play in a permanent 4-on-3 - here is how to coach that read.
The ball screen produces almost half of all professional offensive possessions, yet most teams still teach it as a memorised play. The modern approach trains the read - giving players a framework to decide based on what the defence does, not what the coach called.
The closeout is the most repeated defensive action in modern basketball. With fouls per game climbing in the 2025-26 season, coaches must teach defenders to contest the three without surrendering the drive or putting shooters on the line.