Why It’s Important to Learn How to Move Without the Ball in Basketball?

The truth is, moving without the ball is one the most crucial aspects of playing basketball. You may not know it, but this game is not just about shooting the ball.

While it is your ultimate goal, take note that you would need to execute various essential moves to see the ball entering your ring.

You would need to do various ways to keep the ball and prevent your opponents from getting it. You need to understand the importance of Cutting. To shoot a ball, the offenses need to have enough room to properly operate.

This is where the cutting movement enters. It is an undervalued skill, but you need to master it to make a good play. Cutting is beneficial in different ways:

Take note that there are a few things you need to remember to score off the cuts:

When you are exchanging positions, you would need to do a shallow cut. It is also applicable when replacing a player who vacated his position by passing or dribbling and cutting. Scoring options are the same as when you use a V-cut or L-cut.

Also known as the front cut, you can use the face cut in front of the defender to be on his ball-side. Doing this cut typically leads to a layup for either you or your teammate. You will need to set up your defender before cutting unless your defender is sagging off.

This refers to a cut wherein wing players cut underneath the basket from one court side to the other. Deep cut is most successful against zone defense. This is because the defense often loses sight of the player cutting, especially when the ball and other players preoccupy them.

With the term itself, this cut involves movements that are quick and explosive. Once you get the ball in the high post, you have the option to kick it back out or pass it to a cutter.

Starting out on the perimeter, this cut involves either a perimeter player or a post player with the ability to post up a smaller player. It starts when the player on the wing makes a quick cut down towards the low block.

You should make a quick stop with the defender tight against your body once you already settled where you want to post. Afterwards, you should pivot to seal your defender on your backside. Then, you must space out to a corner to for a 15-to-18 foot jumper.

There are two types of V-cuts: Quick V-cut and Jam-Down V-cut. Generally, it is the cut commonly used by a wing player against man-to-man defenses.

When starting on the low block, the L-cut is a good way to get open on the perimeter. You can also use it when starting in high-post. What you need to do is go down the lane and out. Apparently, it looks like an L; hence its name.

You may use it when the defense overplays the passing lane. The offensive player comes out to the ball. He plants the far foot from the basket, pushes off, and cut hard to the loop.

Indeed, it pays to learn how to move without a ball when playing basketball. The sport may be fun to watch, but there is so much you need to know about it.

There are so many skills you need to learn and properly do before you could play a good basketball game. Therefore, you should always remember to give high value to everything. Never ignore a single basketball technique.