Palming

[Hawks Coach]

Every one of my guards can (and WILL NOT as long as they play for me) do the Allen Iverson 360 degree spin move where they never have their hand under the ball, they never pin it or squeeze it. It is simply the speed of the lateral motion that allows the ball to stay up, similar to spinning a bucket upside down without spilling any water. The amount of lateral motion players are getting has changed considerably in the past few years. That is what I think they were after with this focus on palming.

I teach crossover dribbles with an emphasis on a low release to the floor. It is this basic crossover that keeps the hand in contact for a long distance (as compared to a normal dribble) as the ball approaches the floor. But it is a steady push in one constant down and sideways direction. It is not a palm, yet was consistently called as one this weekend. Guards spend hours perfecting that til it is second nature, and need it for a good, quick, controlled change of direction under heavy ball pressure. I expect them to dribble without even concentrating on the fact they are dribbling, because they need awareness of so much else. It is too much to expect them to alter a good fundamental dribbling habit in a game because the ref has decided that for this day, that will be palming. Those kind of calls not only disrupt the flow at that moment, but disrupt the concentration of those players most responsible for maintaining a good offensive flow to the game. I ultimately told my guards to just keep playing and ignore the palming calls because thinking about them only causes other turnovers, and I couldn't give them any constructive advice on how to adjust to the calls during the game.

This is just one example of what I consider to be a difficult problem with this particular POE.