Basketball Fundamentals - Human Kinetics and Jon Oliver

Basketball Fundamentals

by Human Kinetics and Jon Oliver

NEW, 152 pages

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About Basketball Fundamentals

Learning to play basketball has never been more effective—or more fun—than with Basketball Fundamentals. Students will enjoy using this resource because they will learn by doing, spending less time reading and more time engaged in playing the game. With simple instructions and accompanying photographs, this book makes it easy to teach the game of basketball quickly.

Basketball Fundamentals begins by teaching basic offensive skills so that students get an immediate sense of where they belong on the court and what to do when they get the ball. A separate chapter on defense teaches students how to stop the opposition by playing man-to-man, zone, or combination defense. Chapters are devoted to mastering specific skills including lay-ups, perimeter shooting, passing, dribbling, screening, and rebounding.

Each chapter addresses a specific skill, leading the student through a simple, four-step sequence:

·You Can Do It: The skill or tactic is introduced with sequential instructions and accompanying photographs.
·More to Choose and Use: Variations and extensions of the primary skill are covered.
·Take It to the Court: Readers learn how to apply the skill in competition.
·Give It a Go: Several direct experiences—such as drills, small-sided games, and self-tests—are provided to gauge, develop, and hone the skill.

Writer Jon Oliver is a veteran instructor and coach with a broad range of basketball teaching experience at the educational, recreational, and competitive levels. Oliver knows how to communicate clearly and succinctly, making reading and applying the content to the court enjoyable for students of all ages.

About Jon A. Oliver

This product was authored by Human Kinetics based on the contributions of:

Jon A. Oliver is an assistant professor of physical education at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, where he teaches beginning and intermediate basketball classes. After competing in high school basketball in Indiana as a player, Jon accumulated a broad range of basketball teaching experience at the educational, recreational, and competitive levels.

About Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sport.

A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches (45.7 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.05 m) high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the hoop during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the hoop than the three-point line, and three points (a "3 pointer") if the player is "outside" the three-point line. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a tie. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or passing it to a teammate. It is a violation (traveling) to walk with the ball, carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball and then resume dribbling).

Various violations are generally called "fouls". Disruptive physical contact (a personal foul) is penalized, and a free throw is usually awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw.

Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniques of shooting, passing, and dribbling, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning) and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center", "small forward", or "power forward" positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play "point guard" or "shooting guard".

While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintained basketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas.

The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.

There are two main defensive strategies: zone defense and man-to-man defense. In a zone defense, each player is assigned to guard a specific area of the court. In a man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent. Man-to-man defense is generally preferred at higher levels of competition, as it is intuitively easier to understand and avoids mismatches between players who play different positions. However, zone defenses are sometimes used in particular situations or simply to confuse the offense with an unexpected look.

Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a cut. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a screen or pick. The two plays are combined in the pick and roll, in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.

Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.

Basketball Fundamentals