[WizardofOzParticipant]

 I’m 16, and I’ve been working on my handle a lot lately, but it’s still average at best. I’ve been wondering this for year’s but does ball-handling come natural? One of my friends told me that ability to handle the ball is natural and great ball-handlers are born with the coordination to know where the ball goes without looking. I admit I could’ve put in more work as a kid on my handle, and while it has gotten better lately, no matter how hard I work from here on out, I think it would be impossible for me to develop an elite handle like guys like AI, CP3, and Nash. 

And plus, usually guys don’t improve their handle much when they get into the NBA.

 

[WolfRobParticipant]

 I’m sure SOME can come naturally, but to say it all comes naturally is such a cop out.

WORK YOUR ASS OFF!!! Couple hours of ball handling every day. You think CP3 came out of his momma dribbling like that? Those guys worked for it.

[HitsterParticipant]

I’d say a lot would depend what position a person plays, bigger guys are not going to be ball carriers once they start playing at any sort of level. There has to be talent there to play any sport and if you are a decent basketball player you would surely have some ball handling skills

[Wahoo757Participant]

Your friend is mostly right, I believe a lot of ball handling comes from coordination. There’s a reason why 7 footers that grew too fast and are very uncoordinated athletes can’t dribble the ball and why the 6 foot guards that are very good natural athletes can dribble the ball. But that’s not to say that’s all that matters, coordination can serve as your basis, but hard work is what makes the good ball handlers into great ball handlers.

[llperez]

learn to own the basketball in your hands. Practice crazy stuff like the and1 mix tape guys. Seriously, old timers will tell you to practice fundamentals which helps as well, but i always thought that if i could go between my legs and show exaggerrated crossovers and stuff that the fundamental stuff would come easier.

[alex23Participant]

 it helps when u dribble at a earlier age , i learned to dribble way before i learned to shoot , but all in all if u want to get to that level u gotta work kard for it 

[bloodshyParticipant]

Both answers are right.  Obviously, like everything else, part of it comes down to natural capacity.  Will you ever have Nash-like handles?  Probably not.  But don’t let that serve as your cop out.

Hard work can make you a good ball handler unless you are abnormally uncoordinated.  I had no left hand game at all, but developed a solid left hand game (handle and shot) by spending the time.  My natural gifts are very average and my work ethic at that time was not spectacular. 

The bottom line is that you will definitely get better with work and if mother nature gave you an edge, congratulations–and keep working.

[NickWayne87Participant]

 to shoot way before i learned to handle i was the opposite of alex….i was hitting freethrows in a row on a regulation height hoop from the time i was 5 or 6 years old. the ground at my house when i was young was uneven though so i couldn’t work on my handle as much as I liked. When i played pick up games as a kid i would get picked near the end because they’d rather have the guys that could dribble over me but i still found a way to be effective and score….

let me get to it…the point is i was closer to like you….it wasn’t until i was 14 that i decided "ok, i’m gonna REALLY work on my handle" as i wanted to hoop for the high school…..I had no crossover then and it took from then till i was 17 before i was shakin people out of their shoes….by my senior year in high school after really puttin in the work i had a good handle.  You just need to keep hoopin, your handle will come.  dribble a basketball every chance you get and keep playing pick up games, it’ll just come to you.

[HotSnotParticipant]

Refering to it as "ballhandling" is misleading.  Your foot work is equally as important as anything you’ll do with your hands while dribbling.  Any aggressive move or change of direction also requires a flexed core… which most people are unaware of.  After that, getting all these components to come together and having them appear to be second nature or "instinctive" takes repetition.

[Zeke313Participant]

Practice with multiple balls

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

 im trying to become a better ball handler to.. and i have shown some progress…. but it just takes practice and practice and drills and challenging urself

[NYK2010Participant]

^

Did you see when they showed Baron Davis practicing this yr. when trying to come back.

Those drills will help your handles.

[bdiddy5115Participant]

It’s a mix of a few things:

1) Experience/Practice. This is obvious, and it’s particularly helpful if you started at an early age. If you don’t gain a comfort with dribbling when young, it’s harder to acquire that comfort when you’re older.

2) Natural body looseness. This one is underrated. Some people are just not naturally loose (see: dancing, not always related, but there’s a positive correlation, I’d assume). It’s easier to acquire skills through practice if you have that natural fluidity.

3) Confidence. It manifests itself in all areas of basketball, but you could argue that it’s most needed to be an effective ball-handler. Look at Mike Conley, who has a very refined handle, but lacked confidence in his first few years, and it was rendered almost useless. Then once it came around, he started slicing through defenses like he was capable of.

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

I think maybe 5-10% of it may be natural due to coordination,but honestly if you want to handle the ball at an Elite level you have to practice,practice,practice, ballhandling is not like athleticism, where some guys just come out the womb super fast and jumping high.

Ballhandling is more about just hours in the gym and alot of repitition, and you don’t have to do those And1 tricks man, just the basic ball handling drills will get you a right handle and like bdiddy said confidence will play a HUGE part,but if you’ve been in the gym bustin yo ass, then you should have no problem to handle the ball the way you want when the lights are on.

[omphalosParticipant]

Make sure whenever you practice dribbling, you avoid looking down at the ball. It seems simple, but being able to not look at the ball when you’re dribbling will go a long way towards helping you develop a "natural" handle where you’re always aware of where it is.

[mosdefParticipant]

I would stay away from alot of the and1 stuff cuz alot of it is carrying the ball, which is illegal in basketball.

 

Ballhandling is definitely made by practice and application. Supposedly Steve Nash didnt start playing basketball till he was 12 cuz he was playing soccer before that. The younger you are the better cuz at 16 you arent going to be at elite PG level in just one summer. It will make you a better player so keep on practicing

If I give you the stuff I do with my son it would be:

1-(this is basic) dribble with fingers, run with ball in front hand on top

2- practice with 2 balls once you get the hang of one. smaller balls are good too. you can get those at Baby R Us or even tennis balls

3-whatever drill you do with your strong hand you should do at least 5 times as much with your weak hand

4-play alot of ball

5-know your opponent cuz when they start sinking in on your drives someone is open and you should know that

[Shanetaylor95Participant]

I think it does , dribbling a basketball ball with my left hand is the only thing I can do as good as my right hand

[JoeWolf1]

 I’ve never been a great ball handler, partially because I was always one of the taller kids growing up.  I didn’t really play basketball til I was 10 and joined a youth league, but since I was over 5′ tall I was put in the post.  By the time I was a Sr in HS I had a respectable handle, because of ball handling drills and 7 years of organized basketball practices, not to mention that I stopped growing at 6’2” so I was no longer a true post. But still, it was just about repetition and observing those with good handles and imitating moves. 

A lot of post players growing up get yelled at for handling the ball in scrimmages or games, and are doing post drills, rebounding drills and outlet passes during practice while the guards are handling the ball every day. 

I think if you’re playing ball at age 5 or brought up as a guard, you’re more likely to have a better handle. Even if you have a growth spurt and end up being 6’8” you have that foundation that kids that were tall as pre teens dont have. I think it’s more nurture than nature.  

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