James Harden has been a huge topicthe last several seasons because he's literally changed the way a lot ofplayers are playing the game and he's polarized the league.
Really he'sdone that with a lot of his go-to moves.
We're gonna take a look at one of thosetoday, but what I want to do is really study what's happening.
Within themoments of these plays, you really understand the space and the techniquesthat we can discover through holding ourselves accountable to similarfootwork.
Now, one thing that I want you to be able to understand right now iswe're going to use our footwork mat as we typically do in these types of scenarios -to really study and make a case study out of this footwork.
We want to see if you canfit yourself into the same space that James Harden does.
See a lot of times webecome obsessed with creating space; but what James does a great job of, even though he's great at creating space, he's also tremendous at keeping hisspace and using the space that he has.
That's going to be the thing that we drawthe most attention to in this particular play.
So if I was walking the ball up thefloor, and what he's going to do, he's Going to stop on his outside leg and he'sgoing to start facing his defender with this amount of space.
Really, do everythingthat he needs to do between this space and the three-point line.
So as he goesthrough his legs, he steps in and now he has a crossover.
To go ahead andset up he's going to be pretty much right at the exact place that I am right now.
I'm just a few feet away from the NBA three-point line.
And so as he performs athrough the legs, as he's going through, what he does in this moment in time ishe toe taps with that outside leg.
Now, what he does a tremendous job at duringthat toe tap is he's going to allow the back leg to simply lay flat.
He's gonnaflatten that out so he can load more weight over that outside leg and so hetoe taps and he lays that foot flat.
During that toe tap, now if you can see, I'm Way back over here by the gold now.
I'm still within the 3-point line, andall he needs is a little bit of space.
Now he's gonna go ahead and simplyreset step to get back to around this gold square.
Now, he has the simpleability to get that shot off and be able to do that all within this space.
See, when a lot of players try to work on similar moves like this, they end up overthere, they end up way back here, and they don’t save the same amount of space that JamesHarden does.
See, there is times to create it, but if you can keep it, all you needis a little bit of room to get the shot off.
Now, obviously he's taller and he has length and so this will change dependingon who you're playing against, but if you feel that you have open air space toshoot the basketball all you need is simple movements like this to be able topull off these types of plays.
So don't get crazy with the copy, just simply lookat the ingredients.
And by my ability to simply use this footwork mat as myability to hold myself accountable, I can start replicating the exact samefootwork of a great scorer like James Harden.
Through simple visual aid, afootwork mat, and then of course the repetitions to pull it off.
And once again, in order for us to trulywork on our game anywhere, anytime, with no excuses we haveto be able to keep in mind that we do not need a basket.
We do not need a court.
Wedo not need a whole lot of space.
In fact, sometimes we don't even need thisbasketball.
All we really need is our feet.
And that's what we want to keep inmind as we look at this James Harden footwork, is that you can get thefootwork, then you can teach yourself how to take this shot in the game.
Or you at leastcan start teaching yourself some of these qualities.
So I just want you toremember, the most important qualities of this particular set of footwork.
As yougo through your leg you always can have a toe tap.
Now that toe tap simplymeans, it doesn't mean it specifically has to be your toe, it means your footsmaking connection to the ground twice.
And that's what James Harden does sowell.
It's being able to put the foot down And then do a second movement withthat same foot.
Then he'll load on that foot so he can now reverse that stepback.
And that's the key of this.
So as you work on those toe taps, and then youcan push back , you can cover even further space.
What I want you tokeep in mind, is that you're beginning all stays in these confines.
It doesn'ttake you dancing around; I just have my toe tap and then I can slide back toshoot it.
And of course, your ability to go both ways with this as well.
Nowshooting is going to be difficult based on what hand you shoot with but thefootwork should be universal, so learn both.
Have your toe tap, and then pushback to that pickup, always making sure you're on the confines and the cornersof this mat, So now you know not only do you have the footwork, but you also havethe space in mind.
We obviously know space is important so make sure thatyou're working on space with the footwork and now not only will you havethis move but you might even be able to take this shot in the game as well.
That's the breakdown for James Harden now all you guys do is put in the work.
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