Basketball Drills

Point Huskies Free Throw Game

By Brian Williams on October 16, 2016

This free throw shooting drill was designed by Mike Neighbors, Women’s Basketball Coach at Arkansas. At the time of this post, Mike was the coach at Washington.

We are always looking for new ways to incorporate free throw shooting into our full team practices. This is one we came up with to compete as a team and also have the element of individual competition.

We have six goals in our gym. We split off to shooters and rebounders at each goal. 10:00 goes onto the game clock.

Each shooter shoots until they miss.

The shooters must make at least 5 in a row to get a POINT HUSKIES (this is a reference to what our PA announcer says at our volleyball games)

5 makes in a row equals 1 point.
10 makes in a row = 3 points.
15 in a row = 5 points.
20 = 9 points.
25 = 12 points.
30 = 15 points
35 = 20 points.
40 = 25
45 – 32
50 = 40

from 50 on the team gets one point extra per make

The team total is added for each shooter. So at the end of ten minutes we have a team score.

We also chart individual scores to keep record boards for individuals.

Couple of things to have provisions for:

1) As the time is geƫting close to zero… any streak that was begun before the 1:00 minute mark can be completed until there is a miss.

2) Any streak that begins within the last :30 seconds can only go to the next increment of five.

3) How long will you go before you allow “distractions”

Our total team record is 270 so far. Individual highs are 145 ( yes, 145), 57, 48, 33, 32 and several in the
high 20’s.

Love the competition this breeds. It is also NO FUN to not have your name called out for long streaks…
We hope this drill will conƟnue to keep us in the Top 10 naƟonally for FT Percentage.

Ball Screen Wave Drills

By Brian Williams on October 11, 2016

These drills were put together by Nate Hill.

He is the Assistant Boys Coach at Colonel Crawford High School in North Robinson, Ohio.

Coach Hill has provided several drills and has been generous enough to allow me to post them on the site.

He has also started a basketball coaching newsletter.

You can see find more information about the Newsletter at this link: Next Level 419 Coaching Newsletter

He provide a post where he outlined what he believes to be the strengths and weaknesses of five different methods of defending ball screens. Here is the link to that article on 5 options for defending pick and roll.

Since the drills uses both sides of the floor, you could use it as either a practice drill or a pre-game warm up drill if you run a ball screen offense.

4 Player Wave Drills Guards and Posts

Combo drills: 4 balls, 2 posts, 2 guards, 1-2 coaches.

1 dribble entry into a side ball screen with 5.

The 5 uses a “1” cut and rolls to basket.

1 hits 5, then gets pass from coach for a jumper.

4 starts with ball, and passes to 2 lifting, then sets a ball screen.

4 uses a “2” cut and pops to space. Switch sides and cuts.

Combo drills: 4 balls, 2 posts, 2 guards, 1-2 coaches.

1 dribble entry into a side ball screen with 5.

4 starts with ball, and passes to 2 lifting, then sets a ball screen.

Change up the cuts – 1. Roll, 2. Pop, 3. Slips, 4. Dribble hand off.

Alternate passes and angles.

Decathlon Shooting Challenge

By Brian Williams on October 4, 2016

This shooting drill was diagrammed and contributed by Joel Hueser to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

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

Coach Hueser is the Head Boys Coach at Papillion-LaVista South High School High School in Nebraska.

This is what he said about the drill:

Each year, preseason and sometimes during the season, we test our players for assessment purposes. The Decathlon is a good indicator of player strengths and weaknesses. The test consists of ten shooting skills performed for one minute each, one skill right after the other. We have acquired over 25 years of data using this test. As a result, we have a pretty good idea of a player’s offensive skill set when it’s all said and done. We like to factor these numbers into our selection process.

To date, in my 25+ years of coaching, not quite 20 players have scored 200 baskets or higher. The highest is 218. The first 3 minutes set the tone. A fundamentally sound player can score close to 100 or more baskets right out of the gates.

We consider the following grade levels and scores very good:

Freshmen 160 or more
Sophomores 170 or more
Juniors 180 or more
Seniors 190 or more
Skill Level Scale:

Editor’s Note from Brian: You can develop your own scoring system, scoring standards, and change the shots. You don’t have to use the drill exactly the same way that Coach Hueser does. The idea is to modify the challenge and make it YOUR OWN. For example, this uses a lot of layups, you might want to include more jump shots. Or, you could possibly use this as one data point for tryouts.

Since the player is moving for 10 consecutive minutes, if you have 6 baskets, you could use it at the end of practice as a conditioner while handling and shooting the basketball or to see who is in shape for your early season practices.

There is a video at the bottom of the post to see the decathlon in action.

1) Strong Hand Lay-ups

-Stand wherever you want (we suggest as shown) and score as many baskets as possible.

-No rebounders (using the glass is recommended).

-1 minute.

2) Weak Hand Lay-ups

-Same as strong hand lay-ups, but this time you must shoot with your weak hand.

-Your strong hand is to be held behind your back (Shooter is allowed to shoot from either side).

-1 minute.

3) Mikan Drill

-Shoot baby hook shots, alternating from the right side to the left side.

-Shoot off the correct foot on each side.

-1 minute.

4) Block-to-Block

-Shoot just outside the freethrow lane near the low block.

-Use the glass and move back and forth without traveling.

-1 minute.

5) Corner-to-Corner

-Same as block-to-block, but this time the shots are from the short corner (two strides from lane).

-Move back and forth without traveling.

-1 minute.

6) X-Out Lay-ups

-Start at the right freethrow line elbow, dribble in and score a lay-up.

-Then sprint out to the left elbow (dribble is not mandatory). Do the same, but with the left hand.

-1 minute.

7) Lay-up Bust

-Start under the basket and shoot a lay-up.

-Whether it is made or missed, run and touch the free throw line with your hand.

-Then come back to the ball and attempt another lay-up or shot.

-1 minute.

8) Elbow-to-Elbow
-Shoot from the right freethrow line elbow and follow your shot.
-Dribble out to the left elbow with your outside hand and shoot again.
-Alternate from elbow-to-elbow; always dribbling with your outside hand.

9) 15′ Rapid Fire

-Use two basketballs and two teammates as a feeder and rebounder.

-Fire as many jump shots as possible from the freethrow line.

-1 minute.

10) 20′ Rapid Fire

-Same as 15′ Rapid Fire, but from behind the 3-point arc.

-1 minute.

Here is a You Tube video of the drill.

Elbow Pivot Finishing Series Drill

By Brian Williams on October 3, 2016

These two post player drills are among the thousands of resources for both coaches and player available from basketballhq.

They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

I encourage you to think about the best way to modify the drills before you implement them so that they fit your system and offer the most benefit for your players.

Even as you are first implementing them, you may need to continue the process of making some adjustments so that they are contributing to the improvement of your players.

I also think you should have a finishing drill similar to the first one for when your players catch in the short corner if that is something you do in your offensive attack against man to man or zone defenses.

Make sure that your speakers are on to hear the narration and that you can access You Tube to see the videos.

Click the play arrow to begin each video.

The first video (Elbow Pivot Series Finishing Drill) is coached by Mike Roberts, Associate Head Coach at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

The coach in the second video is Chris Capko, Assistant coach at USC.

Elbow Pivot Series Finishing Drill

Drop Step Post Move Drill

Roy Williams Mine Field Defensive Drill

By Brian Williams on September 26, 2016

This post contains a videos of a defensive drill from North Carolina’s Roy Williams.

Make sure your sound is on as you watch.

All videos are You Tube videos.

Make sure that you are on a server that allows You Tube access.

You can make adjustments to the rules and requirements of the drill that fit your team.

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

Roy Williams: Breakdown Drills for Individual and Team Defense

You might not want to run this drill exactly as Coach Williams does, but it might give you an idea to repurpose something that you use, or take his scheme and tweak it to meet your philosophy or defensive rules.

Mine Field Drill

Full Court Shooting Drill

By Brian Williams on September 22, 2016

This shooting along with conditioning drill was posted on the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

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

Ladder Shooting Drill

This drill was contributed by Coach Fabian McKenzie, Cape Breton University Women’s Basketball.

He has been a head coach at the university level for 16 years, and has been involved as a coach at this level for 20 years.

He has been involved with the Canadian Women’s National team program for the past 8 years.

This is what he said about the drill:

This is a great conditioning drill which requires focus on shooting the ball.

Great in pre-season.

You can work on 15 foot shots, 3 point shots, dribble pull ups, etc.

P’s are passers. They must constantly hustle to rebound and have a ball ready for their next shooter

We do a “ladder” of time

15 sec. per group
30 sec. per group
45 sec. per group
60 sec. per group
45 sec. per group
30 sec. per group
15 sec. per group

1,2,3,4 receive a pass and shoot the ball

As soon as 1,2,3,4 shoot the ball they turn and sprint to opposite end.

Our rule is that they cannot shoot from the opposite spot on the floor twice in a row. They must pick a new spot.

Once the time is up, 1,2,3,4 become passers and one of the passing groups become the shooters.

Challenge the players to beat their takes and makes each time i.e. First time they do 15 sec. they may get 3-4 shots. Challenge them to do more and make more each block of time

Here is another version of the drill:

If you are interested in seeing information on the DVD that this drill came from, click: Individual and Team Drills for Building a Transition Offense