As a rule of thumb, the closer you are to the basket, the better. The shorter the distance between you and the basket, the easier your shot will be. If you’re playing in a recreational or youth league where they don’t have the 3-second violation rule, post up as close as you can to the rim or anywhere 1–2 feet (0. 30–0. 61 m) within the block. The paint refers to the area inside of the free throw lines. On most basketball courts, the paint is a different color to make things easier. The block refers to the two rectangles painted on the free throw lines near the bottom of the baseline. You can post up against a man-to-man or zone defense. It doesn’t necessarily matter, although it’s generally easier to score from the post if the opponent is playing man-to-man and you’re guarded by a smaller defender.
You may need to do a little pushing with your forearm or hip here. There’s no point to doing this earlier if the ball isn’t anywhere near you. If you go in too early, all you’re doing is taking yourself out of the play and giving your defender time to get into a better position.
The lower you can get, the harder it will be for the defender to push you away from the basket.
If at any point you lose your position, you have two options. If you think you can overpower your defender, use your hip and arm to wrap around the front of your defender and reestablish your position. If they have you beat, just move and post up on the opposite block or go out to the 3-point arc and come back in to try again. Posting up is not always the right strategy. If you keep getting forced out of position, just accept that your defender is too good to be posted up and find another way to get open or contribute. You may have entire games where you won’t be able to post up depending on who you’re playing.
Use the hand on the opposite side of the defender. So if the defender is pinned on your left, put your right arm up and vice versa. If they’re directly behind you, raise either hand.
Once you put your hand up, you must keep the opponent pinned. Use your hips, free arm, and legs to keep your opponent behind you. If they get in front of you, your teammate won’t be able to get you the ball safely.
This is kind of a unique move in the post since it’s the only post move where you aren’t actively trying to stay in front of the defender. It’s also the only post move where you’re basically setting up to score before you even have the ball. Usually, you wait to get the ball before you perform a post move. Do not push off of your opponent’s back to create space. This is a foul and it’s a pretty easy one for the refs to spot at that.
In basketball, a pass into the post is known as an entry pass. If you also play point guard, developing a strong set of entry passes is crucial if you want to put your team ahead. Always move to catch the ball if the pass is off the mark. If you have a choice between catching the ball with one hand and moving to catch the ball with both hands, move. [9] X Research source
This doesn’t happen very often, especially if you’re older or playing against talented opponents. Still, it’s good to pay attention to the defender while you’re catching the ball to feel out these easy opportunities.
Often, the defenders will panic when the ball moves close to the rim and you’ll end up with 2-3 defenders moving your way. This creates space for your teammates to get open.
The post gets rough. Keep a strong shoulder up and get ready for contact whenever you get the ball. Posting up requires some grit and strength!
The drop-step really is the bread and butter of any good post player. The key is to stay low, stick to one dribble, and drive your foot towards the rim quickly to keep your defender from making adjustments. This really only works if you can extend one of your feet around the opponent’s leg on that side. If you can’t get around them, you’ll end up jumping right into the defender.
Pivoting and shooting is a smart move if you’re taller than your opponent but they’re much stronger than you. Use the glass! Jumpers from the block are pretty easy to miss if you go straight for the rim, but you almost always have the perfect angle to shoot off of the glass when you turn around on the block.
From the middle of the lane, you can take a jumper or go for an aggressive layup on either side. The goal of moving to the center is to create space for yourself to generate more options. Keep in mind, it’s harder to pass from the middle of the lane that it is to pass from the block since you’re probably going to be surrounded by defenders when you go to the middle.
If you can get good at the jump hook, it’s a real game-changer. Many forwards and centers rely almost exclusively on jump hooks to score dozens of points a game. It’s just too hard to defend without fouling the shooter. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of practice to get the lobbing shot down.
If your opponent doesn’t jump, you can pivot or pump fake again to try to get into a better shooting position.
This is a little risky since it involves lifting the ball off of your chest, but your defender will get a free swipe if you keep the ball near your chest while you’re doing this. Expect for this to work 3-4 times over the course of the game. Most defenders will only get burned a few times with the front spin before they start wising up.
This sounds a lot harder than it actually is. Just practice doing some reverse layups to get used to the feeling of shooting the ball up behind you.
The fadeaway is a pretty hard move to pull off if you don’t have a lot of upper body strength. You typically don’t see this move from players under 15 since it requires a lot of coordination.
