Basketball Drills

This defensive drill is from the Encyclopedia of the Packline Defense assembled by Chris Filios. It is paired with the “Attack the Pack Playbook” , which was also compiled by Chris.

Click here to see the Attack the Pack and Packline Defense Bundle

If you need customer service, email me at [email protected] or call/text me at ‪317-721-1527.

The concept of the drill is to quickly run through several offensive actions that you have to defend frequently.

If there are other movements that the teams that you play run, you can add them in.

Also, remove anything in this sequence that isn’t something you face.

Apply your defensive rules to defend the actions in the drill.

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The Van Gundy Drill is designed to force the defense to guard a variety of actions that they would see in the game.

It starts in a Horns sets.

 

 

Defend horns ball screen action 5 screening for 1.

 

 
 

 

Throw back to 4.

3 lifts.

4 reverses to 3.
 

 

4 sets wing pick and roll for 3.

5 ducks in from the opposite side.

1 and 2 exchange on the opposite side.
 

 

3 reverses to 2.

4 spaces behind 3 point arc.

 
 

 

High sprint ball screen 5 on 2.

 

 
 

 

2 throws back to 1.

5 posts up.

 
 

Once the offense (second or scout team) knows the motion, the defense will step on and guard it.

Play will be live and the offense can score off any of the actions.

 

This defensive drill is from the Encyclopedia of the Packline Defense assembled by Chris Filios. It is paired with the “Attack the Pack Playbook” , which was also compiled by Chris. Click here to see the Packline Attack and Defense Bundle

If you need customer service, email me at [email protected] or call/text me at ‪317-721-1527.

This post was submitted by Coach Tom Kelsey.  Coach Kelsey has been a Head Coach at Belhaven University, Faulkner University, and Greater Atlanta Christian High School.  He has also been an assistant at LSU, Alabama, Murray State, and Lipscomb.  He played at Lipscomb under Coach Don Meyer.

Coaching Post Players can be frustrating and a challenge.

You are trying all the drills.

You try all the motivation techniques.

You try easy drills and hard drills.

Still not seeing improvement as you hoped?

Learning how to teach certain skills is also important for a coach.

The most important thing is to keep it simple for your Post Players.

Getting them to do a few things well will pay off more than trying to have them do a large variety of skills.

So what are the most important things to teach and how to teach them?

1. Footwork.

Having the proper footwork is the foundation to good post play.

Emphasize footwork during every workout, practice, and game.

Everything starts with running the floor. A Post Player who can run the floor is a tremendous asset to the team. The ability to get back and protect the paint gives a defense the right foundation.

Running the floor on offense and beating the defender down the floor puts them into position to get easy baskets.

2. Positioning

How well a Post Player establishes position on both ends will determine their effectiveness.

On defense getting around to front in the post, showing on ball screens, giving help on drives, blocking out all involve being in the right position.

Offensively understanding angles and how to post and seal the defender are critical to success in the paint.

Because of the physical nature of posting up, players need to understand how to use their body.

That means holding the defense off by using their rear end, hips, and quick feet.

3. Hands

One of the most significant areas to help your Post Players is in their hands. They have to keep their hands up constantly.

For rebounding, I tell our players all the time what John Wooden said, “When the shot goes up, hands go up.”

If you want to rebound your hands, have to be up.

On defense I want our players to have their hands up especially in the paint. I want the referee to see both hands of our players.

Both hands up allow there to be much less chance of a foul.  If an official who can only see one hand the likelihood of a foul increases.

On offense the reason we want hands up is to be ready for the pass, but also to be a threat to catch. If a Post Player stands with hands down two things happen:

1. Their teammates are less likely to throw then the ball. We want our players to be available receivers at all times.
2. They are not a threat to the defense. We feel having hands up puts more pressure on the defense because that is one more player the defense must give attention.

Emphasize these areas each day. If you get them to play with good footwork, proper position and active hands you will see tremendous improvement.

Here are some great drills to put in right away to your workouts and practices.

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Pitch Aheads

 

 

 

 

 

Drill teaches your players to run the floor, make the catch and finish with a made basket.

Players will gain confidence in running the floor full speed and being able to make the play.

Pitch ball ahead to player running to the basket.

Coach can make the pass hard to catch or easy to catch.

Throw it out in front of the player each time so they have to make an effort to go after the basketball.

Player has to catch the ball clean and lay the ball up at the rim.

Pitch Aheads Continued

 

 

 

 

 

You can also have players make pass first then pass the ball back.

Catching off the Drive

 

 

 

 

 

Post players working on the catch and finish. Coach has the ball at FT line. Each player goes three times. Coach makes pass difficult to catch (up high, down low, off the bounce, too fast).

After catch post player makes quick move to basket without dribbling the ball.

Power Lay in drill.

 

 

 

 

 

Coach throws ball to hit the opposite side of the backboard. Do not want ball to hit the rim. Players must have hands up and knees bent so they are ready for the ball. On the rebound go up as high as possible and chin the basketball so they are strong with the ball.

