Shooting Drills

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

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

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 to see the drill.

The drill is a YouTube video, so you will need to be able to access YouTube to see the drill.

100 Point Shooting Drill

Mike Neighbors, Women’s Coach at Arkansas (Previously at Washington) is one of the best coaches around to learn from.  Hopefully you were able to see his 2016 Women’s Final Four team play, or see him at a clinic, or both.

He sends out a weekly basketball coaching newsletter. If you are interested in being added to his list, let me know and I will pass along your email address. His newsletter is on hold at this time while he is transitioning jobs.

The name of this Free Throw Shooting Game/Drill is “What’s Up?”

What’s Up Team Free Throw Shooting Game

Editor’s Note from Brian: The object of the game is, like golf, for the shooters to accumulate as few “Up Points” as possible.

This description was provided by Coach Neighbors

As a result of having a larger team than we have had the last few years, we have had to become a little more creative in our use of space/goals/time.

This seems to be most true in how we use our time with free throw practice. This is one we came up with this week. It’s a morph of several other shooting drills we have utilized in the past.

All six goals. Each goal being scored individually.

Shooter will attempt two shots then rotate to the next goal.

If the shot is made…it puts 1 point up.

If the second shot is made… that would increase the UP total to 2. The score at that goal continues to rise every made shot as the various players are rotating through.

When a shot is missed, the player who misses GETS THE NUMBER THAT is UP added to their score.

You have scores building at each goal as the players rotate through. We rotate rebounder to shooter, shooter to next goal so that the UP count can be relayed.

As you do this a few times you will see that your “smart’ kids will learn NOT to follow the best FT shooters, so it will be up to you to place shooters accordingly.

We keep a running total score for the week/year so that we can strategically order the shooters to best keep it competitive for all!!

The first time we did it, we did for 10:00 total. Once the time expired, we kept each goal going until there was a miss at all of them and all the total UP points went to someone. That keeps all players rotating around one goal until there is a miss. Creates one last chance to hang a big number on someone.

So far this drill has been able to create some pressure situations and also give us best possible use of our free throw time. We also use this as water break and a catch breath time before we head into most physically and/or mentally challenging part of practice.

This shooting drill was diagrammed and contributed by Joel Hueser 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 Hueser is the Head Boys Coach at Papillion-LaVista South High School High School in Nebraska.

This is what he said about the drill:

Each year, preseason and sometimes during the season, we test our players for assessment purposes. The Decathlon is a good indicator of player strengths and weaknesses. The test consists of ten shooting skills performed for one minute each, one skill right after the other. We have acquired over 25 years of data using this test. As a result, we have a pretty good idea of a player’s offensive skill set when it’s all said and done. We like to factor these numbers into our selection process.

To date, in my 25+ years of coaching, not quite 20 players have scored 200 baskets or higher. The highest is 218. The first 3 minutes set the tone. A fundamentally sound player can score close to 100 or more baskets right out of the gates.

We consider the following grade levels and scores very good:

Freshmen 160 or more
Sophomores 170 or more
Juniors 180 or more
Seniors 190 or more
Skill Level Scale:

000-100 | Poor!
100-115 | Very Low Skill Level
115-130 | Low Skill Level
130-145 | Average Skill Level
145-160 | Above Average Skill Level
160-175 | High Skill Level
175-190 | Very High Skill Level
190-205 | Outstanding!

Editor’s Note from Brian: You can develop your own scoring system, scoring standards, and change the shots. You don’t have to use the drill exactly the same way that Coach Hueser does. The idea is to modify the challenge and make it YOUR OWN. For example, this uses a lot of layups, you might want to include more jump shots. Or, you could possibly use this as one data point for tryouts.

Since the player is moving for 10 consecutive minutes, if you have 6 baskets, you could use it at the end of practice as a conditioner while handling and shooting the basketball or to see who is in shape for your early season practices.

There is a video at the bottom of the post to see the decathlon in action.

1) Strong Hand Lay-ups

-Stand wherever you want (we suggest as shown) and score as many baskets as possible.

-No rebounders (using the glass is recommended).

-1 minute.

2) Weak Hand Lay-ups

-Same as strong hand lay-ups, but this time you must shoot with your weak hand.

-Your strong hand is to be held behind your back (Shooter is allowed to shoot from either side).

-1 minute.

3) Mikan Drill

-Shoot baby hook shots, alternating from the right side to the left side.

-Shoot off the correct foot on each side.

-1 minute.

4) Block-to-Block

-Shoot just outside the freethrow lane near the low block.

-Use the glass and move back and forth without traveling.

-1 minute.

5) Corner-to-Corner

-Same as block-to-block, but this time the shots are from the short corner (two strides from lane).

-Move back and forth without traveling.

-1 minute.

6) X-Out Lay-ups

-Start at the right freethrow line elbow, dribble in and score a lay-up.

-Then sprint out to the left elbow (dribble is not mandatory). Do the same, but with the left hand.

-1 minute.

7) Lay-up Bust

-Start under the basket and shoot a lay-up.

-Whether it is made or missed, run and touch the free throw line with your hand.

-Then come back to the ball and attempt another lay-up or shot.

-1 minute.

8) Elbow-to-Elbow
-Shoot from the right freethrow line elbow and follow your shot.
-Dribble out to the left elbow with your outside hand and shoot again.
-Alternate from elbow-to-elbow; always dribbling with your outside hand.

 

9) 15′ Rapid Fire

-Use two basketballs and two teammates as a feeder and rebounder.

-Fire as many jump shots as possible from the freethrow line.

-1 minute.

10) 20′ Rapid Fire

-Same as 15′ Rapid Fire, but from behind the 3-point arc.

-1 minute.

 

Here is a You Tube video of the drill.

This shooting along with conditioning drill was posted on the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library.

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

Ladder Shooting Drill

This drill was contributed by Coach Fabian McKenzie, Cape Breton University Women’s Basketball.

He has been a head coach at the university level for 16 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 8 years.

This is what he said about the drill:

This is a great conditioning drill which requires focus on shooting the ball.

Great in pre-season.

You can work on 15 foot shots, 3 point shots, dribble pull ups, etc.

P’s are passers. They must constantly hustle to rebound and have a ball ready for their next shooter

We do a “ladder” of time

15 sec. per group
30 sec. per group
45 sec. per group
60 sec. per group
45 sec. per group
30 sec. per group
15 sec. per group

1,2,3,4 receive a pass and shoot the ball

As soon as 1,2,3,4 shoot the ball they turn and sprint to opposite end.

Our rule is that they cannot shoot from the opposite spot on the floor twice in a row. They must pick a new spot.

Once the time is up, 1,2,3,4 become passers and one of the passing groups become the shooters.

Challenge the players to beat their takes and makes each time i.e. First time they do 15 sec. they may get 3-4 shots. Challenge them to do more and make more each block of time

Here is another version of the drill:

If you are interested in seeing information on the DVD that this drill came from, click: Individual and Team Drills for Building a Transition Offense