Basketball Drills

This article was published in Winning Hoops Magazine in its November/December 2002 issue. Its author is Marty Cosgrove, Athletic Director and Head Girls Basketball Coach at that time.

In the off-season, many high school coaches are restricted on the number of players they can work with at one time. As a result, we are sometimes forced to go 5-on5 where the games get sloppy and bad habits rule. Here are eight ideas to spice up your 5-on-5 open gyms. Print off the Wild Cards and draw one at the beginning of open gym for the rules of the day.

You can also save these games for late in the season to add some variety to keep your practices fresh.

 

Download a template to make the cards to draw here.

 

 

 
SUDDEN VICTORY

The rationale behind this game is to get everybody involved with scoring. Your players will now be looking for teammates, making the extra pass and helping other players get open. It also facilitates communication both on offense and defense. Your players will need to yell things such as “Who still needs to score?” and “We have to stop Suzie, she hasn’t scored yet!”

5-on-5 full-court game. No score is kept. All players on the team must score. After all 5 players score, the next point wins. In essence, a sudden-victory situation.

CONTINUOUS

“Continuous” is an excellent conditioner and develops tremendous offensive and defensive transition skills.

5-on-5 full-court game, played up to 7 points. When a team scores, they stay on offense, by getting the ball out of the net and attacking the defense in the other direction.

3, 5, 7

This game puts pressure on all players and increases defensive responsibility by forcing teams to extend their defense to the 3-point arc.

5-on-5 full-court game played to 9 points. One point is awarded for all baskets, including 3-point shots. Teams may score from any area on the floor, however, on points 3, 5, and 7, the baskets must be 3-pointers. A team may score from inside the arc, but the score does not accumulate beyond 2, 4, and 6 until a 3-pointer is hit.

DISCONTINUED DRIBBLE

This game really helps develop screening, scoring off the screen and passing skills.

5-on-5 full court game, played to 9 points. Teams may dribble without restriction if they are in transition. However, if a team is in a half-court situation, no one may dribble inside the 3-point arc.

POSTMAN

This drill improves post player’s passing skills (an often overlooked skill) and forces teams to slow down, knowing they can’t score without a post entry.

5-on-5 full or half-court game, played up to 9 points. There are no restrictions on offensive play, except that before a team may score, the ball must be entered to a post player.

GOLDEN CHILD

Defensive integrity and intensity increases on an individual and a team basis, as the “golden child” simu-lates that opponent who must be stopped.

5-on-5 full-court game, playe up to 9 points. There are no restrictions. Each team has a player, who is selected as the golden child. All baskets are worth one point, however, the golden child’s baskets are worth 2 points.

LEFTY

“Lefty” is a simple game, but stresses the importance of utilizing both sides of the floor. Another added benefit is an increased comfort level of ball handlers working with their non-dominant hand.

5-on5 full or half-court game, played up to 9 points. All baskets are worth one point. All dribbles must be with non-dominate hand. In addition, the offense must initiate from the left side of the floor.

REWARD

Our team tends to reward points for offensive and defensive rebounds, but deflections, hustle points, (diving after loose balls, etc.) or a skill you want to emphasize, such as bank shots, could also be eligible for reward points.

5-on-5 full-court game, played to 13 points. All baskets are worth 1 point, as are any reward points for any skill a coach wants to emphasize.

This defensive drill is used by Coach Jim Boone in his packline defense.

Coach Boone has won over 450 games at the Division I and II levels and is considered to be on of the top Pack Line Defense Coaches.

The drill requires players to get 3 defensive stops in a row against the other players in the group.

Even though you can’t be as physical in games as they are in the drill, I do like the point of teaching to get up into the dribbler and making him or her uncomfortable.

You could also play the drill so that a player must stay in until he or she gets 3 consecutive stops.

 

To learn more about the entire DVD that this sample came from, click here: Building Blocks of the Pack Line Defense.

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!

Click the play arrow to see the drill.

This drill was posted by Coach Jim Ponchak in Fast Model Sports Plays and Drills Library

The drill is from Billy Donovan when he coached at Florida and allows the opportunity for players to compete against their own personal best, against other players, or against established team standards.

I like to end shooting workouts with a drill that requires toughness and forces players to shoot when fatigued. One way to do that is to set a certain number of makes that is in line with the players’ skill level, but that will also push them past their comfort zone.

This is one of those drills.

Here is how the drill works:

– Shooter makes 10 from each spot without stopping

– Change spots after making 10

– Time how long it takes to get 50 makes

– Passer need to pass to the inside shoulder to lead the shooter into the shot

– Shooter needs to constantly prepare for the shot

– Beat the pass as a shooter by getting feet ready and being set to shoot before the ball arrives

– Shoot from the corner, wing, top, wing, and corner

 

 

 

 

 

 

This drill is from Dallas Wings Assistant Coach Mike Neighbors.

Great drill to work both sides of the ball simultaneously.

Can be made competitive in a variety of ways.

Can be played possession by possession or for time depending what you are looking for that practice.

Purple starts out on defense with 4 players defending 5 gold players.

The 5th purple player must stay on their offensive end at all times but can position themselves wherever they choose to set up.

<— Gold plays on offense until they score, turn the ball over, or purple rebounds a missed shot. —> In transition purple becomes the attacker with one gold team player designated to stay “back”

Drill repeats continuously until you choose to stop.

Things it emphasizes:

– talking in transition to know who is getting back and who is staying back

– attacking in transition with long pass, quick outlet, hard advance dribble

– playing in the half court in scramble mode

– identifying personnel and defending accordingly

Things it emphasizes (continued):

– locating the open player

– spacing

– balance of crashing offensive boards and sprinting back

 

 

You can also manipulate the foul rules to distort the game for the offense or the defense. Institute pass or dribble limits. Can play to a score or to a time. One of our players came up with, was play five trips until all five players have been the “back” person. As always, let us know ways you tweak the drill to fit your system.

Today’s post shows 3 videos from the Duke Men.

The first one is a drill they do with their guards.

The second is a post skill development drill.

The final video is a shooting drill.

There are also links to more skill development drills below.

Make sure your sound is on as you click the play arrow for for each video.

There are links to other skill development posts below.

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Step Back Dribble

To learn more about the entire DVD that this sample came from, click here: Duke Basketball: Creating a Championship Guard. 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!

Duke Post Skill Development

This link is for more information about the DVD that this shooting drill sample came from: Duke Basketball: Creating a Championship Post Player

Duke Shooting Drills

This link is for more information about the DVD that this shooting drill sample came from: Duke Basketball Competitive Shooting Drills

This basketball shooting drill is a competitive drill that also involves conditioning.

The drill also requires players to make shots when they are tired.

The goal for college players is to get a score above 10, but you will need to adjust that for the level of players that you are working with.

The video is 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.

The purpose of all my posts is to give you ideas for your program and that you need to make whatever fixes to the drill that you need to make in order to use it.

Basketball Drills 7-5-3-1 Three Point Shooting