Basketball Drills

This drill was contributed by Aseem Rastogi to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

Any drill that you see someone else do should always be tailored to your particular needs.

I think anytime you can structure your conditioning so that it is playing basketball, that is a good thing.

Here is an idea for a drill for you to think about and modify for your system, or to use a part of the drill to incorporate into your current drills.

8-6-4

Initial Alignment – defensive team is on the baseline, offensive team is 4 out.

(You could have the offense pass and cut to get some movement)

Set clock for 8 seconds. Utilize shot clock here if you have one.

On the whistle, the defensive team must sprint to the opposite baseline, touch, and come back in transition defense.

After whistle, coach passes the ball to any offensive player. Up to the defense to locate the ball on the way back.

Note: Each team plays transition D differently – emphasize the points for your team.

The offensive team may attack as soon as they hear the buzzer.

If defensive team gets a stop, they go to 6 seconds for the next possession. If they get scored on, they stay at 8.

Defensive team has 6 seconds to touch opposite free throw line and come back in transition defense. Offensive team may attack at the buzzer.

Rotate in new offensive team each time to keep everyone involved.

If the defensive team gets a stop at 6 seconds, go to 4 seconds. If they don’t get a stop, they stay at 6.

Note: We have an accountability for staying at 8 for three possessions in a row – keeps the drill moving. Kids are sent with an assistant coach for a non-running accountability, such as pushups, planks, or wall sits. They will still finish the drill.

4 seconds – the defensive team runs to half court and back. Offensive team may attack at the buzzer.

This driving and finishing drill is 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.

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

BasketballHQ has just released their Basketball Coaches Training Group. In the group you will get access to different workout plans that are going to be for the team as a whole, by position, by the number of players and more. This is an all inclusive training group that is going to allow you to walk onto the court with a full workout plan in hand for your players through our easy to use Iphone and Android App. Every drill comes with a video breaking down the details of the drill, and all of the videos are instructed by a Pro or College coach and demonstrated by a high level player. click here for More Information on the Basketball Coaches Training Group.

I have posted a sample from the Coaches Training Group below the first video.

The Coach in the video is Brian Baudinet, formerly an assistant coach with the NBA D-League Tulsa 66ers. Since the video was made, Coach Baudinet has taken a position with the Duquense University Men’s Staff and the Tulsa 66ers are now known as the Oklahoma City Blue.

The purpose of this post is to get you to think about adapting it to your needs and not just running the drill as is. The teaching points might fit your philosophy and if they don’t, at least it might stimulate your thinking to more clearly define and communicate to your players what you do want.

I like the idea of giving consideration to where your players will be spaced and where the help is likely to come from as you work on your straight line driving and finishing at the basket. You can also put your players in different spots on the floor and how you would teach your drives and finishes.

You will also want to work on the various finishes that your players use and not just the finishes in the drill.

Click the play arrow to begin the videos.

Slide Away Finishing Drill

Here is a 2:00 minute sample of the type of content that is available in the BasketballHQ Coaches Training Group.

Some drills from Scott Peterman’s Basketball HoopScoop NBA Skill Development Bundle.

I like the ideas of players having to make multiple cuts and use multiple skills in a drill just like they have to do during the course of one possession during a game.

Use the drills to stimulate your thinking and staff conversation to find ways to more closely simulate the cuts and skills that your players use within your system during a possession.

This week’s eBook bundle is the Coach Peterman’s NBA Skill Development Playbook and Tim Springers’ NBA Scoring Drills Playbook. You can find out more about them at this link:

NBA Skill Development/Scoring eBook Bundle

Feel free to email me or call/text 317-721-1527‬ if you have any questions about the Bundle.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Steve Nash High Pick and Roll Bounce Out

Nash takes a high pick and roll screen and attacks the elbow.

If the help is sitting in the paint he will bounce off the lane line into a jump shot.

Drill: Use the chair for a high pick and roll. Attack the elbow and bounce out for jump shot.

Make 20 from each side of the court.

Use different types of ball screens that you utilize in your offense.

When creating space on the second defender, you can also simulate an off balance closeout and drive to score with a floater or some type of finish at the basket.

Look for ways to create drills that work on not only beating their primary defender, but also having to work at beating a second helping defender.

Tony Parker Down Screen into Pick and Roll

Come off a down screen in the corner.

As soon as he catches it off the screen (going full speed), he will dribble into a pick and roll.

Drill: Explode off the first cone (down screen) and catch the ball into a pick and roll (2nd cone) for jump shot
at the elbow.

Make 20 on each side.

You may not have this exact action in your offense, but think about incorporating cuts and movements your players make during the course of a possession into your shooting/scoring drills

This week’s eBook bundle is the Coach Peterman’s NBA Skill Development Playbook and Tim Springers’ NBA Scoring Drills Playbook. You can find out more about them at this link:

NBA Skill Development/Scoring eBook Bundle

If you are interested in adding to your Coaching Toolbox take look at what I believe is our best offer.

CLICK HERE to select from a list of more than 70 eBooks.

This ball handling drill was contributed by Rick Allison, Owner/Founder/Lead Trainer of LoneStar Basketball Academy 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

This is a training progression for one or more players to improve their ball handling transitions from one or more crossovers into a spin crossover.

