“The Almost Palm”

When practicing dribbling, don’t just practice dribbling the ball with your hand on top of the ball. Also, practice the “almost palm”. Here is what we mean: imagine that the ball has a clock around it and imagine that you are dribbling right-handed. If you dribble with your hand on top of the ball, that is dribbling at 12 o’clock and it is difficult to maneuver the ball forward or backward or wherever you may want to move it other than straight down. Now imagine that your hand meets the ball at 5 o’clock (slightly behind, as well), now you can get under the ball (a little) and move it forward or by rotating your hand at that level, move the ball back or left or right. Be like the pros: stretch the limits of what the rules allow and feel the freedom and manipulation that comes with it. Practice by dribbling once for every step you take (hand at 12 o’clock) and then dribble every other step (hand at 5 o’clock).