#MicroSkills Michael Jordan | Episode 7: Post Moves

What's going on it's NBA skills coach Drew Hanlon back with a brand new episode of my micro skills film breakdown series on Michael Jordan Tonight in episode 7 i'm going to be sharing with you guys all of Michael's go-to post moves Now if you haven't watched episode 2 already in this series Which was all about his fadeaways and there were a ton of them Make sure that you text me at 314-461-1862 so that you can get that episode It's important that you watch that because we are not going to be talking about fadeaways tonight Even though that was his go-to move in the post because we already talked about it so much in episode 2 Now we're going to start out tonight with you know His no dribble moves basically his ability to score off the catch you can see right here does a little dream shake It's baseline fadeaway right here fake middle go baseline off the glass same thing right there His ability to really control himself in the air was so next level you see right there He steps up the line right here just does a little kind of uh, lean in and lean out same thing here Just gets squared up. So I just wanted you guys to see that he was so efficient He didn't always score off the bounce The first thing he was always looking for was did he create enough space off the catch to just rise up elevate over his defender? And knock it down You know his famous lean back that he always did to kind of feel his defender and if his defender wasn't there He just rose up and knocked down jays Now his first go-to move in the post was always attack middle if he could get middle He was going to go middle now Remember a ton of teams doubled mike from the nail which means basically they trapped him from the top side Which means if the defender his primary defender was forced in the middle then that middle was wide open You can see right here the nail defender kind of retreats and gets back So what does mj do he attacks right through him splits downhill and gets the rim same thing right here gets into a little hanging fade But the big thing on this was watch the timing of his dribble pounds and then takes off and then gets to his spot And then knocks down a you know a jump shot or gets the rim same thing right there He uses that pound at the same time as the explosion That pound is basically to get him to the spot that he wants to get to so he can rise up here You can see he takes that pound Crosses a lane line gets into a reclined fade knocks down the jay Here gets past two defenders gets to a spot shoots over three defenders This one you can see he just hops on balance to an open pocket But using that attack middle where he pound dribbled the same time as the explosion Another one that he had was dribble outs. We talked about you know teams double teaming him right here You can see a hard double coming, you know, this is late in the game clock So he obviously needed to get a shot off, but he did it a lot of times He just would kind of dribble around the two defenders and attack middle So it's the exact same thing, but this time he went up and around the double team instead of splitting through it He also had a forward pivot a forward pivot is his way to kind of attack middle So think about you're in a back down instead of going into a half spin fade away, which he did so well Sometimes he would forward pivot all the way around on his inside foot and get to the basket or just rise up for a jay So right here you can see there's a double team coming You can see that in foot side foot kind of stay down and then you can see him forward pivot all the way around So right there he splits a double team by forward pivoting So i'm going to rewind this one back so you guys can see it double team comes He splits through by forward pivoting around and gets the basket Same thing right here double team comes splits gets into a little hanging finish Right here. Same thing forward pivots around and finishes Now the forward pivot was ideally going directly to the rim, but sometimes he stopped halfway short So right here you can see stopped halfway short into a jump shot This time forward pivots and then has to kind of exchange in the air Was so good pivoting on both feet as you guys will see throughout this edit Step throughs is another thing that he did to get middle So right here he's faking like he's getting into like a dream shake or a half spin or a baseline fade away Just keeping the defender off balance because he had so many options And if the defender pressed up or left a little gap, you can see this little space right there Then he was just quickly stepping from uphill to downhill Now one of the things you notice that I just said which a lot of people don't do He would step uphill because that would get the defender to kind of press up into him But then he would be able to kind of forward pivot around we already talked about that forward pivot on the last move So he could get by them a lot of kind of players that don't perfect this move They might step uphill but away from the basket instead of stepping away from the defender And then they won't be able to get around him So right here you notice he goes up the line And then steps through so that he can split through that space and get to the basket Same thing right there again You can see his ball manipulation protecting it from those help side defenders, but was so quick on it What he really was trying to do is he was loading up. He was changing speed So, you know in episode two we talked about the breath anytime you're shooting fadeaways You want to change your breath tempo? So the defender is kind of off balance, but then he would plant off of this foot So right there this foot that's getting ready to go down. He would almost load and explode You can see that foot getting flat so he could really explode off of it and get downhill Again, watch this new angle same one plant and immediately gets downhill and then is able to manipulate the ball in air and then finish at the basket Here same thing this time. He adds a little shot fake and step through to get the rotating defender off balance Again, a little mini shot fake right there He's just so good and we'll talk about this later And one of the things that I ended this edit with was just little post nuances But look at how aggressive his bumps were just so aggressive with his