Just make these kind of basketball building skills be what practice is, you know, like real life.
Make it so that the better you are at them, the less times that you have to do in order to fill your upgrade bar.
Make a combine that you have to run before you get drafted and the better you do, the better your player starts off.
Then continue them throughout the season as your practices. You will effectively "kill two birds with one stone" filling your upgrade bar and learning basketball fundamentals.
How 2k teaches people to play this game, is the way they will play!
Currently, its a spam fest and terrible basketball because that's exactly what 2k teaches.