Basketball coaches are tasked with using anything they can to help their players enhance their games. Drills and skill work are great, but showing a player what the desired goal looks like is also a powerful teaching tool. For years we have used this space as a way to show rookies who they can study to help them develop into more effective players. But as Shakespeare once famously wrote: "My heart laments that virtue cannot live out of the teeth of emulation." So just copying what these guys see here is not enough; hours and hours of study and practice is the only solution. Here's who the Wolves' Andrew Wiggins should watch: Rookie:
Andrew Wiggins, SF, Timberwolves Player to study:
James Harden, SG, Rockets Area to study:
Creating off the dribble For Wiggins to reach his potential as a devastating scorer, he simply has to add adept ballhandling to his repertoire. Right now Wiggins can push the ball in a straight line, but he doesn't use his dribble to help him create attacking angles in half-court isolations, where the ball actually slows him down instead. That's not the case with Harden, who has a better handle than any player standing over 6-foot-4. He uses his ballhandling skill like a sledgehammer, constantly destroying defenders by making them think he is attacking one way before deftly beating them off the dribble another way. Kevin Durant is another player who exploded as a scorer once he became a far better dribbler, but it's Harden's change of speed and ability to use the ball to trick defenders that Wiggins should be watching all summer. Here's an example:
Click below to see who other rookies should study (Insider):
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