Basketball Drills

Basketball Drills Argentine Passing

By Brian Williams on October 14, 2014

Here is an idea if you for a conditioning drill that also involves handling the basketball.

The drill can be done half court or full court depending on what you want to accomplish with the drill and

The drill continues in similar fashion for one minute on the clock.

If the ball hits the ground, passes are not caught cleanly, traveling, or any other error, the one minute is put back on the clock and the drill starts over. Or, you can add time each time there is a turnover.

You can change the time or the requirements to complete the drill without starting over to fit your needs.

In addition to the diagrams, there is a video below of the Maryland Women’s team running the drill.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

8 players are in the drill.

Players of same numbers are partners. 1 is matched with x1, 2 is matched with x2, 3 with x3, 4 with x4.

1 and x1 each start with a basketball.

The drill starts out with the players who have the basketballs passing to their right. 1 passes to 3 and x1 passes to x3.

After making the passes, the 1s sprint and change spots.

Players need to be aware of the other players in the middle to avoid collisions.

The drill continues with 3 passing to 2 and x3 passing to x2

The 3s, then change positions.

The drill continues in similar fashion for one minute on the clock.

If the ball hits the ground, passes are not caught cleanly, traveling, or any other error, the one minute starts over.

You can change the time or the requirements to complete the drill without starting over to fit your needs.

The drill can also be done full court.

In the full court version, obviously the players at half court have a shorter distance to run and the players in the corner have longer to run.

If you have more than 8 on your squad, you can put players behind in the corners and under the basket (so that you have 2 in each of those spots) to make the running more equal.

Below is a video of the Maryland Women’s team running the drill full court.

I like the idea of keeping the players inbounds, but if you want them to run a little more, you can station them behind the sideline.

To see more information about the DVD that this sample video came from, click here: All-Access Maryland Women’s Basketball Practice with Brenda Frese

Basketball Drills Prairie Fire Shooting

By Brian Williams on October 9, 2014

This basketball shooting drill is from Coach Randi (Peterson) Henderson, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Coe College.

It is included in The Basketball HoopScoop’s A System of Success: 2011 Conference Champion and National Tournament Playbook–edited by Dan Ninham.

This eBook is bundled with the 2014 NIT Finals Playbook as this week’s feature. Click this link for more information: NIT Finals and System of Success Bundle

This drill encourages communication, responsibility, and attention to detail.

The team is required to keep the ball off the ground for the duration of the drill as well as make consistent two handed passes and catches on the run. Other variations of the drill are 1) to make a certain amount in 1:00 2) have a perfect 1:00 3) Add Coaches for defense in transition or to trap the out1et.

The most demanding way to run the drill is to put 5:00 on the clock with the team goal being to score 150 points (1 point for layups, 2 points for 2 point jump shot, 3 points for 3 point shots).

The rules are NO TRAVELS, NO MISSED LAYUPS, AND THE BALL CANNOT TOUCH THE GROUND. Exception: 1 bounce is allowed on the rebound for two and three point jump shots.

You will need to adjust the standards to fit the level you coach and the changing abilities of your players from year to year and also adjust the types of shots and passes to fit your system of play.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Coach starts the time on the clock with a layup and a pass to 1 who is yelling “Outlet.”

1 cuts to top of the key for the pass.

Right and Left wing take off sprinting.

One is naming and yelling “Long” the other is yelling “Out1et”.

1 distributes the ball without dribbling or traveling to the Outlet wing and follows the pass.

The outlet wing delivers a scoring pass without dribbling or traveling, then follows the pass for a shot.

After the layup is made, the player who just shot the layup gets the ball out of the rim keeping it off the ground and outlets to 1 cutting to the top of the key.

The two wings who are on the baseline, deliver 2 handed passes to the shooters and then proceed to take off for the “outlet” or “long” layup.

