Basketball Drills

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

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

This post contains videos of two defensive drills from Matt Woodley.

He is currently an assistant at Wake Forest.

Make sure your sound is on as you watch.

All videos are YouTube videos.

Make sure that you are on a server that allows YouTube access.

Even if you don’t play a pack style of defense, I hope the videos give you an idea or two as to how you can clarify and teach the system that you play.

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:

The Secrets of the Pack Line Defense

Choke the Post Drill

2 on 2 Positioning Drill

In addition to the 2 on 2 drill, Coach Woodley explains a second drill near the end of the video (3:45 mark) he explains a third drill that he calls 3 on 3 freeze.

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

The Secrets of the Pack Line Defense

 
Some drills that you can use in several ways: Warm-up, Shooting, Passing/Catching on the move, or at the end of practice for Conditioning/Competitions/Toughness

These drills are from Coach Justin Remington.

I have a link at the bottom of the post for you to access the entire pdf of his Favorite Practice Drills.

Full Throttle Shooting Drill

Everyone on the team has a basketball and start at half court. Each player will take the same shots.

1st person dribbles hard to the TOK and takes a TOK three pointer (second person waits until the ball is rebounded before they go and take same shot, each person on the team follows suit) (Shot 1).

Once player gets a rebound they go to the basket to the left for a right handed layup (Shot 2).

Player speed dribbles across the court (push the ball ahead of you, limit your dribbles) for a left hand layup (Shot 3)after rebound player sprints to the right side basket for a short corner (or corner three pointer) shot (Shot 4). Player gets rebound and speed dribbles diagonally for a bank shot above the block (or a reverse layup depending on what you want to see that day) (Shot 5).

The last shot is a wing 15 footer or a wing three pointer (depending on what you want) (Shot 6) (have players go through these 6 shots two or three times and count their makes and report their makes to you after the drill)

Editor’S Note. You could turn this into a team competition by seeing how many the team can make in a specific amount of time.

Relocation Layups

You could change the shot to a 3 jump shot, have someone at the basket to contest the layup, or change the type of finish to add another level of difficulty to the drill or for some variety.

This is a timed drill, Put two minutes on the clock and select an amount of layups you want to see made. Players do not reach it they get a sprint added under TEAM FOULS (to be run later in practice)

1. Team lines up on sideline as shown

2. Player with basketball under the rim throws the ball off glass and outlets to 2

3. Player 1 runs the lane, player 2 passes back t o player 1 and cuts diagonally across the floor to the opposite sideline

4. Player 1 passes ahead to 4, 4 passes it back to 1 who will shoot the layup

5. Player 4, after the pass back to 1, will cut diagonally across the floor (as shown)

1. Player 1 gets rebound and outlets to 2

2. Player 2 passes back to player 1 and sprints across the court and gets into line behind 5.

3. Player 1 continues and passes ahead to 4

4. 4 passes back to Player 1 and follows player t o the basket to get rebound

5. Player 1 finishes and Player 4 rebounds and goes back the other way to repeat the process.

Coach Remington has a 54 page pdf assembled with Moreno Valley’s Favorite Practice Drills. You can access it by clicking this link: Moreno Valley Practice Drills

These are some notes from Chris Mack, Head Men’s Coach, South Florida.

Regardless of what you run on offense or defense, you must have a defined system you believe in
– Your team must have an identity
– Everyone in your league should know what you’re about

– When you have a system, it gives your players answers and accountability to what they’re doing. For example, we don’t give up baseline – if you give up baseline you understand you’re coming out of the game
– It simplifies scouting. Identify the common offensive actions you face and teach a standard way to defend. Start at the beginning of the season practicing these actions in your shell drill. This allows you to focus on your opponent’s offensive concepts (rather than detailed set plays) when going over the scouting report.

– Your system should create “Regenerative Learning” (Tony Dungy), where upperclassmen can teach underclassmen.

Why play the Pack Line?:
– On offense, kids are way better ball handlers and way worse without the ball in their hands compared to 20 years ago.

There is nothing “soft” about Xavier’s Pack Line:
– Aggressive
– Ball pressure
– Smart positioning off the ball

What is the Pack Line Defense Philosophy?

– 16-17’ from the basket, mirrors the 3 pt line
– Tape it down every day before practice

Rules
– GOLDEN RULE: You must have two fee inside the PL when your man does not have the ball. Only two exceptions:
Your man becomes a cutter or Your man becomes a ball screener
– On-ball defender must play with extreme ball pressure
– On-ball defender CANNOT get beat baseline under any circumstances, nor can he get beat in a straight line (from a poor close out). It’s all about what you emphasize: A Xavier basketball player WILL NEVER get beat baseline – this  is nonnegotiable!

Close Out
– One of the most important fundamentals to this defense! You must work on this every single day (including pre-game warm-ups)
– Xavier Way: “Close out with two high hands”  Why “two high hands” instead of one?  Discourages rhythm shots and quick passes over the top Creates a mentality to “take away vision”

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Drill: “VEGAS CLOSE OUTS”

– We do this drill every single day (practice, shoot around, pre-game warm-ups, etc.)
– Each defender tosses the ball to offensive player
– Xavier Way to close out: 2 High hands, Elbows bent, Low stance, Short/choppy steps, Stay square, Yell “SHOT” early
– The offense will catch, triple-threat, jab step and rip the ball through a couple of times.
Drill: “BLACKHAWK”

– Great drill that incorporates closing out, ball pressure, jumping to help position, fronting cutters, and closing out from help position.
– ***Closing out from a help position is one of the toughest fundamental to master defensively***

• • x1 throws ball to first offensive player (1) inline and close out
  • 1 can pass to either wing, x1must “jump and swipe” to get to appropriate help position, 1 basket cuts, x1 must use arm bar and “bump cutter” to the logo (below the FT line)
  • Wing will pass to next offensive player in line (2), x1 must close out again – this time from a help position
  • After two or three passes from wing to top to wing back to top, the Coach will yell “LIVE”
  • Two players play 1-on-1 off the close out
  • Offense has 2-3 dribble max to score
  • x1 must get a stop to complete the drill – if offense scores, x1 restarts drill
  • Coaching Points Make sure x1 keeps proper fundamentals during the dummy period of the drill

This is a video of the Blackhawk Defensive Drill

Click the play arrow to see the drill and make sure your sound is on.

There is nothing to purchase to see the drill, however if you are interested in see more about the DVD that it came from, you can use this link:

Chris Mack Drills to Build the Packline Defense

Drill: “2-on-1 Position”

– Coach starts with the ball, x1 is matched up with 1
– Coach can pass to 1, dribble him out, cut him through, etc. forcing x1 to play on and off the ball
– Drill lasts for a prescribed amount of time, no one looks to score – just focus on constant offensive movement
– Coaching Points:
o Make sure x1 plays with proper fundamentals throughout the drill:
o Close outs from ball to help & help to ball
o Jump & Swipe
o Bump Cutter
o Protect against baseline & straight line drives
– Intense ball pressure