3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat your Defender
3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat Your Defender
From my personal experience coaching, I’ve found that one of the best ways to get a kid to
want to practice a move endlessly, until they perfect it, is by showing them that one of their
favorite NBA players uses it in games. That’s why this week I’m showing you 3 NBA dribbling
moves used by:
1. John Wall
2. Derrick Rose
3. Kemba Walker
To beat their defenders off the dribble and get into the “rack zone” to score. If you coach the
dribble drive motion offense, you’ll know this is a must have skill for your ball handlers, so let’s
see how these elite players do!
John Wall
The Move: “Put them to Sleep” combo crossover – hesitation – crossover
1. Wall comes down the court and sees the defense is set, so he doesn’t rush in.
2. He does a between the legs- behind the back combo dribble in one fluid motion.
3. Right off the behind the back he hesitates to freeze the defender.
4. He crosses over quickly and explodes, beating his defender and is on the way to the rim
for a layup.
Page 1 of 5
www.coachbase.com
3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat your Defender
Coaching points:
-
-
-
Remember all those combo dribble moves (crossover-between-behind) that you
practiced? That’s the pace Wall dribbles at to set up his man. Not lightning quick, but
the key is it’s in a constant rhythm to get the defender “lulled to sleep”.
The hesitation is what gets Wall by his defender, noticed how he stands upright and
brings his right hand across as if preparing to drive middle.
What makes Wall so fast is his first two steps. Just take a look at them. The highest foot
(left) pushes off, but then his right legs immediately plants and pushes too. By his third
step his left leg is in front of his defender to protect the ball.
Watch this for yourself here. He does this kind of move at least once a game.
Derrick Rose
The Move: Snake dribble middle into floater
1. Rose pushes the ball down the court in semi transition and ends up on the wing being
guarded by his man and shadowed by a big in the paint.
2. As the big is in position to help, he snake dribbles middle. What’s a snake dribble? It’s a
crossover where the purpose isn’t to get to the rim, but just to get back to the middle of
the court where you can make a play.
Page 2 of 5
www.coachbase.com
3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat your Defender
3. Both defenders back off and Rose flips in one of his patented two foot bank floaters.
Coaching points:
-
-
-
The snake dribble is just as effective in pick and roll situations. After using the screen,
your ballhandler snake dribbles back to middle where he’s in a better position to see the
floor and make a play.
The move is a great example of Rose getting his body between his man and the ball. He
does it throughout the snake dribble, and protects the ball going up for the floater as
well.
Rose always takes one hard dribble and rises with it for the floater. The same applies if
it’s a pullup jumper as well.
Watch this for yourself here. He destroyed the Lakers that night with this move.
Kemba Walker
The Move: In & out into off footed finish
1. Kemba uses the screen and his man gets caught up in it. Now he just has the big to
beat.
Page 3 of 5
www.coachbase.com
3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat your Defender
2. With a hop step, Kemba does an in & out dribble to fake driving middle.
3. He then pushes the ball out in front of his body, to the rim, and finishes with a one step
quick finish to beat the big man’s recovery. Smooth!
Coaching points:
-
What really makes this move is Kemba’s great footwork. First, he uses the hop step to
make the defender think he’s going middle. The defender is watching his body, not the
Page 4 of 5
www.coachbase.com
3 NBA Dribbling Moves to Beat your Defender
-
ball and doesn’t see the in & out. Then, his one step finish catches his defender by
surprise.
The other thing that really sells the in & out his Kemba’s head fake. He’s looking middle
the entire time, up until he pushes the ball out in front of him.
Watch this clip for yourself here.
Page 5 of 5
www.coachbase.com