Dribble
Dribbling is the legal method of advancing the ball by oneself, as opposed to passing it to another player or shooting for the basket. It consists of bouncing the ball on the floor continuously with one hand while walking or running down the court.
Types of Dribble
Basic dribble
The basic dribbling technique is a dribble that literally everyone knows. In this dribble, you just bounce the ball, but to perfect this dribble, there are some small but extremely important things that you need to do to have this dribble very well executed. First you need, to simple bounce the ball, but only with the tips of your fingertips. If you bounce it with the palm of your hand, the ball will not bounce very well. Always have your knees bent when you are dribbling; that way you can easily move and guard the ball, and also keep you head up; you will be able to see the court more clearly, and you will not have the ball stolen from you that easily. If you can maintain all these skills while doing the basic dribble, you will surely be a great dribbler, and it will help you with harder dribbles like the "behind the back" or the "through-the-legs" dribble.
Crossover Dribble
In this technique, it is basically dribbling the ball from one hand to the other. This is very useful when coming up against a player that is trying to defend you. To do this you basically step forward with the foot in the direction you are going; have the ball on the opposite sided hand. As you set forward with that foot, "crossover," pass the ball to the same side that the foot is on with a firm wrist flick. This technique is the most basic way to get past a defender and is very commonly used.
Spin Dribble
The spin dribble is where you, as the name implies, spin around to get past a defender. You can get past a defender really quickly, but you miss out on where your teammates are on the court. To do this dribble, first dribble, but when you reach the defender, step forward with the opposite foot and pivot on that foot. The best thing to do in this dribble is to try to keep your head up while spinning. It is important look around you in any situation.
Change-of-Pace Dribble
This dribble is a good technique for tricking your opponent. You appear to slow down, but you trick the defender by rushing right past them before they get a chance to know that you have deceived them. It is pretty simple to do this, but for those that are beginning to learn this trick, here are the instructions. First, you dribble up the court but once you get about one metre away from and then "pretend" that you are going to stop, by straightening your body a bit. Then, try to do this suddenly, drive forward as quick as you can, and it would be a great idea for you to drive right to the net.
Behind the Back Dribble
Most people cannot do this dribble very successfully, with out messing up. This dribble requires you to literally dribble, or pass the ball between your hands, behind your back. This dribble requires a bit of skill to execute nicely.