RealGM

Which basketball skill is the most difficult to master if one hasn't acquired it before they turn pro? For example,Dirk really improved his rebounding rate after his rookie season. Karl Malone improved his FT %. Durant improved his ball-handling skill, somewhat.

I am talking about physical skillset (not the intangible like basketball IQ or court-awareness) that can be potentially improved thru repetition and training.

The list of skill that a young player can potentially improve:
- ball handling
- post game
- shooting (midrange or 3-point)
- free throw shooting
- play-making (passing/court vision)
- rebounding
- defense (man-to-man or rotation)

I said this in the other thread, but I think the most difficult is ball-handling. Every other one of those skills, I've seen guys go from mediocre to amazing in at least 1 example, but I've never seen a guy go from an average ball-handler to a great one

If you had to ask me why, I'd say its because ball-handling is the skill you're most likely to master soonest. Its the one thing every guy that picks up a basketball can practice on right away, at any time... so if you play a lot, by the time you're in college, you're already about as good as it can get. There's not really many tricks to it either, its all about basic hand-eye coordination and how big/long your hands/arms are.

I agree with ball handling

You cant teach size....... got it or you dont

well, height atleast

Play making. You can be a great ball handler and still have no idea how to run a fast break.

number15 wrote:You cant teach size....... got it or you dont

well, height atleast

size ... tool or skill ?

Didn't some coach said that everyone can learn to become a better defensive player and rebounder that it's just matter of putting in the works.

play making. If you practice dribbling long enough your ball handling will get better eventually. Reading the defence and making the right play is allot harder for most players. Everyone has decent ball handling skills in the nba.

I think it's playmaking as well, but can see the argument for ball handling. It's just that having vision seems to be an innate skill that's hard to work on. God knows I had no clue when I was just playing basketball in high school (not on a varsity team though, just in PE every day and in JV tryouts).

Though that could just be my prejudice since I was no good at it. I always found rebounding to be pretty easy, as it was all about timing, positioning, and reading angles (at least if everyone is around the same height..all that stuff matters less when a guy is a foot taller than you), but I've seen other people who just don't have a clue on how to get into position for one.

Ball handling. If you didn't master that skill at a young age, you're never picking it up. It's not something you can just add to your game like a 3 point shot.

Court vision and post moves. Jason Kidd has played at an elite level with neither a great first step nor a jump shot for so long just with his court vision.

Playmaking or footwork.

Ball handling is easy to improve on. If you don't have a left hand then dribble only with your left as you walk to the park etc etc. Let's be honest if you don't have some innate talent for the game you are going to suck no matter what skill we are talking about.

court vision, play making
some people just don't know how to pass the ball

play making doesn't come with time, you either have it or you don't. all those other skills are learnable

I think you can learn playmaking but it requires you to change the way you think about and approach the game entirely. You can't just practice passing and expect to get good at playmaking. It's about acquiring the proper knowledge and practicing and training your brain to look for and respond to the right things on the court. It has to become instinct. It's way harder than other skills to aquire and natural talent for it helps probably more than any other aspect of the game but I think it's possible to learn it and get better at it.

I almost don't think it's fair to include it because it's more about the mind then about practicing specific movements and motions.

ball-handling... I still struggle with it.

The best players on the playground are usually the best ball handlers.

Court vision/play making is more of something you either have or you don't so that's easily the hardest one out of all of them.

I would vote for shooting as the next hardest.

aurareturn1 wrote:ball-handling... I still struggle with it.

The best players on the playground are usually the best ball handlers.

+ 1. I think that to be good at it, you almost need to be ambidextrous otherwise you better not hold onto it too long. If you've got good handles, you can become a decent passer if you're willing to work on it. Actually, haven't coached basketball, it's much easier to teach guys how to pass the ball surprisingly.

They just have to have a willingness to do it. Handling is another matter and is especially difficult for guys who are taller. And if you're taller, passing becomes a lot easier. Court vision is slightly different imo and a lot of it is just being aware of what's going on around you and then making intelligent decisions accordingly. I'm not sure if that's considered a skill or more of a discipline.

The thing that's tricky about this question is that you cannot be a very good playmaker without an above average handle. If you're constantly having to look for your dribble, you are not going to be able to see things develop on the court. Nash and Paul are able to dissect defenses because dribbling is so natural to them. The can dribble through traffic with their eyes up because the ball is like a yoyo to them. This also allows them to get anywhere they want on the court with a great amount of control, opening up those lanes for their team mates.

Now, I think because of that and the fact that it can only really be practiced well in competitive 3 v3 to 5v5 action, playmaking is definitely the hardest to master. You can't work on your playmaking the same way you can work on your dribbling, but if you play enough scrimmaging, with team mates who know how to move around you, seeing a jump in your playmaking ability doesn't seem as difficult as making significant jumps in the ball-handling category. So I think ball-handling is the hardest to make significant gains in since it really is something learned at such a young age and mastered only by continuing to practice as your body grows. But playmaking for the most part requires you to be an above-average ball-handler for your position. Don't know if that makes total sense, but just a correlation I noticed between the two most popular answers in this thread.