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In my experience, KB exercises can have great carryover to playing basketball. In particular, I've seen great carryover from double front squats, double push presses (with weights light enough to launch to overhead with a quick shallow dip and minimal pressout), single snatches and double cleans. I've also seen great carryover in conditioning from A+A style training and from Q&D.
While KB ballistics are often touted as being akin to a vertical jump and having carryover to vertical jumping, I don't think this is necessarily true when it comes to jumping for basketball.
Jumping in basketball is usually not a straight hinge pattern vertical jump. It's jumping off one foot on the run, a quick two foot bounce off the floor off a jump stop, or jumping "in a phone booth" (remember those?) where you are in traffic with other players around you or leaning on you so you can't actually wind up and hinge. You need to get off the floor quickly with minimal preparation. If you have to wind up, the other guy already has the rebound or has gotten the shot off. If you need to hinge with the ball before going up with a shot in traffic, you give up your vertical space and are going to get roofed. And getting off the floor quickly, and then having a quick second and third jump, without having to wind up, are more important than maximum vertical distance. There are lots of HIGH jumping basketball players who are not necessarily GOOD jumping basketball players. And there are lots of quick and effective leaping basketball players who aren't necessarily the highest leapers (a few who come to mind are Moses Malone, Bernard King, and Carmelo Anthony). Of course, quick AND high is the best combination, but those players are freak athletes even among other freak athletes.
Kettlebell ballistics are great for generalized strength and conditioning that can apply to basketball (or almost any other sport), so I still think KB ballistics are great for basketball. But, IMO, they are not very sport specific for basketball jumping mechanics, and not sport specific to basketball for a second important reason: patterning a good defensive stance.
A good low defensive stance for basketball is much more of a squat than a hinge. As legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summit was fond of telling her players, "Get your butt down and your hands up!" Butt
down is the key to the defensive stance in basketball.
In my experience, too much emphasis on hinge training, without enough squat patterning, leaves a player less able to maintain a good defensive stance and less in position to jump quickly in game situations.
I don't necessarily think absolute squatting strength is all that important for basketball (or really any kind of absolute strength above a certain threshold which would be considered relatively low for iron sports). Double KB front squats are plenty of load and, IMO, are one of the biggest bang for the buck drills for basketball (although not necessarily directly for the thread topic).
I am a fan of the barbell or trap bar deadlift for teaching the generalized skills of rooting, bracing, and wedging, which most carryover to being able get and hold position, move other players off of a position, and withstand contact, especially while staying on balance and not having to lean my bodyweight on opponents, being more of an "immovable object," being able push other players around and not get get pushed around by them, but not because I have to pick up heavy things off the floor on a basketball court, and not because of any noticeable effect on vertical jumping or "explosiveness." I think the trap bar DL is arguably better for basketball players, both because the form can be a little squattier, and because it's easier to learn for a lot of taller people, and usually has a an easy way to reduce ROM built in in the form of high handles. I do think there is a point of diminishing returns with the DL, and in my experience and observation that's around 405lbs for most people. Steph Curry reportedly maintains around a 400lb trap bar DL, which at the time I read about it was second highest on the team. My lifetime best DL is 425, and 465 on the trap bar, and I don't think it would benefit me on the court to go heavier. As noted above, for the purposes of basketball, working up to a moderately strong DL is more about the skills it develops than the actual absolute strength.
Another drill that I've found has a lot of carryover to basketball is the push press, because the quick dip and explosion is so similar to a lot of jumping in basketball. Here also, I think that the absolute load is not as important as the quickness of the dip and drive (and really, the shallower the better), and finishing the drive with full extension. A load that can be launched ballistically to lockout without a second dip or even any pressout, is plenty. IMO, the push press is much more applicable to basketball than the jerk, because the second dip to get under the weight is pretty much the opposite of any pattern that is useful for basketball.
Two things that I've found really help my agility and being light on my feet for basketball are jumping rope at a very fast touch-and-go cadence and Jump Stretch band shuffle drills.
Jumping rope does teach you to be light on your feet and have a quick bounce off the ground. So you want to keep it very fast-paced, and try to spend as little time in contact with the ground as possible.
For the shuffle drills, use standard Jump Stretch style resistance bands. The "light" bands work well, but you can progress to heavier. However, IMO "mini" bands are too light for this. Depending on the space you have, link at least two (at minimum) or three or four (if you have lots of space) bands together and anchor one end to a fixed point such as a fence post, basket support, bleacher railing or whatever is available. Step into the last band and loop it around your hips. Then just shuffle away from the anchor point to stretch the band as far as you can go, and then shuffle back toward the anchor point. You can do this forwards, backwards, laterally, and at various angles.
You have to be quick and strong with your shuffle to avoid being pulled off balance. But the real magic with the shuffle drills is on the "negative" where the band tension is pulling you toward the anchor point. It really helps with quick deceleration. When you first start doing these, practice moving slower and/or not shuffling as far away from the anchor to reduce the maximum force and get used to the effect of the band tension. Then you can speed it up as much as you can.
BTW, I am NOT a fan of plyometrics for basketball players. You get a ton of plyometric-type activity in game action and basketball-specific drills, so I think it is redundant and often counterproductive to add on a bunch of separate plyometrics or targeted vertical jump training. If you want to be good at basketball, the highest return on investment is going to be game experience and skills practice, compared to off court training. An ounce of skill, anticipation, and/or basketball IQ is worth a pound of athleticism.