Drill is done for 5 minutes:

NO TRAVELS, NO DROPPED PASSES, and NO MISSED LAYUPS

On the Wing Catches, be outside the 3 pt line on the catch:

(You can adjust the types of finishes or shots to fit your needs)
1 minute the finish is 1 Dribble Layup off 1 foot
I minute 1 Dribble Layups off 2 feet w/a Peek
1 minute 1 Dribble Jumpers
1 minute Catch & Shoot in Range
1 minute Choose your shot

This drill is included in The Basketball HoopScoop’s “A System of Success: 2011 Conference Champion and National Tournament Playbook–edited by Dan Ninham. The book has a lot of drills and sets from very successful small college women’s programs.

This eBook is bundled with the 2014 NIT Finals Playbook as this week’s feature. Click this link for more information: NIT Finals and System of Success 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.

Basketball Drills “Baseball”

By Brian Williams on October 6, 2014

This drill was from an old Xavier Men’s Newsletter.

You can see their archives at this link.

This drill that works on 1 on 1, 2 on 2, and 3 on 3 situations in a competitive way.

To add variety to your practice, or late in the season when you are looking for ways to change things up, here is one idea.

Basketball Drills “Baseball”

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Divide teams into two colors.

Blue team establishes a “batting order” and white matches up accordingly to how they want to defend.

INNING 1: ONE-ON-ONE:

Blue team is on offense, scoring as many RUNS (points) as possible until they get 3 OUTS (defensive stops by white)…

Switch to White team on offense. White plays until they get 3 outs…

End of first inning. (To make a long game you can run through this again and count as an additional inning)

INNING TWO: TWO-ON-TWO:

For each inning, we vary the initial actions (ball screen, down screen, flare screen, etc.)

Use whatever actions are part of your offense or maybe your upcoming opponent’s offensive attack to work on defending them.

INNING THREE: THREE-ON-THREE:

Again changing the initial actions to actions that you either use or have to defend.

For each of the innings and individual matchups, you will need to decide what to do with fouls. You can make them an automatic run (point) for the offense, or you can have players shoot them to work on free throws with a little pressure. If you shoot them, the offense gets their point if they make the free throw. They get the ball back if they miss. Like any drill that you see from other programs, you need to make the adaptations that fit the objectives that you have for running the drill.

Basketball Drills Reggie Miller and Larry Bird Shooting

By Brian Williams on September 26, 2014

Here are two ideas for basketball shooting drills. The first one is more of a team drill with an emphasis on rebounding and passing as well as shooting. The second is more of a toughness drill requiring the shooter to make shots when tired while having the pressure of making consecutive shots.

I hope you find ways to tweak these shooting drills to fit your philosophy and that you can use them in your pre-season skill workouts or in your regular season shooting drills.

The rebounder should be ready to rebound all shots without the ball hitting the ground. The passer can be located at any spot where passes come from in your offensive system. Reggie Miller frequently came off screens from the basket out, but that might not fit your scheme. This shooter will start under the basket in the drill but can be moved anywhere that makes cuts from in your offense.

Emphasize to the shooter to make game-like cuts, including changing speeds and directions while making the cuts. The shooter will receive the ball for a catch-and-shoot shot, or some kind of one-dribble pull-up shot. After one minute is up, the players will rotate passer, rebounder, and shooter.

I know that the passer does move his feet in the first video, but that is something you can fix in your version of the drill.

For the first drill, the shooter is going to work on the cuts that you use within your offensive system. The Passer concentrates on time on target passes–and not traveling when delivering the ball. The rebounder’s job is to get the rebound before it hits the floor. I like the idea of adding a point to the score each time the rebounder accomplishes that task and subtracting points for bad passes.

These videos are among the basketball training videos for all levels of coaches, players, and parents that are offered by BasketballHQ. You can access their entire library with a pro membership. They offer a free 7 day trial for the membership. If you are interested, you can see more at this link: Basketball HQ

Please make sure your sound is on to see the video. They are YouTube Videos

The thought behind the post isn’t to worry about the shooting form or mistakes being made, but to give you ideas on something to add to or improve the shooting drills that you currently use.

