Passing

I was very fortunate to play for Tex Winter, while playing college basketball at the University of Washington.

Coach Winter emphasized passing above almost everything else. The first thing we worked on as practices began was basic, fundamental passing. And the first thing Coach Winters emphasized was the need not to change planes with the ball when passing to a teammate. For example, if a player throws a two-handed chest pass, his target should be his team mates chest. A two-handed over-the-head pass, (starting over the players head), should be passed to over his team mate’s head. Changing planes, which one sees all the time in today’s game, can make it hard for the receiver to adjust to the ball and catch the ball cleanly, if at all.

Aspects of Passing:

Strength

Passing requires hand and arm strength. It requires strength and dexterity to make accurate, crisp passes. Working to improve a player’s hand strength is very important.

Deception

Acquiring the ability to fool an opponent so that a pass may be made through, around over and even under him is essential to good passing. Good fakes play a definite roll in deception. However, a fake has to look real before it can be effective.

Attitude

It is natural for a player to want to score; that is all right, but not at the expense of good team play. A really good player is one who thinks about how he can make a teammate a better player. It is a mentality of helping a teammate and his team as a whole. Unfortunately, the unselfish player often is overlooked by fans and press. Notice that coaches and teammates do not overlook the unselfish player.

Vision

A good passer not only can mechanically execute the pass, but he also has the ability to see the open man (and the defense) without looking. Seeing and looking are two different things. Looking telegraphs the passer’s intentions. Seeing is the ability to view the court without focusing on an individual player. Peripheral vision (the ability to see objects over a wide range while looking straight ahead) comes into play. Good peripheral vision certainly helps a player’s ability to “see” without “looking”.

Depth perception (the ability to judge distances) is often talked about in shooting, but not often in passing. To have the ability to accurately judge the distance between the player and other players or the player and the basket is very important.

The speed in the ability of a player to analyze the conditions around him also comes into play as a passer. How effective a player will be as a passer depends on his ability to see open teammates, analyze the defense and judge the distances. The quicker he can react to the different conditions, the better.

All these aspects of “vision” will improve with experience and training. To the inexperienced player, there can be many confusing situations full of surprises in basketball. The speed of the game can be overwhelming at times. The more the player plays and practices, the better he can see, feel, analyze and react to different playing conditions.

Tips On Passing

Use a wrist snap. The deliberate follow through is not that important, except when teaching younger players who are being initially exposed to passing? In fact, the follow through telegraphs the pass.

See but do not look at the receiver. Focusing or looking at the receiver often means the passer’s head, shoulders or body will be turned in the direction of the receiver, thereby, telegraphing the pass, making the pass easier to defend.

Make fakes to move defenders hands and create openings.

The passer wants the defender to be fairly close. The less distance between the passer and his defender, the less time the defender has to react to the pass.

Make it easy on the receiver. Hit the receiver away from his defensive man. Do not change planes. Pass the ball where the receiver can easily catch the ball in a position to be able to do something positive with it. Too often good shot opportunities are lost because the ball is passed off target, where the receiver has to struggle to get into a good shooting position.

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