This is the second part of some basketball shooting drills from the Xavier Men’s Basketball Newsletter.
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Here is a link to the first part of the shooting drills: Xavier Shooting Drills Part 1
32 Shooting
Shoot in partners. One partner completes the whole cycle and the other partner rebounds. They switch. There are five spots on the court–corners, wings, and top.
The shooter takes a jump shot, a shot fake–one dribble pull up, and a shot fake-one dribble–then a dribble move to beat a helper in for a layup from each spot. That means three shots starting from each spot. The shooter gets 2 points for each make for a total of 30 possible points. The last two possible points come from shooting 2 free throws at the end. Winners get a reward or losers run or do pushups.
X-Out Layups
It is essential to teach finishing at the basket as a part of your shooting work. I like this drill for it. Put one minute on the clock. Players start at the right elbow at each basket. Player dribbles in with right hand and finishes on right side. Catch the rebound, dribble out with left hand to left elbow, jump stop, pivot and face the basket in triple threat stance, Attack basket on left dribble and finish with left hand. Players keep track of makes in the one minute time. Work on different kinds of finishes, running layup, 2 foot power layup, reverse, and any other finishes that you teach.
Oak Hill Full Court Shooting
Great drill to work on dribbling, hustle, and shooting. The drill is fun for the players.
Split players into two teams. Each team starts on a lane line on the same end of the court facing the opposite basket. When drill starts, players dribble to opposite end using using outside hand away from where the defense would be. Shoot a pull up jump shot at the elbow of the opposite end. If the shot goes in, it is worth two points. If it misses, the player must get his own rebound and shoot layups until he makes it. The layup is worth 1 point.
When the ball goes in, player takes it out of the net and dribble back to the end he started on using outside hand and shoots the pull up shot at that end. Plus 2 for a make, if it misses, rebound and shoot layups until it goes in for Plus 1. Get the ball out of the net after the make and pass to the next player in line.
In a Row Free Throws
When players are shooting free throws, have them keep track of how many they make in a row. When they shoot in partners, they shoot until they miss and then switch. Have players record their streaks to track their progress.
This drill really helps concentration. I like to display the top ten longest streaks on a board in the gym. When we started doing this, we had some 10s and 12s. I had a player in the summer who went nuts for this. We would get done with summer workouts and 9:00 pm and he would still be there at 10:00 shooting his streaks. He ended up being the only one on the board with all 10 top streaks. Most importantly, it showed during the season.
Sutton Pivot Shooting
How you do the drill is determined by how you teach pivoting.Player start under the rim. A passer/coach starts at the volleyball line. Players pass to the coach and sprint towards their pass. As they do, the coach at the volleyball line passes the ball back and shouts a direction. Players must pivot in that direction and shoot. The drill makes players work on pivoting and shooting. Great drill.