1. Pogo. Keep the ball high on the rebound with arms extended and immediately go back up with the shot.
2. Quick put back into the basket. Come down with rebound with wide base and chin the ball go back up with the shot.
3. Shot fake and shot. Rebound and shot fake before going back up with shot. On the shot fake make sure to keep knees bent and the ball chinned. Teaching players to stay in basketball ready position.
4. Shot fake come to the other side of the rim on one dribble. Keep shoulders parallel to the backboard.
5. Catch in the air and put in back in (dunk or tip) Two hands.

Sprint to Block for Post Up

 

 

 

 

 

Sprint to the block post move. Use blocking dummy, coach or player to increase pressure defense. Post player works on position, sealing out the defender, catching the ball clean and making a move to the basket.

Put back any miss. Get the ball out quickly and make a good outlet pass. Sprint to half court.

This drill is from Mike Neighbors, Arkansas Women’s Basketball Coach. The drill is available on the Arkansas Women’s Basketball YouTube Channel

You probably run a similar drill in your program, but I think that this is worth watching to pick up some of his teaching points.

His purposes for running the drill are:

1) To work on transition offense and conversion defense. For Arkansas, that is 70% of their game. Even if yours is not that high, live ball transition is still a large part of every game, regardless of the style you play.
2) Improve Shot Selection
3) Reduce Turnovers
4) Conditioner

Please make sure your sound is on to see the video.

Click the play arrow to see the drill.

The drill is a YouTube video, so you will need to be on a server that allows you to access YouTube to see the drill.

The coach in the video is Frank Allocco, former University of San Francisco Associate Head Coach and former De La Salle (CA) HS Head Coach. In 2014 he was the McDonald’s All-American Game West Squad Head Coach. Coach Allocco is the only coach in California history to take two schools to a state title. He was the 2000 National High School Coach of the Year, the 2012 National Catholic Coach of the Year, California State Coach of the Year in 2010 and 2011. He is currently 2nd All-Time in the State of California in Winning Percentage (.868).

The video is to get ideas for isolating individual players and individual defensive skills.

The drill might not fit your exact defensive rules, but the best use of the drill is to tweak it to your needs.

The video is a YouTube video so make sure that you are on a server that allows YouTube access.

If you are interested in learning more about the DVD that this sample was taken from, click here: Frank Allocco: Competitive Drill Progressions for Creating Energy in Your Gym

Make sure your sound is on

Click the play arrow to see the drill.

Defensive Energy Drill

This drill is from Mike Neighbors, Arkansas Women’s Basketball Coach. The drill is available on the Arkansas Women’s Basketball YouTube Channel

Coach Neighbors got the drill from Mike Bradbury, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at New Mexico.

There are some really good teaching points that can be applied to your offensive concepts and drills, regardless of what transition system and shooting drills you use.

My takeaways from the video are:

1) Making every drill a passing drill
2) The terminology of “strike” for an on target pass.
3) Having more than one way to score competitive drills. I think variety for the players is good.
4) His Dragon spot fits his offensive rules, not just running a drill to run a drill
5) Sprint to the spot and then get feet ready
6) Giving players feedback on their performance in a drill from day to day throughout the season

Please make sure your sound is on to see the video.

Click the play arrow so see the drill.

The drill is a YouTube video, so you will need to be on a server that allows you to access You Tube to see the drill.

These Plays were contributed to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library by Randy Sherman of Radius Athletics.

You can also find out more about FastModel Play Diagramming software by clicking this link: FastDraw

3-on-3 Guts is an excellent live drill for reviewing and polishing your team defensive fundamentals. Further, it is a live drill to teach players how to get through adversity. It stresses the importance of getting and stringing together defensive stops. This drill is also an opportunity for the offense to use motion offense principles

RULES:

• Defense must make four consecutive stops before going to offense
• Stops are defined as defensive rebounds, steals or out of bounds possessions
• If the offense scores or gets fouled, the defensive “stop count” goes back to zero
• Offensive charges count as four stops
• Offense goes down and back and a new offensive group comes on the floor
• Do not change directions until the ball touches the rim or offense scores (teams switch directions after Defensive rebound or Offensive Field Goal Made)
• Check the ball in after steals and fouls
• Offense must inbound the ball on all out of bounds situations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phase 1

Defense must make four consecutive STOPS before going to offense.

STOPS are defensive rebounds, steals or out of bounds possessions. If the offense scores or is fouled, the defensive STOP count goes back to zero. Offensive charges count as four stops. Offense goes down and back, and a new offensive group comes on the floor.

The offense TAKES NO PRISONERS! The defense must earn its way off the court.

GREY team brings the ball up against the RED team.

Phase 1A

STAY. Do not change directions until the ball touches the rim. Check ball in after steals and fouls. Offense must inbound the ball on all out of bounds situations.

Offense: Play within motion offense rules.

Defense: Man-to-Man rules.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phase 2

Switch Directions. Teams switch directions after a MADE shot or DEFENSIVE rebound.

Phase 3

New Offensive Group. Offense goes down and back, and then is replaced by a new group. Black team is now on offense.

Defense must earn its way to offense by making four consecutive defensive stops.