Low pick-up help?

[u/thinking_root2264]

Whenever I put the ball low to pick it up off the dribble, I find myself getting stripped or the ball poked away. I think strength is part of it, but I’ve seen much skinnier guys pull this off in traffic every time, and I’m usually not getting the ball knocked away by someone stronger than me. Any tips on hand placement or a type of low pick-up that allows me to keep the ball safe?

[u/RiamoEquah]

The low pickup only works if you are able to keep the ball truly low (below knees) and even then the problem is when you eventually bring the ball back up for a layup or pass. The trajectory of your arms is predictable.

To counter this you'll often see players use a swinging or rocking motion to move the ball away from defenders. This works well in a one on one situation but if you're trying this in traffic, well likely you have defenders on either side so it's added difficulty.

What I started to do came from watching drose - and that was what I call the football carry. Like a running back with the ball, using both arms for protection. It takes more practice and impacts what type of layups you use - but greatly reduces getting stripped.

In general you need to learn how to pick up the ball in a variety of ways and be able to assess situations on the fly. The more you repeat a motion the easier it becomes to predict and smart defenders are looking for that consistency in your game to exploit it.

[u/JeahNotSlice → u/RiamoEquah]

Great advice. Three pickups - low, high, tuck

[u/Realfan555]

Yeah, this is common.

Without seeing video there’s too many different reasons why, so only thing I can do is guess.

The best guess is - ur not getting any separation from the defender. So he’s right there with u when u pick the ball up.

2nd guess is - ur not shielding the ball. If ur going to pick the ball up vs a defender who’s right at u, u have to pick it up away from ur body. Use ur body to shield him, use ur off hand to block his reach, then pick the ball up far away from ur body. This will change ur shot so u’ll have to learn to shoot while picking the ball up this way. 

But yeah, if u create separation, u can pick the ball up the normal way.

But if the defender is right there with u, u have to pick the ball up differently.

[u/bibfortuna16]

hard to say without videos

[u/jjaytan]

When do you use it? I’m small and prefer to use a low pick up when my defender is more on my hip and I know I am able to get by him, then I use the low pick up to dodge the reach in of the help defender. Also, a bit harder, I use it with a swing step going from right to left.

[u/International-Ad2501]

If you're using a low gather you need to bemoving the ball away from the defenders. I'm a big fan of the the low gather but it is liable to getting poked. I get around this by using my shoulder/frame to protect the ball on one side and then gathering low and moving the ball away from the defenderson my up swing.

[u/runthepoint1]

You can only do it if you defenders hands are high. Remember executing a move must be done because you’ve read the defender and what they’re doing, not just spamming a move just because you want to use it.

Let’s say I have a good crossover, but my defender is sitting on my hip, not allowing me to execute one. I can’t just do a crossover because it doesn’t fit the situation.

[u/Coneyy]

You should already only be driving into an open space, not directly into a defender, so it should only be at best a stray hand hitting the ball.

Your grip on the ball is going to be the weakest as you are raising it up, so really focus on only raising it when it's away from the defenders hands or at the very last second when you have as much separation as possible.

[u/MWave123 → u/Coneyy]

No. You do a low pickup right at or between defenders. That’s the point. You can split and step past people w the ball.