The components of a great handle

Part 2: The NBA’s magical skill

BY DAVID THORPE

The handle of your dreams takes work. It is fair to guess that an elite NBA dribbler like Stephen Curry has spent thousands of hours just working on dribbling. Typically we suggest players do whatever handling drills their team directs, plus five to ten minutes a day, every day, from age five or six through retirement. (Curry does at least this much in public before every game.)

In Part 1 we showed how beautiful it can be when the sport’s seven dribbling moves are elegantly combined to tell convincing stories to the defense. Today, we’ll get more granular and examine some key components of a successful dribble attack.

Hand placement is key

The ball goes where the hand sends it. 

Think of a clock face. Twelve is the top of the ball, 6:00 the bottom. Dribbling the ball straight down would require a hand at noon. A perfect side-to-side crossover, standing still, would start at 3:00 or 9:00. Moving forward would be more of a 2:30 or 10:30 start, with the dribbling hand set a l…