2 Reasons Why Dribble Penetration is so Important
I grew up as a 2 guard trapped in a point guard’s body so stuff that i should’ve learned when I was younger didn’t happen until I was in high school and playing the point position. It is a completely different mindset for players to go from being a scorer to a distributor and I had to learn on the fly about the point position and how to get everyone involved.
One thing that I learned was how important dribble penetration is from the point guard position. If you want a real life example then look no further than Chris Paul. He causes teams nightmares with his ability to drive to the basket and get open shots for players. He does 2 things very well that I want to cover here:
1. Penetrate with a purpose: Don’t go into the key blindly and without a thought process in place. Many young point guards just think about beating the defender without thinking about what will happen if/when the help defense comes. You can get away with these things when you are younger but as you mature you have to have a plan for 1, 2, 3 steps along the way.
2. Be able to finish/Be a scoring threat: Great point guards are scoring threats when they get into the key. If they aren’t then the defense will slack off and not take the penetration seriously enough to stop the dribble. The entire point of penetration is to get the defense to move and shift making lanes open and players open so that offense is easier.
Let’s look at some scenarios: Chris Paul has Peja Stojakovic as a spot up shooter and he’s arguably the best shooter in the entire game. Chris Paul gets past his man and is on the same side as Peja. Peja’s defender has been taught since elementary school that he needs to stop the ball and help out whenever he can. As soon as Paul sees this he waits until the defense has committed to stopping him before he passes to Peja for the shot. If the player decides not to help them Paul can shoot a short jumper or try to go all the way to the basket. Either way, his penetration caused the defense to make some choices and he makes them pay. That’s why Paul coming off a pick and roll is so deadly…it creates instant penetration and opens up lanes all over the court. If the big man comes out on him he knows where the mismatches are. If the big man lays off then he knows what to do and he always has spot up shooters ready to launch when called upon.
Penetrate with a plan and be able to finish are the two lessons for today.
