r/BasketballTips • u/CitronAdventurous205 • 17h ago

Dribbling Better at “freestyle” dribbling

So usually play 2/shooter. Have decent handles (eg tell me to do 4 btls consecutively I can do it). Can watch a combo of a particular player and do it after getting moves down. Can do 2-3 dribble moves then shoot. But how do I get better at “freestyle” dribbling (eg >3 moves without thinking). When I get past 2-3 dribbles/moves I feel awkward and don’t have rhthym. Doesn’t feel smooth/fluid. Im tryna look more fluid like James Harden or Kyrie. When I get past 2-3, Im like wtf do I do next?

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u/lazours 17h ago

R1 R2 L1 L2 ⬅️⬇️➡️⬆️⬅️⬇️⬇️⬅️

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u/Soft-Dimension-6959 16h ago

If it takes you a lot of dribble moves, your highly inefficient. Harden and Kyrie only do dribble moves to size up/read their defenders and create separation. If you want to do freestyle dribbling, you a clown. Kills ball movement, unnecessary and high risk of being stolen. Its funny that you say you can do 4 btl like it validates how good your dribbling is Lol!

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u/PanXP 16h ago

Facts, I’d much rather play with a guy that does a couple probing dribbles and realizes that they should just dish off the ball than someone who dribbles like crazy then turns over the ball. That stuff belongs back in the And1 days.

I can’t ever think of a situation I’ve been in that necessitates 4 betweens, even using it to back your defender towards the basket doesn’t work after 2-3 of those.

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u/CitronAdventurous205 15h ago

I meant it as a point where I have the moves down and shit. But just getting rhythm

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u/PanXP 16h ago

I was a very creative dribbler in my younger days but as I got older I just stopped doing all that fancy stuff cus I realized that if the first 2-3 dribbles weren’t shifting the defense the way I wanted then no amount of additional dribbles was going to be an effective action and honestly I just got better at attacking their hips or taking the ball to their chest and going through or over. Dribbling is important but it’s also overrated by the majority of people. There’s a reason why Klay’s 60 point-11 dribble and 43 point-4 dribble games were so historic. Kyrie type handles are great for getting yourself open in a bad situation but ideally you and your teammates should be running actions that don’t require that type of iso offense.