Basketball Drills

Post Player Skill Development Drills

By Brian Williams on May 13, 2015

Some skill development drills that were sent to me by Nate Hill.

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

He started a Coaching Newsletter this past Fall. Here is a link to the archives if you are interested.

In case you have any questions or comments for Coach Hill, or would like to subscribe to his newsletter, here is his email address:

[email protected]

Post Pit Drill

Diagrams created with FastDraw

1 and 2 in pit.

Players must score to get out of drill, scored on stay.

1 on offense and uses post move to score.

If 1 misses, rebounder passes to anyone one of 3 outside key, and relocate.

1 or 2 can get rebound, then is offense.

x2 lost, and now goes against player 3.

Ball can be entered from any player outside the 3 point arc.

Pick and Roll Big Breakdown

2 times each action, switch sides and spots. 4 scenarios, add in other ways you are defended and what your reads are.

Hard / Soft hedge = ROLL to rim.

Big looks for pocket pass from coach.

Posts make sure to set solid screen, reverse pivot, and seal.

Vary the finishes on the roll. 2 times

Under Screen = RESCREEN

Defender goes under the screen, the big can RESCREEN and Roll

Turn Down / Refuse ball screen = Rescreen and POP.

Defender forces the ball handler to refuse ball screen, 5 rescreens with a “step up screen” and pops for mid range jumper (pop arrow on diagram should be more toward free throw line for a shot.)

Defender drops = reverse pivot and pop.

5 screens and x1 fights over the top, x5 does not hedge, and drops back to contain.

5 reverse pivots and pops or rolls

Stockton Dribbling

Drill is designed for perimeter players, but you can use it with post players who drive or run dribble hand offs as well.

Players start under basket and attack the elbow.

They touch the elbow, then back dribble to rim and attack other elbow.

Go for 30 seconds.

Try and get 10 touches in 30 seconds.

Use 1 ball, 2 balls, and heavy balls.

Two Basketball Dribbling Drill

By Brian Williams on May 12, 2015

This video is of a competitive 1 on 1 dribbling drill with both players dribbling two basketballs is one of the great resources available from basketballhq. They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

You should tweak the drill to fit the goals and objectives that you have established for your spring and summer skill development workouts. I believe that this is a drill that most players will enjoy and finding a way to time it and establish rules of execution will make it that much better.

Depending on the skill levels of the players you are working with, it might be advisable to start out with both players dribbling one basketball and work up to two.

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

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

Two Ball Mirror Dribbling Drill

Defensive Rotations to Transition

By Brian Williams on May 11, 2015

This drill was submitted to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library by Tim Springer, Girls Varsity Basketball Coach at Castle Hills First Baptist School.

The site has thousands of drills and plays that have been submitted by basketball coaches from around the world.

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

I hope that you can use this or add some more defensive wrinkles to include some defense and transition to your spring and summer “Improvement Season” workouts. You could also include 10 or 15 seconds of imaginary defense where the player has to simulate defensive positioning sliding, helping, etc… before transitioning to offense.

Great drill to get players reps in different defensive situations and then transition into offense.

Players passes to coach and closes out.

Coach passes to corner coach and player drops into help.

Coach drives and player walls up.

Coach throws ball down court for player to chase down and score.

Progression: 2 player break if you have a second player involved in the workout.

Progression: Add a defender for a 2 on 1 situation if you have a third player in the workout.

7 Second Driving Drill

By Brian Williams on May 8, 2015

This video is with forner Indiana State Men’s Coach Greg Lansing.

The drill works on

1) Driving
2) Dribble Moves
3) Finishing
4) Backup Dribble
5) Being Strong with the Basketball on the dribble.

I like the idea of including the back dribble. I feel that is something that I have not included enough in our driving drills.

The execution in the video is not great–these are not his players and are players doing their best to demonstrate a new drill at a coaching clinic.

He also does not have anyone harassing them on their 7 second dribble.

The idea is to get you thinking about how you could tweak this to fit your philosophy, not necessarily to use this exact drill. You might not want your players dribbling for a 7 count. You might want to make it 4 so that they don’t get a five seconds closely guarded count. Or, you can stay with 7 seconds as an overload principle to improve their toughness while dribbling the basketball since they will never have to dribble that long in a game while being fouled.

You can also include the types of dribble moves and finishes that your players use.

I would throw in one idea if you decide to have someone fouling the dribbler–“Contact is NEVER an excuse for losing the basketball while dribbling or holding it.”

You could also make the drill competitive by timing how long that it takes a player to complete the 3 chair circuit

This is a You Tube video, so you will need to have permission to view You Tube videos.

Make sure your sound is on as you watch. Click the play arrow to see the video..

7 Second Drill

If you are interested in learning more about the entire DVD that this sample came from, click this link: Individual and Team Skills and Drills . Anyone who purchases anything from the store receives one of my basketball coaching eBooks as a bonus. Just email me and let me know which one you would like to receive!

Basketball Drills: Get 1, Get 2, Get 3 Rebounding

By Brian Williams on May 6, 2015

This drill is a part of Arkansas Women’s Coach Mike Neigbors competitive drills packet.

He updates and sends out the packet from time to time in his newsletter.

His basketball coaching newsletter is one of the oldest and best around.

If you are interested in joining his distribution list, email me and I will pass your email address along to him.

This drill is used in his college women’s program, but can be tweaked to fit the resources and personnel that you have available in your coaching situation.

Get One, Get Two, Get Three Rebounding Drill

We use our men’s practice team as the offensive rebounder in this drill.

If you don’t have a full team of men’s players, borrow a JV player from them for a drill. Worst case scenario pick your own best offensive rebounder (or two) and incentivize the drill for them somehow.

Line up the rest of your team.

The offensive rebounder has a football blocking pad in one hand.

The defender will HIT the pad.

The defensive rebounder must keep the offensive player from re-bounding the miss.

If the offensive player can get the ball with a pad in one hand the defensive player must go again.

We have ten players, so we put 8:00 on the clock.

The entire team must get a rebound versus the offense to complete the GET ONE.

After we complete GET ONE, we add a 2nd offensive rebounder. Now your team must GET TWO in a row before we rotate. Again, we go through the entire team.

Then we add a 3rd… Now we must GET 3 in a row to complete the drill.

If we can do that in 8:00 we have done a pretty good job.

Keys to this drill:
1) Create realistic misses
2) Demand HIT/GIT techniques
3) Create atmosphere of toughness

Here is a link to Coach Neighbors HIT/GIT rebounding technique: Hit and “Git” Rebounding

Once you consistently GET THREE, try to GET 4… We have yet to accomplish it in 8:00 but creates a ceiling to shoot for after the GET 3 becomes routine.