Toughness Drills

These drills are included in Coach Lee DeForest’s Princeton Offense system, which includes practice planning (with ideas for both offense and defense) to teach the system.

I hope you find something that you can either use in your summer workouts, or that you can save and use next season.

You can find out more about his Princeton Offense System at this link: Princeton Offense System.

 

Diagrams created with FastDraw

 

Mental Toughness Drills

We want to teach aggression and have no fear of making hustle plays

2 Man Loose Ball – 10 in one minute – the players will use one ball and one player is the passer. The other player is down in a stance and will dive on the loose ball then pass the ball from the ground calling out the receiver’s name.

2 Man Take Charge – can go for 1-2 mins – switch the man taking the charge at 30 secs. One player has a ball about lane line apart and dribbles at his partner who takes the charge by landing on his butt and yelling. He gets up immediately and takes another charge.

2 Man Bump Cutter – go for one minute and switch at 30 secs. Players are lane line apart and no ball is used. Player sprints across the lane and gets bumped by the defender who is in a stance – make contact. Constant cutting and making contact then switch at 30 secs.

2 Man Back to Passer – Lane wide and it goes for one minute. One player has a ball and the other player has his back to the ball while chopping his feet. The passer calls out his partner’s name and the player jump pivots in the air to catch the pass. The passer throws the pass before he says the player’s name.

Ball Crawls – players line up near a bleacher or wall. They will kick off the wall and dive on a ball their partner is holding. The partner will count until they get to ten and the player diving yells for the ball.

Ball Toughness Drills

1 on 1 Drills

Stationary – Hit coach in lane when he calls your name. Put players in pairs with each group having a basketball around the 3 point line. Rips/Sweeps either above the head or below the knee. Work on winning the battles and being ball strong. Time limit. PPF.

12 Second Drill – Hold for 4 seconds with rip/sweeps then dribble with right hand or left hand only for 4 seconds and finally pick the ball up and rip/sweep for 4 seconds. Teach how long 12 seconds is with the basketball. Pick up, dribble, then pickup again is called by coach.

Dribble Weave – crossover (move alignment of defenders), hesitation dribble (lane line all defenders), between the legs (move alignment with two in the lane and one near volleyball line), vs. trap (use 4 guys
with two at FT line and two near HC). All different dribbles with coaches set up as cones who will be fouling the hands of the dribbler as they make moves. Head up. Then in trap, the offense works on two moves – hesitation or pull back crossover – attack outside leg. This drill is like Human Cones from Hurley. Can use 3 people and go to half
court or use more and go full court with finish vs. football pad.

Group Drills

3 on 3 Ball Toughness – Square up – with/without a ball. Complete passes for points. No point without a rip or sweep on the catch. No dribble or dribble variations. 10 complete passes then switch. 3 possessions each team. Split them into two groups on either sideline. Black on right and white on left to sub in after each change. Turnover or 10 complete passes. Variation – No score first then give 10 points on a layup. Run the difference in the score. A down/back for each point. One shot to score.

3 on 4 – either to a score or complete 10 passes catch/rip. Dribble or no dribble. Start drill in the middle and a closeout trap while the other two offensive players move to get open. Completed passes are one
point get to ten and switch or on turnover the number of passes is the score. Loser runs the difference.

4 on 2 – offense is on each elbow and block. Defense is inside the lane trying to deflect or steal the ball. Complete 10 passes, no bounce passes, catch and rip/land on two.

These drills are included in Coach Lee DeForest’s Princeton Offense system, which includes practice planning (with ideas for both offense and defense) to teach the system. You can find out more about his Princeton Offense System at this link: Princeton Offense System.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Editor’s note from Brian: You might want to start out with one or two minutes rather than 4 minutes and have your players build up to 4 minutes. Especially for younger teams.

The drill was contributed by Coach Greg White. He had these comments about the drill:

One of my favorite drills is The Inferno. It immediately raises the intensity level or shows the lack of it.

What you’ll need: 3 Passers, 4 Offensive players, 4 Defensive players, 1 Basketball

Inferno Toughness Drill

Players begin on the elbows and blocks. This drill is for 8 minutes. The team’s roles will switch at the 4 minute mark. There are no substitutions for the 8 involved. When the ball is at the top, the offense down screens. When the ball is on the wing, players screen across.

To keep the drill competitive, and it won’t take much, use one of the following scoring systems:

Each catch = 5 defensive pushups (5 keeps the speed going plus a good screening group will average 20 catches in 4 minutes)

Each catch = 1 pt for elbow catch, 2pts for catch on the block. Keep track and at the end of 8 minutes losing team has a reminder drill.

Each catch = live four on four. Offense gets whatever shot they score, Defense gets 2 for a stop, 3 for a charge, etc..

Offensive Players Start on on Elbows and Blocks.

This is an 8 minute drill: Switch Offense and Defense at 4 minute mark. No Substitutions!

OFFENSE RULES: MUST CATCH ON ELBOW OR BLOCK

DEFENSE: Don’t Let The Offense Catch on the Block or Elbow

You decide how to make it competitive. You can go live on the catch. Stop on the catch-keep score for catches or defense 5 pushups for every catch.

When the Ball is up top, Offensive Players down screen.

If passer can’t get a pass to either elbow, he passes the ball to the next passer to continue the drill.

 

 

 

When the Ball is on the wing, players screen away from the ball

 
 
 

At the 4 minute mark, switch sides.

DO NOT SUB IN FOR THE 8 PLAYERS IN THE “INFERNO”

 

 

This drill is from Drew Hanlen of Pure Sweat Basketball. It requires players to defend a variety of screening actions in a short amount of time.

The drill is also posted in Fast Model Sports Basketball Drills and Plays Library.

Drew is an NBA Strategic Skills Coach & Consultant that has helped over 25 NBA and NBA pre-draft players. Drew is the Head Skills Coach for Pure Sweat Basketball. He has run his internationally renowned Elite Skills Clinics in over 30 states and 4 countries over the past four years.

You can also use this as a multiple purpose drill by having one coach working with the offensive players on setting and using screens.

If there are other screens, that you need to be able to defend from the teams that you play, you can always modify and adapt the drill to fit the needs of your team.

Here is how Drew runs the drill:

Ball handler (Player 1) will start with the ball at the top of the key and will be pressured by an on-ball defender (x1), while an offensive (Player 4) and defensive (x4) post player will start on the wing and an offensive (Player 2) and defensive (x2) guard will start on the strong-side block.

Offensive post player on the wing (Player 4) will set a pindown for the offensive guard (Player 2), who will use the pindown and pop to the wing and receive a pass from the ball handler (Player 1).

Offensive post player (Player 4) will then set a UCLA screen for the offensive player at the top of the key (Player 1).

Defender guarding the player using the UCLA screen (x1) will jump to the ball then get through the UCLA screen, while the screener’s defender (x4) will provide help if necessary.

 

After setting the UCLA screen, the screener (Player 4) will pop to the three-point line and receive a pass from the ball handler (Player 2). Offensive player on the block (Player 1) will immediately set a back screen for the offensive player on the wing that just made the pass (Player 2).

Defender guarding the player using the UCLA screen (x2) will jump to the ball then get through the back screen, while the screener’s defender (x1) will provide help if necessary.

After setting the back screen, the screener (Player 1) will pop to the wing and receive a pass from the offensive post player (Player 4), who will then follow their pass and set an on-ball screen.

Drill becomes live 3v3. Defenders should guard the ball screen using their team’s defensive principles.