Drill of the Day: "Butch Lee Dribble"

Despite it being my favorite sport to coach, thus far I have paid very little attention to basketball. That's unfortunate, but it all changes now.

Today's drill is great for ages 7-8 on up, and it's called the Butch Lee Dribble. I can fondly remember back to my youth, when Pulaski High School head coach Fred Kesley introduced me to this drill at a summer basketball camp. I thought it was really dumb, and I didn't even know who Butch Lee was... but it turns out, this drill has grown on me a lot.

The player will start out with the ball in a low, strong dribble with their right hand. Then they take two short, quick steps forward. After a brief pause, the player maintains the dribble and takes two quick steps back. The ball is then crossed over to the left hand, and the action is repeated there. The player should move in a slight "V" pattern during the drill as they move back and forth, then cross over to the other side.

I like this drill for younger players because it lets them control the dribble going both forward and backward with each hand. It also gets them taking quick steps with the ball and switching hands in rhythm. Stress looking up and defending the dribble with the off-hand. For older kids, this is a good quickness and agility drill, especially combined with other speed dribbling drills.

In case you were left wondering, Butch Lee was an All-American point guard for Marquette in the late 1970's, and was an integral part of their 1977 NCAA Championship team. Born in Puerto Rico, he was an excellent ball handler and had a brief NBA career.