Reggie Miller Shooting Drill

Larry Bird 2 Minute Shooting Drill

Basketball Drills Memphis 3 on 3 Closeout

By Brian Williams on September 23, 2014

I found this 3 on 3 closeout drill on FastModel Sports Plays and Drills Library The site has thousands of drills and plays.

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

The drill was diagrammed by Rich Czeslawski and attributed to Memphis’s Josh Pastner.

If you are looking for more variety in your defensive drills, there are links to several other drills at the bottom of the page.

Also, as with every page on the site, I want to remind you that you can print the drill as a pdf by using the icon at the bottom of the post.

Defender x1 starts with the ball and passes to x2.

x2 passes to x3, x3 to offensive player 1 as x1 sprints to close out on 1.

x2 and x3 close out on 2 and 3, respectively, as the ball is swung around the perimeter.

On the first pass, from 1 to 2, x1 jumps to the ball.

On the second pass, from 2 to 3, x1 sprints to mid line.

The offense reverses the ball again, with defenders allowing the passes and working on positioning.

x3 jumps to ball then sprints to midline, x2 jumps to ball, x1 closes out.

Play live 3-on-3 from here with an emphasis on forcing the dribbler whichever direction your defense dictates.

Use this drill to work on the specific footwork and fundamentals taught in your defensive philosophy.

Basketball Plays Smash Stack 54 Under

By Brian Williams on September 22, 2014

This play is designed to use against teams that go under on ball screens. It was contributed by Coach Vonn Read.

Coach Vonn Read has submitted several plays from his playbook series The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays to the Coaching Toolbox.

If you can’t use this exact play with your personnel, I hope it gives you some ideas on what you can do to play to your players’ strengths when you are playing a team that goes under on ball screens.

Vonn has a wealth of Coaching Experience:

NBA: Advanced scout for the Orlando Magic
WNBA Assistant Coach with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars.
Women’s College Assistant: Syracuse, Houston, Memphis

This is a Re-pick set to take advantage of teams that go under on ball screens

Diagrams created with FastDraw

The 5 player will run up to set the ball screen, allowing X1 to go under.

The 4 player will cut to the elbow area.

As soon as X1 goes under the screen, both the 4 and 5 players will set a double stack ball screen for the 1 player on the cutback dribble.

Again, this play is used against teams that go under on ball screens.

X1 utilizing the “Under” scheme will now have to fight under 2 ball screens, which gives the 1 player a wide open 3 pointer, elbow jumper or drive layup.

If either post defender hedges out, the 1 player can throwback to the 4 player popping, looking for the 3-pointer or high low pass.

Coach Read has also put together The Basketball Encyclopedia of plays. You can check them out here: The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays or read more about the books:

Any coach looking for the latest and innovative plays from the Professional, College, or High School levels can stop looking. With a compilation of over 7,700 different plays, you will never need to purchase another basketball playbook again. These playbooks can be used as a great reference tool for years to come. This 2 Volume Book includes plays from 19 different play categories, and they are the most extensive playbooks on the market.

The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays (Platinum Series) contains over 7,700 Plays (Both Volumes combined) from the NBA, WNBA, USBL, and College levels from someone who has worked as an Advanced Scout or Coach on each level!!! This book has been intensely compiled over the last 21 years, with plays taken from a lot of NBA Coaches (past and present), WNBA coaches, and College coaches (Men’s and Women’s) from around the country.

Any coach that is serious about improving their knowledge of the game from an X and O standpoint will benefit tremendously from these books. These Books can be used to discover New Quick hitters, add a New Package to your playbook, or develop an entire Offensive System. There are a lot of new ideas and concepts in these books to study, and the Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays can be a great resource for coaches on all levels!!! This book is definitely for those X and O junkies who are always looking to improve as a Coach.

“THE GAME IS ALWAYS CHANGING? ARE YOU?” Vonn Read

Here is the link: The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays