Shooting Drills

One More Pass Shooting Drills

By kevin roy on March 29, 2023

In the clip below Nate Oats shares a few shooting drills that he uses to teach the concept of “One More Pass”

The first drill is a simple baseline drive and drift with one more pass to the slot for a shot.

The second drill is a baseline drive with a skip to the slot and one more pass to the corner for a shot.

The third drill is a ball screen with middle penetration and a kick to the slot followed by one more pass to the corner for a shot.

In the final drill Coach Oats shows his 2-on-1 Passing Drill where players will have to make a decision to shoot or make one more pass.

A coach starts with the ball in one slot with a player in the other slot and opposite corner. One defender is splitting the two offensive players. The coach will pass to one of the players and the defender will close to the shooter and the player will have to decide whether to shoot or make one more pass for the shot. Players must make a quick decision and are limited to just one pass.

The next drill in this sequence is a 3-on-2 drill. In this drill, you have offensive players in each slot and one corner. The ball is passed to one of the offensive players and one defender closes to the shooter. The offensive players must then decide to shoot or pass to whichever teammate is open. That player then must make a similar decision as the second defender closes to him/her. The offense is limited to only two passes. While the 3-on-2 Drill is not demonstrated in this video it is, along with many other great drill, available if you purchase full access to Nate Oats – Coaching School – Play Fast

Wide Pindown and Sprint Away Drill

By kevin roy on March 28, 2023

In the clip below UConn assistant coach Kimani Young talks about proper development of in-game shot situations and introduces his Wide Pindown Sprint Away drill.

Coach Young does a great job of talking you through the different options in this drill.

It’s a great drill to get a lot of reps and teach key points.

You can teach the player receiving the wide pindown when to curl to the elbow and when to bump and fade.

As Coach Young points out many coaches have the defender on the passer jump to the ball on the pass to help defend the wide pindown.

To counter that action it is important to teach the passer to sprint away after the pass.

In this drill both the player coming off the wide pindown and the passer sprinting away get a shot.

This clip was taken from a full presentation by Coach Young. For more information about how to gain access to that presentation click the following link:

Drills To Maximize Game Shots

Basketball Drills: Improvement Season Finishing

By 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 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 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 YouTube to see the video.

Click the play arrow to begin each video.

3 2 3 Competitive Shooting Drill

Warrior Shooting Drill

By 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