The Secrets Behind the Signature Move

By Taylor Agee

You’re watching the Heat and Knicks duke it out on TNT Thursday Night Basketball. It’s come down to the wire, and you can’t stop rubbing your rabbit’s foot. Tim Hardaway brings the ball up, looks one way, and performs his universally-known deadly ankle-breaking cross-over dribble past Charlie Ward. He then takes 2 dribbles, and in one smooth move, pulls up at the 3-point line, jumps 2 feet in the air, and swishes the 3. And, of course, like any pro with skills, then there is the finger point to the ceiling and the grim smile. Larry Johnson throws it into Ward, and Patrick Ewing sets up on the block. Ward fakes a pass to Latrell Sprewell, then dumps a shovel pass into Ewing. Patrick takes his right hand with the ball, looks around, then dribbles twice while backing in Alonzo Mourning, and with one gracious move, fakes to his left, swerves to the right, takes a step back and shoots a straight up jumper on the baseline. As always, it hits nothing but net, and you see Patrick just jog down the floor looking like king of the forest. Do you ever wonder how guys like Patrick and Tim do these moves and they virtually always penetrate? Me too, and I can’t answer that for you. These “signature moves” are error-proof and are copyrighted to one player. The defintion of a signature move is “a perfected action”. I can’t tell you how to stop these moves, but I can, however, tell you how they do it...and how you can too, if you’ve got the “skills”. Here’s a look at a few players in this league who have legendary, ground-breaking, and jaw-dropping signature moves.
 

Patrick Ewing-Ewing is known for his fadeaway baseline jumper. It’s a rather simple process, but you have to be swift, agile, and most of all, smart. Here’s the basics...

First of all, plant yourself on the low block. You want to have your man on your back, and have your right hand ready for a pass. Once you get the ball, make sure the only man within stealing or blocking distance is the man guarding you. If you are double teamed, this move will almost never work. If your hand isn’t big enough to palm a ball, just take the ball with both hands and extend your arms (once again, if there is anybody around except the man on your back this move is not recommended), and then take a look around. You want to see who’s around the area you’ll be penetrating, because if there is, you may want to think about something else. If there’s no one else around, put the ball on the floor and dribble it twice while backing in your man. Dribble with your strong hand. By the time the second dribble is done, you don’t want to be under the basket, but in the paint. Then, as quick as you can but with guided force, make a spin to your left, curl back to the right, and shoot a straight up jumper while leaning back, a fadeaway. Usually, you won’t want to put full force on the shot, because the trick to fadeaways is to focus on what your angle is and to make as balanced a shot as possible. If you work on it, you can perfect it. Patrick usually will set up a little more far out (around 14 feet or so), but start with this, and then work your way out to the perimeter. You’ll find this move useful because it’s very hard to block and it usually is a good shot to have when you want to expand the defense.

Tim Hardaway-Tim is the master of the cross-over dribble. Over the years, the move has been perfected by other players, such as when Iverson schooled Jordan with it. But nobody can do it like Tim can. Here’s the simple process...

This move requires excellent hand-eye coordination, quick first, second, and third steps,  and a good sense of the opponent. All you have to do is face your man and look him in the eyes. Crouch down kind of low, because you’ll need to make the move as quick as possible. It would be nice to have him looking at your eyes, because then he’s a puppet on your strings. When you have him looking eye-to-eye or you think he’s thinking about something other than stopping you, and it will happen to most players, take your right foot and with a gradual increasing force bring it forward like you were going to make a large step. You will have the ball in your right hand, and do the same thing with the ball. Bring it up a little, and shift your momentum going to your right. Lean in a little, not touching him, but close. Leave room between you and him so the ball can be bounced through. Then with a lightning fast counterstep, bounce the ball to your other hand as fast as you can, make the bounce low, and try to make it so fast he can’t see it. You have to be good with both hands to make this work. Shift all of your momentum to your left side, and then blaze by your defender. Make 3 long, almost leaping steps, but at the same time make it look like you’ve got to be somewhere in a hurry. This move works if you do all the basics right, because it’s a simple process and hard to get a hand on. If your defender anticipates this, or is looking at the ball the whole time, you will find this move rough to accomplish. Enjoy, this one is rather a metabolism-booster.

Gary Payton-Payton is the god of spot-up 3 point shooting. He always seems to get motivated after he does his move, so even though it may not be considered a signature move, it’s worth noting....

This move is for people who already have good 3-point skills and don’t need a lot of time to get a shot off. If you are a point guard, jog up the floor and as soon as you hit half-court go faster by the second. By the time you are very close to your defender, make it look as if you are going to slash to the basket by throwing the shoulder and foot of whatever side of your body you shoot with out in front, and then with one swift move step back, be behind the 3 point line, and zero in on the basket. Jump high into the air, and release. It takes practice, because for most people they find themselves throwing up bricks every time because they can’t zero in on the basket fast enough. If you need quick points, this move is a must-have. If you are not a point guard, just get the ball within 2 or 3 feet of the 3 point line, get your man off guard any way you can, and follow the same process of step back, concentrate, and try to stroke it. 

Payton, Ewing, and Hardaway have all made their signature moves known with a huge X on the NBA map. There are quite a few other players with excellent moves, such as Vince Carter and his baseline dunk, Allen Iverson and his deadly cross dribble, or Karl Malone and his lightning-quick 18 foot jump shot. Good luck, I hope you find this helpful.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for causing any broken parts of the body. If your son breaks his neck trying to do an in-between-the-legs dunk featured by Vince “Air Canada” Carter, it is not my fault. If you find yourself constantly putting up bricks because you cannot hit the 3 like Gary Payton, I am not guilty. If you break your ankle trying to do an ankle-breaking crossover best done by Allen Iverson, you should have known better, but it’s not giving me a guilty conscience. Thank you, have a nice day.

Thanks for reading my article. If you would like to contact me, my e-mail address is crazy7345@hotmail.com . 

9/1/2000
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