why most people aren't good at basketball

April 2nd, 2007

And when I say most people I'm talking about those casual practitioners. Like people playing in the park, or working people playing in the company gym, that kind of thing. Not kids.

Because they think it's about making baskets. Of course, basketball *is* about scoring, but it's about a lot more than that. Scoring is an end, but how you achieve it also matters. It's like driving a car, you want to get to your destination, but the way you do that makes a difference.

Basketball is, in a very big way, about palm action. If you watch those highlights from the NBA, plays of the week, stuff like that, what you see is people who have impeccable dexterity. If you take a person who's never played and put them next to a pro, the biggest difference between the two, in terms of skill (not physical stature), is hand dexterity. If you've never played basketball, you don't even realize what your hand is capable of.

Where this matters most is on the floor, so everything that goes on with dribbles, fakes, starting, stopping etc. If you have good dexterity you can do just about anything. It's probably also the one thing that takes the longest to learn. It's all in the palm.

But it helps you with everything. From the point of view I opened with, it helps you tremendously with scoring as well. Because now, it's not just shots, you can also make all kinds of drives. Alright, everyone can do a lay-up, but if you have the palm action, you can spin it any number of ways, no matter what the situation is.

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3 Responses to "why most people aren't good at basketball"

  1. erik says:

    I never got to the point where I realised that myself :D

  2. Graham says:

    If only this newfound knowledge could improve my basketball 'skills'. :(

  3. Eddy Mulyono says:

    After hand dexterity, I would suggest strategies.

    I very rarely play basketball. When I play with people who play more often than me, what I observed is that they can execute screens very well.