Passing is one of the most important basketball skills. A player can have a lot of credits by just passing alone. The basketball statistic called assist percentage is used to measure the effectiveness of a pass. It gives credit to shot points that comes from such passes.

The fundamentals of passing are not difficult to execute, but you have to be physically and mentally prepared well. Let’s have a look at the fundamentals of passing in order to improve yourself in this area.

Balance and Stance
Balance is the utmost foundation in playing the sport of basketball. Whether you run, shoot, defend, or pass the ball, you must be able to establish a proper sense of balance. In order to do this, always remember to split your feet apart at about shoulder width from each other. When you do this, you are creating a more solid support for your body weight and enables you to control your balance, thereby, preventing you from easily slipping down.

Generally spoken, Passing is the ability of a player to throw a ball into the hands of another player. This is a skill that requires accurate timing, great visual acuity, speed and fast decision making abilities. Its perfection cannot be learned in short time. It takes years of playing the game to be able to furnish the talent of Passing.

What is so important about this skill? Remember that Basketball is played by a team. A team consists of good number of players and obviously you cannot score a basket by playing by yourself. Michael Jordan is not going could not be in the hall of famers without the support of his team mates. This is what Passing is all about. It’s about supporting, complementing, and trusting each other’s skills. With Passing, players can function as one. There are too many of you, with different roles, but you get on the court to attain one single goal … winning Basketball games.

A lot of players go through many stages of development as they hone their skills on the court. One of the earliest problems that they encounter is the old to pass, or to shoot issue. There simply is no easy answer to this question. Every situation on the court differs, and cannot be remedied by any simple answer.

As a player, part of your development is instinct based. Part of it is skill driven. You will learn over time that together skill and instinct will blend to become a well oiled playing machine, but until you’ve had years of practice in both the mental and physical aspects of the game, you will make mistakes. The best players learn from their mistakes and simply move on. While no one is perfect, and no one can ever make the perfect call 100% of the time, eventually you as a player will realize you will make mistakes.

Passing can come down to a few factors, and these factors, and while to some people it comes easy, others it doesn’t. You will have to get to know your team, and know your teammates strengths and weaknesses. In learning and knowing these things, you will be able to better evaluate on the fly if a pass would be best, if a shot is possible, or if holding onto the ball for a few more moments is smarter.

One thing that players need to beware of is their patterns. If an opposing coach or player is paying enough attention, they may be able to learn and watch for your tendencies in certain situations, and respond accordingly. Sometimes if you find yourself unsure of what is the best response, the best response is just going with your gut, and if your gut is a bit predictable, than just throw a pass around. Make sure it can be a good pass, don’t just go throwing the ball randomly around, and costing your team the ball. Just be spontaneous on occasion and keep the opposition guessing. The moment that you become predictable and easy to read is the very moment that you can end up handing the opposing team the win without even realizing you are doing it.

One way to work with your team on spur of the moment passing drills is to meet after practice or outside of practice with 2 or 3 other players and just work on your passing. Just getting out there and working on something this simple will go a long way in helping the in game aspects just come to you by instinct. When you have to second guess yourself and think about what to do, you end up costing yourself a precious few seconds that can allow the other team to get the upper hand.

Once you spend enough time on the court, you will learn when it is best to pass, when it is best to attempt a shot, and when it is just best to do something spur of the moment to throw the other team off!

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