bumps and he was using his lower body It wasn't like he was just throwing his elbows He had a couple techniques upper body, but a lot of it was lower body so the refs couldn't call a foul Here again shot fake step through just so elite with his footwork had the ability to pivot on both feet You know whether it was reverse pivot a forward pivot spin around guys step through guys. He had it all in his bag Then we had a reverse wheel a reverse wheel was, you know, very very elite I know that a lot of people, you know Remember kobe for doing this a couple times in a game But mj used to do it all the time as well a little shot fake and then you wheel all the way around whip it around Get on balance in the air and then knock it down. So watch this again Hang in the air boom Jump up square in the air. Then you knock it down. So that's something that's super talented, you know, but obviously right here He's got a wheel off of that pivot foot because he's established a pivot foot You can see him right there pivot around and then knock it down Then he also had a wheel So wheel was basically, you know, I called it mj pivot just because I grew up idolizing mj And I saw him do it all the time But if the defender was leaning on him, you can see this forearm right there Mj was so great at always keeping his chin attached to his shoulder so he could see middle He was reading help side defenders, but if he felt his defender, he would just wheel off of kind of the baseline foot So you can see the baseline foot pivot foot boom wheels off. You saw the double team coming He didn't want to get in trouble. So he spin off same thing right there You can see how fast he is because his hips are always down So he gets by the defender then immediately attacks the basket The big key on this is once you get past the defender You want to make sure your hips are squared to the rim so that you can get on balance and finish A lot of people when they try to spin they're so off balance or they're falling forward or they're too far back where they can Get bumped on the spin But if that you know spin happens and you can get squared up like right there You can see he's loading up for the finish Then he's able to finish before a rotating defender can get back in the play and help out You can see him spinning off of both pivot feet as well. I already showed you guys You know his ability to kind of spin in different situations and step through with both pivot feet He also had the ability to pivot on both feet in the post Right here same thing gets on balance Just spinning out of double teams, you know That was one of the things that made him such an elite scorer is it didn't matter how many guys you sent at him He was gonna figure out a way to kind of create a shot for himself or his teammates Here, you know, he doesn't see a path to the basket just gets on balance knocks down the j This time he gets a shoulder down then rises up for a little mini fade away This time he spins past look at three guys on him. What does he do? He finds that little pocket and knocks it down This time this was just super elite. I wanted to throw this on there Just so you guys could see kind of how elite his bag was forward pivot around He fakes like he's going both defenders fall for it. Even the rotating defender So watch the help side defender watch this whole line shift right here when he does this all three defenders shift Then he gets on balance and then knocks it down so elite with this footwork Then we had a spin dribble So spin dribble was basically the exact same thing, but this time he would dribble as he was spinning around So look right here. He's been around he dribbles so that he can change pivot feet Just another little variety. So we start to go he was acting like he was almost going to rise up into a baseline fadeaway He would pound dribble so that he could just really attack right away. So again right here and then dribble happens Then he attacks downhill. You can see the defense are putting their hands up because they're already lost They don't want to you know, draw contact and get him Free throws, but he's just so elite. He kept defenders off balance at all times You can see double teams come in at all times every time he got the ball in the post They were always sending multiple guys But he was able to just sneak past defenders just because he was so elite with his different footwork options And you can see obviously he's finishing you guys have already seen that if you've been following all the episodes But his ability to kind of spin on both feet step through do that is his next level Settle spin this is one a lot of nba players use today So if you're feeling that lean and you're already in your back down dribble So you can see he's already used his bounce what you're going to do is spin And you're going to basically dribble the ball as you're spinning So you're going to pop your feet and spin off right there so you can see it's a wheel After you already start your pivot Watch this next clip so you can see another angle So right here you see the double team coming. So what does he do? He splits his feet so you see his feet get wider ball hits and then he wheels off that baseline foot Same thing you can see look at his feet Feet split wide and he's going to wheel off that baseline foot this time He has to step through again just so talented always had counter moves This time's able to spin past and end up finishing So you can see that pop and spin so important and then you can just wheel off that defender And then obviously it's all about making a play which he was so great at A couple other moves just so you could see the bag First one right here. You can see this wheel off. So look at this right now He's spinning off that back foot. So now this time he's instead of splitting He's going to just drop and then spin off that back foot and wheel all the way around Ends up getting on balance and shooting a fade away This time you can see he does a forward pivot So look at this goes forward pivot shot fake then he's going to wheel out with a dribble Gets on balance and knocks it down So i'm gonna let you guys see this full speed It's amazing that you have to slow this stuff down just to see kind of you know All the little nuances of it right here shows the ball spins out You see all the rotating defenders. They don't have any chance this time