Basketball Drills

I like skill improvement basketball drills that are competitive and or put pressure on our players while being drills we can use either during practices or during individual workouts.

I also like having many different drills to work on closing out. I feel that it is such an important part of man to man defense and needs to be drilled daily. I also feel that if you use the same drill each day, it loses effectiveness, so it is good to have a variety of drills to work on the skill of closing out.

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This drill is provided by BasketballHQ.com. To see more of their resources, click the link.

I personally like the idea of scoring by getting a defensive stop. That player then stays on defense and has another chance to earn a stop point. No points awarded on offense in the drill.

As with everything I send out, whether you like the drill or not, agree or disagree, I hope it gives you food for thought and inspires you to think about your basketball program and what you can do to improve.

This drill is from an older Arizona Basketball Coaching Newsletter.

If you are interested in subscribing to the Arizona newsletter, email your email address, name, School/Team, and coaching position to me and I will forward it to their staff.

Their newsletter includes information about their program, plays, and basketball drills for coaches.

 

 

 

 

 

Start in a 4 on 4 shell seup with an extra offensive player in both corners.

Pass the ball from 1 to 2 to 3 then to the extra player in the corner.

The extra player drives as soon as he catches the ball.

 

 

Defense rotates (following your defensive rules) to stop the driver.

You can also run a different version of this drill with 5 offense vs. 7 defense and add the post player.

 

Arizona’s rule is for x1 and x2 to establish a tandem.

Their terminology is “top of the eye” and “bottom of the eye”

 

 
 

This frame shows rotations out if the ball is passed out of the trap to player #2.

Emphasizing the rotations back to the ball and to the help positions is as important in this drill as the rotations to stop the drive.

Arizona teaches X3 to swipe at the ball to make the pass out difficult.

This frame shows rotations out if the ball is passed out of the trap to player #1.

X1 and X2 have switched players. X2 is closest to the player catching the pass out and is responsible to pick up the ball.

The expectation is to sprint on the air time of the pass and all players arrive at their new positions when the ball is caught.

This drill was posted by Coach Randy Brown in FastModel’s library. The library has hundreds of plays and drills from coaches all over the world and from various levels of coaching. You can check it out here:

Fast Model Plays and Drills Library

Toughness and execution are the features of this three point close out drill. The goal is for the offensive player to get an open three point shot at the top of the key.

The defender’s mission is to take the shot away. If he is successful they play 1 on 1 until a foul, basket, or defensive stop occurs.

 

 

 

 

 

Drill starts in these positions. 1 has to start in jump circle in the back court. On “Go” X1 sprints to touch baseline and out to close out on ball.

Goal for 1 is to drive the ball just above top of key and shoot uncontested three point jump shot. X1 goal is to closeout and take away the three.
 

Rule: If shooter is open he has to shoot the three.

 

 

 
 

If X1 takes three point shot away from 1 they play 1 on 1 from top of key.

If X1 gets stop he becomes offensive player. If not 1 will again have the ball with X1 as defender.

This can be an individual drill, playing to a certain score or a team competition.

You can use this as an individual or team drill. It fosters toughness, shot selection and three point accuracy, decision making, closing out, defending and rebounding with two hands. It can add healthy peer pressure to your practices.

Randy Brown continues his passion for the game of basketball well beyond his 30+ year coaching career. An 18 year NCAA Division I head and assistant coach he knows the difficulties of coaching and assists coaches of all levels around the world to help improve our ability to teach the game of basketball the right way.

Here is a link to his site: CoachRb

This post contains 3 shooting and scoring drills for your players to use in their spring and summer workouts.

I found the drills on the Jes Basketball Playbook site.

It contains several other drills that can be used in your practices and also in individual skill development workouts.

There are several types of drills in addition to shooting drills.

There site also contains a section with plays to run against various types of defenses.

 

 

6 Spot Perimeter Shooting Drill

Submitted by : Brett Coxsedge

Player sprints and picks up the basketball from each of the 4 chairs and shoots from that spot.

 

 

After shooting the 4 shots, player 1 then sprints to midcourt and picks up the basketball, dribbles it to the elbow and shoots, then sprints back the ten second line to pick the other basketball up and repeats the dribble to the elbow and shot.

There are several ways to make this drill competitive. One way is time players form start to the release of the 6th shot. Add 2 seconds to the time for each missed shot.

7s Drill

This drills is from retired Valparaiso Coach Homer Drew and was submitted by Matthew Dunstan

• One dribble lay-ups with a catch and pivot, at each of the seven pylons.

 
• 2 free throws then repeat, this time with one dribble jump shots.

Speed up the drill by adding a rebounder that passes to the coach.

W Shooting Drill

Play submitted by : Brett Coxsedge
Five shots are taken in the following order:
• Right wing
• Left wing
• Right elbow
• Left elbow
• 3pt straight ahead

The shooter should return to home base (X) after each shot. Drill will require a coach to rebound and pass the ball.

These shooting drills came from Fast Model’s Plays and Drills Library. It was contributed by Brandon Bailey–current video intern for the Boston Celtics and former graduate assistant at DePaul under head coach Oliver Purnell.

You can access the page for more Drills and Plays here: Fast Model Library

I hope these drills will stimulate your thinking as to how to break down your offensive system and the shots your players get, into their out of season workouts.

 

 

 

 

 

Baseline Drift

– 1 man sweeps the ball below his knees and drives to the basket

– 2 man simulates his man helping on the drive and drifts to the baseline

– 1 comes to a jump stop and passes to 2 for with his baseline hand for the shot

(NOTE: 2 man, don’t sprint to the corner. Stay in your stance and slide to the corner)

Crack Back

– 1 man sweeps the ball below his knees and drives to the basket

– 2 man simulates his man helping on the drive and drifts to the wing

– 1 comes to a jump stop, reverse pivots with his 1/2 court foot, and passes to 2 for the shot

(NOTE: 2 man, don’t sprint to the wing. Stay in your stance and slide to the wing)

Wake

– 1 man sweeps the ball below his knees and drives to the basket

– 2 man simulates his man helping on the drive and drifts to the wake

– 1 comes to a jump stop, and passes with his 1/2 court hand to 2 for the shot

(NOTE: 2 man, don’t sprint to the wake. Stay in your stance and slide to the wake)