How to Develop a Killer First-Step

Establishing yourself as a solid offensive post player isn't something that just "happens". You have to work at it, day in and day out.

And to really separate yourself from your competition, you have to work on your game on your own, in personal workouts and during off-season training.

The following are 5 great drills that will help you improve your skills as an offensive post player. Work on these, and your game will improve.

The Mikan drill

If you play inside, your coach probably has already had you work on the Mikan drill. No matter how much you've worked on this drill, use it more. It's a great drill to build coordination, timing, jumping ability, and will help you improve your jump hook.

I think this drill is so important, I start every post player workout with it. Start off using one basketball, then move onto using two basketballs for this drill, and it becomes even more effective.

Drop steps

Work on doing drop steps (both to the baseline and to the middle of the floor) again and again. Think you're already good at it? That's fine...but you need to be great at it. Basketball is a game of footwork and coordination, and this is especially true about playing the post.

Practice your footwork, and doing drop steps, everytime you take the court. It helps build muscle memory, making the moves second nature so that when you take the court in a game, you don't even have to think about making the move. It'll just come naturally to you.

Heavy ball drills

Heavy ball drills are a great way to help develop stregth, stamina, and power inside. Using a heavy ball to work on drop steps, jump hooks, and rebounds and put-backs will make these moves that much easier to make with a regular basketball.

Here are some great drills to work on.
- Rebounding: throw the beavy ball against the backboard, rebound the ball and take it back up strong.
- Drop steps: toss the heavy ball out to yourself, grab it, and make a strong drop step to one side or the other.
- Mikan drill: use a heavy ball to do the Mikan drill, shooting left and right-handed baby hook shots one right after the other.

Rim or backboard taps (taps with your hands)

Rim or backboard tap drills are great timing, stamina, an jumping ability developing drills. Here's how they work: stand under the basket, and keeping your hand above your shoulders, jump up and touch the rim (or backboard, depending on your height and jumping ability) with both hands. Immediately after landing from your jump, jump up again and touch the rim. Repeat this 10 times. Rest for 1 minute, then repeat the drill.

If you can't touch the rim (or backboard) with both hands on each jump, try it with one hand.

Rim or backboard taps (taps with the basketball)

This is the same drill as above, but instead of touching the rim or the backboard with your hands, you'll hold a basketball, and tap it against the backboard.

Stand under the backboard to one side. Keep the ball at chest level, and jump up and tap the ball against the backboard. Immediately after landing, jump back up and tap it against the backboard. Do this 9 times, and on the 10th time, lay the ball up and off the board and into the basket.

Tip-ins

Try this tip-in drill to develoi your rebounding and tip-in ability. Throw the ball off the rim softly. Time your jump so that you can tip the ball back into the basket. Often, it's easier to tip the ball back off the backboard and into the basket than directly back into the basket.

Try this 5 times with your right hand, and five time with your left.

Work on these 5 drills on a consistent basis and you'll become a better post player. To increase the difficulty level on these drills (as you become a better player), increase the intensity and/or duration of the drills.

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