This might come across as borderline boring, but ask Myles Colvin and Camden Heide about one of their top priorities during Purdue’s summer workouts and here’s the answer.
Ballhandling.
You have to dribble before shooting. It’s fundamental work. It’s tedious, but it’s a necessary skill to ignite the deep 3-pointers, the spectacular dunks off alley-oop passes from Braden Smith, and generating athletic plays in transition.
Those highlight reels – 3-pointers, dunks, and fastbreak points – helped define the first seasons for Colvin and Heide, but it’s the basic plays that will lead to more minutes for the pair heading into the 2024-25 season.
They were solid in their roles coming off the bench as the Boilermakers won another Big Ten regular-season championship and advanced to the national title game. But there’s more awaiting the duo this season.
Remember, it’s still summer, and the first official practice isn’t until September, and the season opener doesn’t tip off until early November, but it’s easy to see a scenario where Colvin and Heide are in the starting lineup.
Let’s start with Heide.
The sophomore is a candidate to play the power forward spot and is looking to improve his strength. More strength equals more opportunities for Hedie, who averaged 12.5 minutes and shot 45% from 3-point range last season.
He offers mismatches at the position, being able to take defenders out to the perimeter and showcase his athletic ability. He’s confident in his shot-making ability from mid-range and the 3-point line, but dribbling hasn’t been a major focus.
“I don’t really dribble the ball a lot,” he said. “Being able to be comfortable anywhere with the ball, whether it’s a shorter, quicker defender or a longer wing guard and just being able to be comfortable dribbling the ball is something I’ve worked on.”
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That work comes in the team sessions in the two-hour summer workouts and the one-on-one drills with Isaiah Thompson, one of two new graduate assistants under Matt Painter, and other support staff.
“Dribbling stationary is one thing to get a feel for the ball but it’s also having people guard you one-on-one and having an actual defense,” Heide said. “It’s kind of hard to improve and know where you’re at when you’re stationary and no one is guarding you.
“I’ve been working out with managers, Isaiah Thompson every day since I’ve been here. Having a live defense is something that helps with reads and helps you improve.”
It’s nearly the same for Colvin, who averaged 8.5 minutes and shot 41.4% from 3-point range.
“Ballhandling was something I focused on in the offseason,” he said. “Just to relieve pressure from the point guards for Braden and all of them. That’s huge for me.”
The game started to slow down as last season progressed. He started to see the game differently, learning to play in short bursts instead of logging extended minutes. That helped him grow on and off the court.
All of it should carry over into the summer workouts and eventually into next season. The focus on ballhandling will allow Colvin to continue to create plays for himself and his teammates.
Colvin saw his minutes increase later in the season, playing 12 in the national championship game against UConn, 14 against Utah State and 12 in the Big Ten tournament against Wisconsin.
“I’d like to be a playmaker for myself, and I was given an opportunity to do that,” he said. “When I had the ball in my hands and was able to create for myself and others, that’s huge. Working on my ability to score off the dribble and that’s something I didn’t do last year with having Zach. I just took the open shots.”
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