3 Keys To Being UNGUARDABLE In The Midrange

Despite the fact that this era of basketball prioritizes three point shooting and getting to the rim, the ability to score in the mid range is still such a crucial thing to have if you want to be an elite offensive player. Having the ability to score in the mid range makes you so much more versatile and unpredictable. Because now the defense has to understand that you're not just limited to shooting from the three point line or getting all the way to the rim. And this makes you so much more difficult to guard. In this video, I'm going to go through three ways or three strategies for you to become way harder to guard in the mid range. And if you get really good at doing these things, you're going to become a significantly better scorer. The first thing that's important understand is momentum. If you can control your defender's momentum or the way that they move, you're going to be able to create a shot for yourself in the mid range. Specifically, what this means is reading your defender when you drive downhill. Obviously if they don't cut you off, you can get all the way to the basket. But if they do and they flip their hips, that's the perfect time to stop and get to a mid range pull up. And when I say flip the hips, basically what I mean is that defender crossing their leg over to turn into more of a sprint position. This is what a defender does when they've gotten beat and need to turn to recover. And because their momentum is now taking them towards the basket, if you stop, you're going to create space. This is also a prime situation for you to utilize different stops like punch drags or snatches or step backs in order to additionally create space when that defender turns to recover. So, so if you find that the moves that you work on in practice don't translate to the games, it's probably because you don't use them in these situations when they would actually be effective. So how do you create situations like this where you can exploit your defender's momentum? The key is to get them into recovery mode. And you do this by driving downhill hard. If you don't prove to your defender that you can beat them and get to the basket, then they're never going to be worried about getting beat and therefore they're never going to go into recovery mode. They're never going to give you opportunity to exploit their momentum. But once you prove this to your defender, they're going to have to make a decision and you're going to have to make a read. Either they're going to turn and recover and they're going to give you an opportunity to get to a mid rang shot or they won't recover and you're going to beat them to the basket. Either way, it's a winning situation for you. The next key to scoring more in the mid range is creating contact. Now, this is a little different than the first part, because here we're trying to close space first before we then create it. As the offensive player, you're always going to have a split second advantage because you're the one with the ball, you're the one who's making the decision. So if you can get your defender to come to a stop, once you decide to create space any direction, you're going to have a little bit of time to get a shot off. So if you get really good at using contact to either get your defender to come completely to a stop or to significantly slow down, you're going to be in the driver's seat in terms of where you want to go, and you're almost always going to be able to create something for yourself. This is also a great opportunity to use separation moves like a step back, especially if you have a smaller defender on you, because it becomes very hard for them to contest that when you've already gotten them to a stop. And this is all about your feel. So the more that you do it, the more comfortable you're going to be with it, the better you're going to understand when you have enough space, where to go, how to create your space. But it's a crucial skill to have if you want to be elite in the mid range. And the last key to being elite in the mid range is finding space or getting to your spots. The defense is always going to have to give up something. Whether it's giving up the outside to protect the paint or giving up the paint to protect the outside. There's always gaps in open space that you can exploit. So by getting good at recognizing when and where you can take advantage of open space, you're going to create a lot of scoring opportunities for yourself in the mid range. This becomes very important when playing off the ball, such as using off ball screens or in catch and drive situations. Many times your goal when you drive the ball shouldn't necessarily be to get to the basketball, but it should be to get to the open space. A lot of times this will result in a higher percentage shot for you and chances are it's going to be more open. This is a major part of having basketball at Q on offense and elite mid range players understand this at a high level. Hopefully these three keys help you out. Go out and apply them. If you enjoyed this video, make sure you drop a Like and subscribe and click the top link in my description below to get my free lit permit. Scorer Workout. Drop a comment let me know what you think. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace.