I preach this as much as anything with young players and it doesn’t quite seem to resinate right away because it seems to be such a simple concept. Yet, I’ll watch a game of young players and see charge after charge and travel after travel. I’ll watch kids do jump passes and get up in the air with nowhere to go and I just cringe inside because all they needed to correctly learn was the jump stop.
With the jump stop all you are doing is taking a dribble and landing with both feet at the same time. But 4 things happen:
1. You land under control
2. You have a strong base
3. Still have the option to shoot or pass
4. You can get a lot of distance without dribbling
When a player lands under control it keeps them from charging or getting out of position. When on a fast break it is easy to jump stop and go right into your shot whether it be 2 feet or 20 feet. If you are going off one leg all the time you won’t shoot a high percentage. Imagine a player taking off from the 3 point line to shoot a shot because that what the alternative is really.
When you jump stop you land with your knees bent and a strong base is already in place. This allows you to go up strong if you are shooting a layup or a solid jump shot if you are shooting 15 feet out.
You can still pass the ball easily as well as shoot the ball from the jump stop but once you jump stop don’t jump in the air and get yourself in trouble.
Don’t forget that once you dribble and come to your jump stop that you can get a lot of distance from the dribble to the stop. IF I’m 10 feet from the hoop i can easily make it to the rim on 1 dribble and a jump stop. Practice doing this and you’ll see its advantages.
