Shooting Drills

Basketball Drills: Improvement Season Finishing

By Coach Brian Williams on April 7, 2021

Here are 3 finishing drills to consider for your skill workouts.

There are links to other skill development drills at the bottom of the post.

I think it is good to have a variety of drills to use that still fit your system of play, fit the skills you need the players to develop, and that fit your philosophy.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Baylor 1 vs. 2

Coach initiates the action by passing the ball to offense with two defenders starting on the blocks.

The defenders move as soon as the ball leaves the coaches hands.

During closeout, offense needs to beat his defender and then get past the help.

Emphasize the attack by limiting dribbles, focusing on first step, step through, and working on a specific finishing move.

Alabama 1 on 1

From the Kansas women’s program.

Coach has the basketball under the basket. Offense begins on one block, defense begins on the opposite block.

Coach tosses the basketball out,

Offense goes out to get the basketball.

Defensive player touches the opposite block and then closes out on the offense.

Play live 1-on-1 from there.

1 on 1 Lane Containment

Also from the Kansas women’s program.

OBJECTIVE: Improve ball-handling in a tight space & improve defensive footwork.

Boundaries are the lane lines. Offense starts with the ball between the free throw line and top of key. Defense begins an arm’s distance away from offense.

Offense’s goal is to beat the defense to the baseline in 6 seconds without going outside the lane lines or turning her back to the defense while dribbling. Defensive goal is to force offense outside the lane lines or don’t get beat to the baseline in 6 seconds. You can progress drill to have offense finish with a one-footed lay-up.

4 Team Shooting Drill

By Coach Brian Williams on February 12, 2017

This shooting drill was contributed by Coach Fabian McKenzie to the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

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

Coach McKenzie has been a head coach at the university level for 17 years, and has been involved as a coach at this level for 20 years. He has been involved with the Canadian Women’s National team program for the past 9 years.

This is a good competitive drill that can help you work on different finishes or shots from certain locations

Teams line up as shown below.

Player in circle cannot leave until pass is received.

Pass is made to 1.

1 Dribbles in and takes shot. You can be as creative as you like, take shots from different spots or add moves at certain spots.

1 gets own rebound and makes outlet pass to next 1 in line.

The passer sprints to the circle following their pass.

Continue drill until a set amount of shots are made or for a certain amount of time

3 2 3 Competitive Shooting Drill

By Coach Brian Williams on January 8, 2017

This competitive shooting drill is among the thousands of resources for both coaches and player available from basketballhq.

They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

This drill is coached by Ryan Panone.

I encourage you to think about the best way to tweak the drill before using it so that it will offer the most benefit for your players.

Even as you are first implementing it, you may need to continue the adaptation process of making some adjustments so that the drill contributes to the improvement of your players.

Make sure that your speakers are on to hear the narration and that you can access You Tube to see the video.

Click the play arrow to begin each video.

3 2 3 Competitive Shooting Drill

Warrior Shooting Drill

By Coach Brian Williams on January 2, 2017

This shooting drill was contributed by Joel Hueser FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

Coach Hueser is the Head Boys Coach at Papillion-LaVista South High School High School in Nebraska.

The comments along with each diagram are from Coach Hueser.

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

Warrior Shooting is a great drill simulating a variety of cuts:
1) Basket Cut
2) Using a Pin Down
3) Using a Flare Screen and
4) Back Cut.

The purpose of this post is to get your thoughts going about creating a similar drill that incorporates the shots that your players get in games.

In addition to game spots, I like to have shooting drills include a scoring and timing element as well.

Shot #1 Worth 1 Point:

Shooter starts at half court (or top of the key extended if space doesn’t allow), catches on the move and attacks the basket.

Points of Emphasis:

-Catch on the run and attack the basket with a 45 degree angle cut.

Shot #2 Worth 2 Points:

Shooter continues his cut to simulate using a pin down screen and shoots near the freethrow elbow.

Points of Emphasis:

-Emphasize inside-pivot.

Shot #2 Worth 2 Points:

Shooter continues his cut to simulate using a pin down screen and shoots near the freethrow elbow.

Points of Emphasis:

-Emphasize inside-pivot.

Shot #4 Worth 1 Points:

This will be the same as shot #1 but on the opposite side.

There are two ways to do this: 1) Sprint to halfcourt, or 2) Cut hard to ball level and simulate a back cut. We prefer this more times than not.

Points of Emphasis:

-Shot #5 & #6 will also be the same as #2 & #3.
-After the 1st shooter is done, the passer becomes the shooter and the rebounder passes.
-Repeat this again, but start on the opposite side.

And, below is a short video demonstrating the drill

Tips to Help a Slumping Shooter Find Their Groove

By Coach Brian Williams on December 8, 2016

Even the best shooter are going to run into a slump at some point. Hudl provides some tips to help get your marksman back on track.

Following a 2-for-7 outing on Nov. 7, Klay Thompson was shooting a frigid 22.9 percent from 3-point land on the season. One of the best shooters in the league (and maybe NBA history), the Golden State guard had bricked his way to a worse 3-point percentage than Tony Snell, Marcus Smart and Emmanuel Mudiay, players routinely ignored by opposing defenses from deep.

It’s not that Thompson forgot how to shoot. He was just going through something even the game’s finest marksmen experience – a shooting slump. Not even the most prolific shooters are immune to slumps. The question is, how do you escape it?

