Heard folks talking about those KB Stars basketball drills online, said you could see improvement fast. Figured I’d try ’em myself this weekend. My game’s decent, but quickness? Yeah, could use work.
Saturday morning, grabbed my ball and headed to the empty court. Felt optimistic. Video said just need a ball, maybe some cones or water bottles. Didn’t have cones, so used those empty soda bottles lying around. Set ’em up about three feet apart in a zig-zag down the sideline.
Started real simple, like they said. Just dribbling figure-eights around my legs standing still. Right hand between legs left side, left hand around back right side. Sounds easy? Messed up twice right away. Ball kept hitting my shoe. Focused harder, slower. Finally got a smooth rhythm going after, like, five minutes. Felt good!
Then moved to those bottles. Idea: practice changing direction fast while keeping the ball low. Started shuffling sideways, pushing the ball hard with my fingertips around each bottle.
- First try, almost tripped over bottle #2. Ball bounced away.
- Second try, dribble got too high – like chest high! Any defender would snatch that.
- Kept at it. Focused on staying LOW in my legs, eyes UP, pushing out hard with my outside hand each turn.
Did that down and back. Down right-handed, back left-handed. Felt awkward going left, like I was fighting the ball. Sweat like crazy already. Did it three times each way. Third time? Felt smoother. Still not perfect, but better.
Saw another drill: quick shot after move. Set up a bottle near the free throw line. Started near the baseline. Dribbled hard towards the bottle, did a quick hesitation dribble (“like I might stop!”), exploded past the bottle, took one dribble, then pulled up for a short jumper.
- First few shots? Brick city. All rushed. Jumped forward, lost balance.
- Slowed it down. Focused on planting that inside foot hard after the hesitation, then jumping straight UP for the shot.
- Took maybe ten tries. Finally sunk a couple feeling balanced. Arms felt like noodles though.
Finished just practicing free throws dead tired. Shot worse than usual at first! Guess that’s the point – practicing when legs are shot.
Biggest takeaway? It ain’t magic. Felt clumsy much of the time. But doing stuff like that figure-eight focused on ball control, or forcing direction changes low and hard around obstacles? You feel it immediately when you mess up. Fixing it, even slightly, feels like an obvious win. Did it for about 45 minutes. Felt like death, honestly. But woke up Sunday already thinking “I wanna try that bottle drill again.” Seems like if you stick with simple things forcing you to get lower, handle tighter, change direction quicker… yeah, I believe this stuff works fast.
