These three drills are from Coach Kevin Eastman.
Coach Eastman was a long-time college assistant and head coach. He also served as an Assistant Coach for the Celtics and the Clippers.
He ended his basketball career as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Clippers before retiring.
The drills are designed to improve/measure toughness and give you some ways to condition with the basketball and in game-like movements and clock situations.
This post is from Coach Mike Neighbors. He has one of the best basketball coaching newsletters out there. If you are interested in getting on his list, please email me and let me know.
FRONT OF THE LINE OR BACK OF THE LINE
I have referred many times to the book PRACTICE PERFECT: 42 Ways for Getting Better at At Getting Better as a valuable resource for all teachers/coaches/leaders.
This concept was one of the 42 Rules that I found we were able to apply to our basketball practices. Coupled with the concept of teaching PRECISION skills differently than you teach DECISION SKILLS, we implemented a FRONT OF THE LINE vs. BACK OF THE LINE philosophy in all of our PRECISION SKILL situations. A precision skill is one that we want to be done a certain way, every rep, every time, with no variation, and extreme attention to detail. For example, closing out to a great shooter. We have specific technique and language that we use every single time. We tolerate nothing outside of our acceptable standard of performance. We accept nothing short of perfect when working on this skill.
When doing VEGAS closeouts. A basic one player going 5 in a line behind drill working on the techniques that we teach. If the first player properly executes the closeout to a great shooter, she goes to the back of the line. The next player comes out and we proceed. Let’s say this player doesn’t have “high hands”… she goes to the front of the line and next player comes into the drill. While that player is going, a coach tells (or shows using a cell phone camera or flip video) that player what they did incorrectly. This player waits for the teammate on the court to finish and then she goes again. We keep repeating this front of the line vs. back of the line pattern until we complete the time allotted or desired reps.
Let that sink in visually for a second.
You probably have an initial thought. What about the kid who initially went to the back of the line? She might never go again. Correct… and answer… DO YOU CARE? I don’t. She got it right. Chances are she got more than one rep anyway but the point is, you get more reps with those that really need it.
We quickly saw marked improvement in all our PRECISION SKILLS employing this method. It also evolves quickly into a peer situation of players being the critics and pointing their teammates to the front or the back. They are actually tougher on each other than most coaches!!
As with everything we share, experiment with it and make it your own. Then share with the group the things you tweak or change.
For more information and background on the research behind it, check out the book by Lemov, Woolway, and Yezzi. You can see a sample from the book at Amazon by clicking the icon at the left.
As I have said many times, Kevin Eastman is one of my favorite coaches to study for both skill development for players and for professional development for coaches.
I was fortunate enough to meet him when he was here in Indianapolis at his Coaching U Live Clinic.
Kevin was a long time college assistant and head coach.
He was an Assistant Coach for the Celtics from 2004 to 2013.
At that time he made the move to Los Angeles with Doc Rivers and was on the coaching staff last year.
He served as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Clippers before retiring in 2016.
This video is a segment from his NBA Drills for all levels course. It is a part of his 8 Video Coach Development 8 Course Series set which includes High Intensity Skill Development, NBA Drills for All Levels, Stimulate Your Offensive Thinking, Defensive Strategies and Teaching Points, Strategies and Philosophy for Coaching Success, Stimulate Your Defensive Thinking, Defending the Pick and Roll the NBA Way, A Champion’s DNA.
Coach Eastman’s 8 video course bundle is on sale as our Black Friday special. Normally, it is $112, but it is on special for $49 through Wednesday at midnight Eastern Time. After that time, the price will return to normal.
You can find out more about this special price at this link: Coach Development 8 Course Series
Former Louisville Assistant Basketball Coach, and current Arkansas State Head Men’s Coach, Mike Balado takes you through a shooting drill they use at Louisville. The video is 2 and a half minutes long.
Louisville’s goal is for players to make 80% of their shots in workouts when they are unguarded. Obviously, you can modify that for the level that you coach, but I like to have a standard for makes with all that we do with shooting.
Set up an obstacle (chair, cone, player, or coach) 2-3 feet outside the elbow on either side of the paint. Passer is above the key and. Station the rebounder under the basket. The shooter starts at the ten second line. Drill starts with passer hitting the shooter moving toward the chair. Shooter will dribble with their inside hand. At the imaginary defender make any crossover move so that the ball is now in their outside hand. Take 2 dribbles, and then pull up for a jump shot.
After they shoot they are going to take two steps towards the baseline and then come off the chair for a down screen shot. The next shot is a flare screen (using the chair as the screener) shot. After the fade shot the shooter sprints back to half court and will shoot the same patter 4 times (12 shots). Run the drill on both sides.
After you have watched the video below, you can see another shooting drill that I posted last spring from the Louisville Program by clicking here.
The video is a one of the 1,000’s of basketball training videos for all levels of coaches, players, and parents that is offered by BasketballHQ. You can access their entire library with a pro membership. They offer a free 7 day trial for the 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
In this post, Northern Iowa Head Basketball Coach Ben Jacobson explains the rules for his 7 point defensive drill.
The purpose of the drill is to put the defense at a disadvantage to develop a defensive toughness.
The game is played to 7 with the offense scoring by 2s and 3s as normal and also receiving one point for each foul on the defense. The drill is played 5 on 5.
The defense scores in the following ways:
1 point for a stop
2 points for recovering a loose ball
2 points for taking a charge.
You will need to click the play arrow to see the video.
Make sure your sound is on as you watch.
If you are interested in seeing more information about the DVD that the samples are taken from, click here: Competitive Drills for Man to Man Defense
I believe that playing one on one is an important part of skill development–both for finding scoring moves and the ability to control the dribble.
One thing that it doesn’t do however is develop the awareness of helping defenders.
Hopefully you can either use these drills in practice or can encourage your players to use them in the improvement season to help with that awareness.
I found these three one on one drills in the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.
You can also find out more about FastModel Play Diagramming software by clicking this link: FastDraw
Contributed by Fabian McKenzie, Cape Breton University Women’s Basketball. He has been involved with the Canadian Women’s National team program for the past 6 years.
X1 starts with a ball on the baseline
1 starts at free throw line
X1 passes ball to 1.
1 must dribble around cone and attack the basket
X1 must sprint around their cone and attempt to stop 1
Vary the locations of the cones for each player to increase the level of difficulty
Contributed by Taylor Jannsen
Great drill to help teach players how to beat rotational help with a variety of finishes.
Editors Note: I like the concept of the drill, but don’t like to see the offensive player going away from the basket. I would try to play it more like turning the corner or coming off a ball screen. I would try it a couple of different ways and see which way you like best.
On the offensive player’s first move, the defense loops around a cone and simulates a help defender.
Player 1 pushes the dribble out in front and must touch the paint before attempting a shot.
1. Offense rolls ball to opposite elbow; defense has to touch elbow but needs to get behind the roller
2. Offense gathers the ball at the elbow; defense touches the elbow
3. Offense attacks the rim looking to draw contact! There will be collisions!!! — Defense challenges at the rim.
There will be contact at the rim!
