Basketball Drills

These are some of the notes presented by Dean Lockwood. Dean is currently the Associate Head Women’s Coach at Michigan State. He was an assistant in the Tennessee Women’s Program for 15 years. He was also an assistant in their men’s program for 5 years. In between those stints at Tennessee, he has been the men’s head coach at Saginaw Valley State, and Northwood University.

Thoughts on Competitive Practices 2

This is the 2nd part of my notes. You can see the drills and thoughts that I posted last week at this link:
Tennessee Competitive Drills

Have 2 areas of emphasis each practice and hold players accountable for them. Have a full rack of basketballs on the sideline. Each time one of the areas of emphasis is not followed through on, take a ball of the rack. When the rack is empty, the team runs. You can use it for any area, but as an example, Eliminating Turnovers is the emphasis for the day. Each time a turnover is committed, remove one ball from the rack. It is also a powerful visual teaching emphasis.

It’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize (old Don Meyer favorite)

Making layups and free throws are keys to being good. This drill is also a conditioner.

(Teaching point for layups: No defense, jump off 1 foot. With defense, shoot a two foot layup for power and balance.

Make 145 layups as a team in 4 minutes drill
If you do 2 minutes, the target number made is 75
(You can adjust the number made or the time for your level and your team’s ability level.

(Editor’s note from Brian) You might also consider shooting left hand dribbles and layups. You could also run the drill by using a pad to make contact with the shooter as he or she goes in for the layup. Experiment a couple of times to see what is a good standard of makes for your players to shoot for.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

As in, the diagram, start half of the players at each end. 2 basketballs at each end.

In the diagram, players 1, 2, 6, & 7 are circled and start the drill with basketballs.

Each player has 4 dribbles to make it to the far basket at other end to shoot a layup.

Put 4 minutes on the clock.

When the clock starts, 1 & 6 start their 4 dribbles toward the other end. When they are at half court, 2 and 7 start their dribbles. 3 will rebound 6’s layup then start their 4 dribbles to the other end, and 8 will rebound 1’s layup and start their 4 dribbles toward the other end.

Pass Ahead Contact Layups

Making layups is one thing, making layups with contact is another.

Work on both sides of the floor and finishing with both hands.

You can make cuts from your half court offense or simulate a player catching a pass in transition.

Player 2 cuts to score, 1 makes the pass to 2.

2 can use one dribble to score.

As soon as the basket is made or missed, the next cutter is up-no wasted time.

Coach at basket with pad to work on the player finishing through contact.

Make the drill competitive by having it going at both ends. The end that converts the most layups in a certain amount of time is the winner.

Circle Transition Drill

Can do the drill 4 on 4 or 5 on 5. Split players into two teams with different color jerseys. Alternate players by jersey colors and have them run in a circle around the key and free throw line area at one end. Throw the ball somewhere on the side of half court where players are. The team that retrieves the loose ball is on offense and looks to fast break to the basket at the opposite end. The team that did not get the loose ball is on defense. They must talk and match up, then play your rules for converting to defense, stop ball, protect the basket, whatever you teach. Play continues like a game until one team scores. Then, reset the drill with the circle rather than inbounding the basketball after the made basket. Play to a set score, or for a set amount of time.

Mountaineer Drill

Split players into 2 teams with different color jerseys. Red vs. White

Keep score like a game for both sides, free throw, 2 pt. shot, 3 pt. shot.

Each team has it’s own basket, like a game.

Start the drill with 1 red player shooting a free throw, 2 white rebounders, and no one else on the court. Just like a game, if the free throw is made, red gets one point.

Make or miss the free throw, white goes the other way 2 on 1 with the ball vs. red. They get the points 2 or 3 if they score

When the 2 on 1 ends, 2 reds come on, making 3 reds, they go the opposite way 3 on 2 vs. the 2 whites.

(Whenever there is a change of possession, play it live like a game, the new players come on on the fly like hockey. The drill does not stop once the free throw is shot)

When the 3 on 2 ends, 2 whites come and go 4 on 3 towards the white basket vs. the 3 reds.

When the 4 on 3 ends, 2 reds come on and go back 5 (reds) on 4 (whites).

When the 5 on 4 ends, 1 white comes on and the go the opposite way 5 on 5.

Each team has 3 possessions.

Start the drill again with white shooting the free throw for the next round.

Play 4 total times, or adjust that number if you need more trips to get all players involved.

These are some of the notes that I took from a presentation by Alan Stein at a PGC/Glazier Basketball coaching Clinic in Chicago.

Alan Stein on Basketball Performance Training

1. Players have higher priorities than training. They can remember about 3 things on training, then it is overload.
2. As coaches, we must exercise selection in our administration of our training programs.
3. Basketball Performance Skills are built brick by brick, not in a short period of time.  If every brick is laid perfectly, you have a sound wall.  If they aren’t laid correctly, all you have is a pile of bricks.
4. Every rep of every drill and every workout is a brick.
5. Stay focused on the important areas.
6. Screen, prioritize, prescribe
7. Be time efficient with your program, training is a small piece of the puzzle.
8. There is no such thing as perfection, but that is the goal.
9. Basketball isn’t a perfect game.
10. Basketball is a game played with bursts of high intensity and then brief rests (fouls, timeouts, dead balls, free throws, etc..).  Your workout regiment should mirror that.
11. Make your workouts productive.  Get your players to buy in, then get them results that they can see and feel.  Once you have them hooked, they will give you high focus and high effort.
12. Age appropriate.  Evaluate stages (of physical development) rather than ages.
13. Basketball training is not just lifting weights.
14. Training is much bigger than only strength and conditioning
15. Young players need training on how to start, stop, jump, and land most quickly and safely.
16. The movement patterns are similar in youth basketball all the way up to professional basketball.
17. The training program must be comprehensive–Alan is a performance coach, not just a strength and conditioning coach.
18. A comprehensive program involves testing & assessment, improving performance, reducing injury, inspiring progress
19. In basketball, it is not important to determine who the strongest player on the team is.
20. Players who have the highest level of strength aren’t the best basketball players.  Kevin Durant was 68th out of 70 in bench press at the NBA combine prior to being drafted.  Short arms are an advantage in weightlifting.  Long arms are an advantage in playing basketball.
21. We are all born with different abilities
22. The goal is to determine where they are at the start of the program and track the improvement of each individual.
23. Assess and Identify each player’s needs and monitor their progress
24. Asymmetry (For example, one leg is stronger than the other leg.  Another example is the front being stronger than the back) is a leading cause of injury.
25. The #1 cause of injury is a pre-existing injury.
26. Proper training evens out asymmetry
27. In basketball, skill is king.
28. To improve strength and power, Alan recommends body weight squats, and front loaded squats.  Do not do back squats.
29. Improving athleticism–running, jumping balance.
30. FG% is tied to balance.
31. Alan believes that pre-season programs should be time efficient.  Get them in, get them a great workout, and get them out.
32. Work on starting, stopping, changing direction, accelerating, and decelerating.
33. Steve Nash was a great athlete regarding balance, deceleration, and hand/eye coordination.
34. Alan’s Complete Player Pyramid (click the link for an article he wrote on it) is Body-Skill-Brain-Hear/Motor.
35. We can model heart, but that is not something that can be controlled.
36. Your training program is a foundation.
37. Purposeful, Practice, Progressive (and Regressive)
38. Purposeful--Does it bulletproof players’ bodies against injury? Does it improve players’ capacity to perform skill?  If you improve players athleticism, they can perform skills properly for longer periods of time.  Just because something is hard does not make it purposeful.  You can have a purposeful program and still have some fun.   In Alan’s opinion, the 2 mile test isn’t purposeful.  It requires different energy demands than basketball does.
39. Practical–Do what you can with what you have.
40. Progressive–To foster continual improvement, and regressive to help players who struggle.
41. Your training program must be safe.  You can’t prevent injuries in basketball, but you can take steps to reduce the number of injuries and the severity of those injuries.  Training injuries are unacceptable.  Alan is not big on the power clean or snatch.