Sealing is absolutely critical to be an effective post player. We believe it is something that should be worked on in practice each day in some shape or form. Some important teaching points on the seal include:#1 INITIATE THE CONTACT WITH YOUR HIPS. Don’t seal with your upper body. Believe it or not, the feet are more important on the seal than the upper body. If you are relying heavily on your upper body to seal then you are going to have problems in regard to balance and movement.
#2 Two methods of working to get open on the seal are to HOOK the defender (using your arm in a swimming motion) or to DRIVE AND SPIN (face your defender and walk towards the basket and then spin when you are in position).
#3 Once we have established the seal, we always want to SIT DOWN on the defender’s front leg. This creates contact for the seal, allows us to know where the defender is through that contact, and establishes us in a low, wide base.
#4 We want to really drive home the philosophy of “GETTING A PIECE OF THE PAINT.” This means we want the seal to come with at least one foot in the paint. The ultimate seal is with both feet in the paint.
#5 We want to HOLD OUR SEAL FOR 3 SECONDS. In a drill, as a form of over teaching, we ask them to hold it for five seconds.
#6 A major problem early for most players is that they release from the seal to soon. We like to hold the seal UNTIL THE BALL IS IN THE AIR and then go get the ball.