Thompson clearly found his way. Since the rough start, he’s shooting 47.5 percent and is once again the force of nature that has foes wincing every time he pulls up. You may have some players who aren’t shooting as well as you know they can. Here are four ways Hudl can help get them back on track.

1. Pump up the Positivity

When a shooter is feeling it, the rim looks a lot wider than 18 inches – it appears as cavernous as the Grand Canyon. On the same token, a slump shrinks the hoop to the size of a pinhead, impossibly small to squeeze a basketball into.

This is the mental game that every athlete fights at some point in the season. Most of the time the player’s mechanics are just fine, but his head is in the wrong place. He just needs to be reminded of his ability, and the shot tends to come back quickly.

Be very positive with your players. Stress their talent even amidst some struggles. Create a playlist with clips of hot streaks from previous seasons to remind them of their ability. Pepper in some notes in the video to pump your shooter up.

“If you’re a shooter, you’re going to miss shots,” Ryan Vasquez, the head coach at Sterling High School (Ill.), said. “You still have to be ready to catch and shoot and be able to go. At the same time, kids have to understand, ‘Well, my shot isn’t falling, so what can I do to regain my confidence?’ We go through that on film.”

2. Get Them to the Right Spots

Every player has certain areas of the floor that he’s more comfortable shooting from. Maybe your struggling shooter isn’t finding these spots or you as a coach aren’t running plays that put them in optimum scoring position.

Take a look at your athlete’s shot chart to get an idea of where they’re most accurate from. Try to design plays that will get them more shots from their hot areas, and have them run drills in practice that will help them improve from the cold zones.

By watching video connected to the shot chart, you can also discern if your player is taking quality shots. Is he rushing his shot from certain areas? Is he taking too many contested looks?

“This situation happened to us last year where one of our shooters was in a slump the first couple of games,” Vasquez said. “I pulled up his shot chart and we watched it. We looked at good shots and great shots. Was it a good shot or a great shot? Then we figured out how many times he attacked the basket and got to the free throw line. We just evaluated it to let him know where he stands. They were great shots and they just weren’t falling. How can we correct those?”

Sometimes the solution to finding one’s shot is simply getting closer to the basket. Great shooters thrive on hitting shots from outside, but getting into the paint can provide a confidence boost if the long ball isn’t falling.

Not only will the shooter get some easier looks by coming in close, but he will also have a better shot at drawing fouls near the rim. There are no easier points in the game than free throws, especially for a knockdown shooter.

“We had a player last year that started off like that and struggled from deep,” Marcus Bish, the head coach at Southwest High School (Indianola, Neb.), said. “Once he started moving his game inside, his 3-point percentage went way up in the second half of the season.”

3. Break Down the Mechanics

This step requires an important balance between fixing flaws and overanalyzing. You want to hit that sweet spot of suggesting minor changes in technique versus getting players to overthink their motion on every shot.

But if a player is struggling to find his groove, it’s important to correct any flaws in his form. Go back and look at video from previous seasons to see if there is a hitch in his shot.

The shot chart helps in this area as well. One click will pull up a playlist of all the athlete’s shots from that area, so you can see if he’s fading away, not setting his feet or rushing his shot. If a particular section of the court is bothersome, put together a plan to work on from that spot in practice.

4. Approach Each Case on an Individual Basis

No two athletes respond to struggles in the same manner. Some will get a mental block that affects their confidence, while others have the self-belief to keep firing, believing they will shoot themselves out of the slump.

Make sure you’re approaching the situation on an individual basis. For some players, the answer might be to get in the gym and shoot for an extra 20 minutes each day, ironing out the issues with their shot. But that same strategy might cause another individual to overthink. For that athlete, not mentioning the slump at all might be the best tactic.

“I think it’s just kind of feel thing with the kids,” Stan Dohm, the head coach at St. James Academy (Lenexa, Kan.), said. “It may be five or ten minutes after practice working with a few extra shooting drills, just reinforcing ‘Hey, you’re a really good shooter. You just need to hit 75 percent today.’ For some kids, it’s, ‘You’re worrying about it way too much. Let’s not shoot after practice today and come back fresh tomorrow.’ That’s one of the intricacies of coaching. You have to get a read for each of your kids.”

No one knows your players better than you. Tailor your correction strategy on a personal basis to help pull the player out of his funk.

“Each kid has different personality parameters. Some kids need coaching and some kids need a little more tough love,” Dohm said. “I think it’s just kind of feel thing with the kids.”

100 Point Shooting Drill

By Coach Brian Williams on November 28, 2016

This video is from the great resources available from basketballhq. They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

The Coach in the video is Brian Baudinet, formerly an assistant coach with the NBA D-League Tulsa 66ers. Since the video was made, Coach Baudinet has taken a position with the Duquense University Men’s Staff and the Tulsa 66ers are now known as the Oklahoma City Blue.

I hope you might be able to take this video and modify it so that it is useful within your program.

You can always change the types of shots or the rules (such as shooting until you make) to make the shooting game fit the abilities of your players. You can also change the number of points to get a win.

Players can compete against a team best, against their personal best, or against players at other baskets.

It is also a drill where you can make the standards more challenging as your players get better at playing this shooting game.

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.