Basketball Drills

This video is one of the great resources available from basketballhq. They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

Matthew Graves is the Former Head Men’s Coach at South Alabama. He was an Assistant to Brad Stevens and a player at Butler prior to taking the job at South Alabama. He is currently serving as an assistant at Xavier.

You can tweak the drill to make it fit what you want. For example, you might rather have the 1 point shots be free throws or floaters rather than layups.

The total possible points is actually 120 and not 160.

You can decide whether or not you want to include the one and one as a bonus.

I like the idea of including free throws with pressure anytime I can.

Another thought is to have the player shoot a finishing move, a floater, or give them some type of resistance. I believe the one point shot in the drill should be a little more meaningful and game-like. You want to put in something that will facilitate improvement.

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

Click the play arrow to see the drill.

The drill is a You Tube video, so you will need to be able to access YouTube to see the drill.

100 Point Shooting Game

The Coach in this video clip is Grey Giovanine, retired Augustana College Head Men’s Coach and 2015 Basketball Times National Coach of the Year.

In his scheme to defend a 2 on 1, the first defender sprints ahead of the basketball and makes the ball handler make a pass.

The chasing defender is responsible for the 2nd pass.

In this version of the drill, one team goes until they get two stops. You could make it even more competitive by playing to 7 stops and allowing one team to continue to go on defense until they don’t get a stop. The best way to run the drill is for you to modify it until it fits what you want to accomplish.

From an offensive perspective, you can also use this drill to improve your execution. 2-on-1 advantages don’t last very long with other defenders sprinting back. You also don’t get many of them during a game. 2 on 1 is such a big advantage to the offense that it is imperative to execute the ones that you do get.

If you are interested in finding out more about the DVD that the video sample came from, click here:

Open Practice: Ball Pressure Defense Drills – Basketball — Championship Productions, Inc.

Make sure your sound is on as you watch.

The video is a You Tube video.

Click the video to start the presentation.

Some teaching points from Drew Hanlen, Founder of Pure Sweat Basketball on the Veer Finish to work with your players on being strong and finishing through contact.

My belief is that players need to focus on putting the basketball in the basket and not contorting their body to hopefully call a foul.

Trying to draw a foul usually results in missing the shot and often there is no foul call.

If the player is tough enough to put the ball in the basket, you don’t have to rely on the official. If the ball goes in the basket and you get a foul call for a free throw attempt, even better.

Whether or not you like this move, my belief is that just like any other fundamental skill, you need to have a method to teach and drills to practice finishing at the basket through contact and not put the game in the hands of the officials by relying on them to call fouls.

The drill is posted in the Pure Sweat YouTube channel. You can access their channel of instructional videos at this link:

Pure Sweat YouTube Channel

This is a YouTube video, so please make sure that you are able to access that network.

Also, please make sure your sound is on for the instruction with the video.

Click the play arrow to view the video.

Veer Finish Through Contact

You have probably seen this or a similar drill before, but I like the idea of setting the 40 second time limit and the defense having to tip turn the offense over 4 times with 4 basketballs in that time span.

The video is from a Gonzaga Practice.

If you are facing a pressing team, you could tweak the scoring system and make it an offensive emphasis drill.

Editor’s Note from Brian:

I understand that most teams don’t have two 7 footers who can throw the ball over the trap.

Also, I know that the offense seems disinterested.

The purpose is not to evaluate this practice session. The idea behind the post is for you to get a couple of ideas to improve upon this drill and use it or that might make your current trapping/pressure handling drills better.

If you are interested in finding out more about the DVD that the video sample came from, click here:

All Access Basketball Practice with Mark Few

Make sure your sound is on as you watch.

The video is a You Tube video.

Click the video to start the presentation.

This post was adapted from a post made in the Fast Model Drills and Plays Library by John Leonzo, Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Cedarville University.

You can see the orignial post at this link: Blind 1 on 1..

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

As with any drill that you see anywhere, you should adjust it to fit what you are looking to teach and improve before installing it.

I like the idea of drilling a lot of one on one (both in-season and during the improvement season) but only with the purpose of applying it in a team offensive concept.

That is what was appealing to me about this setup.

the drill starts 1 on 1 and then builds to 3 on 3.

You can move the starting position and move where the 2nd and 3rd offensive players and defenders are positioned to make it fit what you see in your games.

I also think it is a good idea to add a scoring and or timing component to the drill.

x1 is facing the hoop with their heels on the 3pt line.

As soon as 1 puts the ball on the floor, it turns into live 1v1.

Editor’s Note from Brian: You might not like this method of starting the drill. You could start it with a pass from the top of the key with the defense closing out on the receiver.

The second level now is to add a coach to the drill to be a guided help defender.

This is a great time to teach the drive to land on 2 feet so they are balanced, strong, and controlled as they meet the help.

Be sure to emphasize straight line drives and players will try to loop drive to avoid the help.

The diagrams’ offensive drives are not a good example of a straight drive, but are slightly arced to distinguish the offensive movement from the defensive movement.

The next progression is to 2v2.

It is now that you are teaching the driver to do 2 things:

1. Read the help defender (x2)

2. Score if the helper stays, giving the advantage to 2 if x2 steps to help on drive.

Editor’s Note from Brian I also think this is a good time to emphasize driving to put the ball in the basket, and not on contorting and getting off balance to draw a foul. Driving to draw a foul leaves the decision up to the official and I don’t consider that to be a smart play. You might not get the call you want or the defender might be able to avoid contact.

The last progression is to take it to 3v3. The same reads apply for the driver on the attack, but now you are also training 2 to keep or increase the advantage.

If x2 stops ball and 1 passes to 2, 2 then has to keep the advantage. 2 can accomplish this by:

1. If he is open, on balance, and in range – shoot the ball
2. If x3 stays home and x2 recovers hard, 2 can drive the ball
3. If x3 drops to help, 2 keeps the advantage by hitting 3 with a “click pass” (a pass that is in and out of the passers hand within a half second or less). 3 then shoot if open, drives a hard closeout, and makes a pass.