Look what he does. He catches the ball. He's attacking. So right now he's attacking He's gonna spin off his back foot and get into a fade away He had so many moves in his bag, especially in that low and mid post area A couple little nuances that I want to share with you guys just because this is so important So one thing you've got to be able to battle for position mj was so great at it Look at him constantly being low trying to push out trying to point to his teammates Always was watching the ball so he could make sure that he was getting the ball You can see his leverage right now. He's leaning so he doesn't get pushed off of his spot He wanted the ball where he needed it. Look at that He catches it where he wants he's able to split through the double team with a spin and finish So first thing he was always battling for position Second thing I know coaches preach this all the time and players do not like to do this But you gotta play low in the post look at mj right there sitting down in a squat position And he used his butt to really back guys up He was basically getting under them and then using kind of a butt and kind of a back lean to really back them up You can see right here. He's backing reggie up now He's got feeding the paint now. He's able to split through get the foul and obviously get the bucket Right here. You can see look defenders trying to wall up Boom little bump create separation for a shot. So again, it's not like he's throwing elbows You're going to see a technique in a second with his upper body But a lot of it is just he's playing lower. So he's able to really be physical with those bumps without getting fouls Again, right here. You can see how aggressive look at this this aggressive bump Aggressive bump creates space and then knocks it down This one is the best angle I could find so that you guys could see how he rolled back So look at this he kind of takes away the space of the defender and then look at him right there Really using kind of that kind of back and turn right here. Look at his butt his butt goes out He really is kind of bumping out aggressively to create separation now, he's got enough separation What does he do? He gets his eyes around sees the basket early and then obviously reclines back and gets you know a bucket This was the arm technique that I was talking about that He did a lot so he wanted to get close with his lower body so that he could be physical and create separation I always say get close to get open basically you're trying to you know Take away that space the defender has so that you can kind of bump off and extend away from them So you can free up for a shot mj was really good at kind of using his elbows as well without kind of hooking Look what he did right here. He did this all the time. I got a bunch of clips for you guys So right here you can see he got his elbow up So now they couldn't come within this distance right here because he did that now he was protected If they were to reach around he would throw this arm bar up and block them If they didn't reach around he was able to just separate and then knock it down Another angle you can see watch the defender how he reacts Look at that. He even looks at the ref right there So here he comes you can see mj's arm go up Look at the defender right there. He's starting to look at the ref boom Then mj gets on balance and knocks it down. You can see here same exact thing. So look at this arm right there elbow going up Again, you can see it right there. He's protecting he's blocking That right there gives him the leverage that he needs and the space that he needs that he can get on balance And then knock down the j So again, all he needed was a little bit of separation because then he was able to rise up over guys But a lot of times use that arm and elbow to create that separation or use his lower body to get under And then kind of bump physically to get defenders off Another thing that he did was he changed levels, which means he didn't just go straight back downs A lot of times he'd go up down back downs, which meant he was changing his angle So defenders couldn't lean on him watch right here how he goes from up to down up to down So look at this he drops down look at the defender He slides off then he goes up then he comes back down. The defender is never able to lean So a lot of post players what they do is they catch the ball and they just start backing down in a straight line Mj was one of the first people i've ever seen do it But now a lot of you know, talented nba players do it where they change levels so that you know Defenders can't lean on you So if you're a skinny guy and you want to post up kind of somebody you might be taller than but not stronger Then you got to change levels with the dribble show you a couple more examples of that So here he is double team comes and watch what he does. He pulls away from the double team So he drops down. What does that do? That makes it a hard kind of read for this double defender if the doubling defender stays look He's got a wide open shooter kind of at the slot area If the double team defender retreats which happens most of the time because he thinks man This is too long of a closeout if mj kicked it out Then what happens is he can play one-on-one now, this is just an elite shot But that's what he did. He got himself in a one-on-one situation here three defenders. What does he do? Watch this he sinks down When he sinks down now the nail defender that the dig defender is helping out But they have to kind of make a decision. Do we double and give an easy kick out or do we stay home? This time he stays home now mj gets a one-on-one. He can recline back and knock down the fadeaway Here's another clip him in his washington day. Same thing. Look three eyes on him three bodies on him What does he do? He sinks down you can see both defenders that are in the help side or are dropping they're coming So what does he do? He spins off and then knocks it down So you guys can see mj had so many moves but the biggest thing was he was always on balance He was super physical and he had elite footwork where he was constantly making reads or counter moves to keep his defenders off balance If you guys have enjoyed this episode make sure that you guys check out episode two So you get the full kind of experience of all the things that mj had in his bag in the low post