It begins with a simple front cross into spin crossover and progresses to more challenging combinations and permutations as the player develops more confidence and dexterity.

Alternating dominant and non-dominant hands are incorporated to facilitate movement across the court.

There are links to You Tube videos of the drill at the bottom of the post.

[note: Description is per this illustration..could have players turned around or starting on other sideline. Key aspect of progression is to have pound dribble on side toward direction of travel (illustrated by red dashed line).]

– Each player is on the left sideline, has a ball in their left hand, is in a double-wide stance, and is facing the midcourt line (left shoulder pointing in direction of the opposite sideline)

– movement starts with a left hand pound dribble, into a front crossover to the right hand, and then a spin crossover by pulling the ball and reverse pivoting 180 degrees on the left foot into a right hand pound dribble on the right side

– the player is now facing the baseline with the ball in the right hand on the right side and has progessed one body width toward the opposite sideline

– the pound dribble after the spin crossover actually begins the reverse action for the next front crossover and spin (i.e., right hand pound dribble into a right to left hand front crossover and left hand reverse pivot spin off the right foot)

– by alternating the right hand and left hand spin move in this manner the player progresses to the opposite sideline (see video clip for movement progression)

– this progression provides numerous right and left hand repetitions to allow incremental refinement, and facilitates improvements in the hand placement for the transition into the spin move (a particularly

difficult maneuver for many players)

– emphasis should be on proper weight shifting and balance, wide lateral displacement, low crossover and hand positioning, and increasing quickness

Return trip (change front crossover to through-the-legs crossover before spin):

[note: Description is per this illustration..could have players turned around or starting on other sideline. Key aspect of progression is to have pound dribble on side toward direction of travel (illustrated by red dashed line).]

– On return trip, each player is now on the right sideline, has a ball in their right hand, is in a double-wide stance, and is again facing the midcourt line (right shoulder pointing in direction of the starting sideline)

– movement starts with a right hand pound dribble, into a through-the-legs crossover to the left hand, and then a spin crossover by pulling the ball and reverse pivoting 180 degrees on the right foot into a left hand pound dribble on the left side

– the player is now facing the baseline with the ball in the left hand on the left side and has progessed one body width toward the starting sideline

– the pound dribble after the spin crossover again begins the reverse action for the next through-the-legs crossover and spin (i.e., left hand pound dribble into a left to right hand through-the-legs crossover and right hand reverse pivot spin off the left foot)

– by alternating the right hand and left hand spin move in this manner the player progresses to the opposite sideline (see video clip for movement progression)

– emphasis should again be on proper weight shifting and balance, wide lateral displacement, low crossover and hand positioning, and increasing quickness

Repeat Outbound (change through-the-legs crossover to behind back crossover):

[note: Description is per this illustration..could have players turned around or starting on other sideline. Key aspect of progression is to have pound dribble on side toward direction of travel (illustrated by red dashed line).]

– Each player is again on the left sideline, has a ball in their left hand, is in a double-wide stance, and is facing the midcourt line (left shoulder pointing in direction of the opposite sideline)

– movement now starts with a left hand pound dribble, into a behind-the-back crossover to the right hand, and then a spin crossover by pulling the ball and reverse pivoting 180 degrees on the left foot into a right hand pound dribble on the right side

– the player is now facing the baseline with the ball in the right hand on the right side and has progessed one body width toward the opposite sideline

– the pound dribble after the spin crossover begins the reverse action for the next behind-the-back crossover and spin (i.e., right hand pound dribble into a right to left hand behind-the-back crossover and left hand reverse pivot spin off the right foot)

– by alternating the right hand and left hand spin move in this manner the player progresses to the opposite sideline (see video clip for movement progression)

– the behind-the-back crossover to spin crossover handle is a tough manuever that many players struggle with..dropping the hips and keeping hands low can help improve the ball-hand transfer

– emphasis should again be on proper weight shifting and balance, wide lateral displacement, low crossover and hand positioning, and increasing quickness

Repeat return trip (mix it up now by sequencing to a different crossover before each spin):

– sequence would be as follows: pound/front cross/spin.. pound/through-the-legs/spin.. pound/behind-the-back/spin.. [repeat]

– emphasis should again be on proper weight shifting and balance, wide lateral displacement, low crossover and hand positioning, and increasing quickness.

Advanced permutations:

1) Inside-out series: add inside-out move before pre-spin crossovers. For example:

– trip 1 (pound/inside-out/front cross/spin)

– trip 2 (pound/inside-out/thru-the-legs/spin)

– trip 3 (pound/inside-out/behind-the-back/spin)

– trip 4 (mix it up)

2) triple permutation series:

– trip 1 (pound/front cross/front cross/front cross/spin)

– trip 2 (pound/front/thru-the-legs/front/spin)

– trip 3 (pound/front/thru/behind-the-back/spin)

– trip 4 (pound/thru/behind/front/spin)

– trip 5 (pound/thru/behind/behind/spin)

– trip 6 (pound/behind/behind/behind/spin)

etc., etc., etc.