Ethan Khoza runs ball-handling drills against live defense. Work on protecting the ball in tight spaces, throwing outlet passes under pressure, and attacking from the wing while defenders foul you deliberately so you learn to handle contact.
If you want to become a better ball handler that can handle the ball against pressure, then you need to practice against live defense. This is literally as easy as grabbing a friend or a teammate and trying these drills out. For this first drill, you're going to give yourself a space. This can be the paint, this can be the semicircle, this can be the circle at half court. But you're going to handle the ball and try and cover all the ground in that space. And you're going to have the other person try and steal the ball from you. You can go for a set amount of time or until the defender steals the ball. If you have a third person, you can add them in as a passer so you can do the same thing. Whenever they put their hands up, you're going to pass them ball as quick as you can. Next you're gonna start in the wing. We're gonna work on pace change. You're gonna start up nice and relaxed, nice and tall, and at some point you're gonna drop and become explosive. And it's live off that. Next, you're gonna handle the ball out in the wing, and that defender is gonna foul you. Be super physical on purpose. As soon as that physicality comes, it's live off of that. Because these guys have done this drill a few times, they've gotten very good at not allowing that defender to make contact with them. This will teach you how to handle physicality and pressure defense. When you do stuff like this, where there's a defender trying to take the ball from you, it's going to force you to become a better ball handler, and it's something every player should be doing.
Stop Using One Dribble When You Drive To The Rim! (How To Become A Better Finisher)
