Toughness Drills

Basketball Drills Finishing Toughness Drills

By Brian Williams on October 29, 2013

I like to end practice with a segment that works on toughness and game situations. This dril is a good way to work on developing the toughness to finish at the basket.

I believe that when attacking the basket, a player’s mindset should be

1) Expect hard contact. If a player is fouled hard and then loses his or her poise, that is going to have a negative affect on the free throws.
2) I want the player looking to score the basket and not looking to only draw a foul. The official might or might not make the call, but if the ball goes in, we get two points.

These drills were originally posted on FastModel Sports Plays and Drills Library by Greg White.

Great drill from Coach Mike Jones and Coach Alan Stein at DeMatha High School. We use this to set the thermostat at practice.

(See Digrams below)

Divide players of equal size.

Coach passes to player who attacks the rim while the other player attempts to block the shot.

The offensive player has to attack strong. Do not allow them to avoid the contact.

Same set up as Frame 1 but different location.

Basketball Drills Shaka Smart Hustle Drill

By Brian Williams on October 8, 2013

This drill was posted by Coach Trevor Daugherty on Fast Model’s Basketball Coaching Plays and Drill library.

You can see all of the plays and drill they have posted on this link:

Fast Model plays and drills library

Coach Daugherty stated: ” This is one of my favorite hustle drills that I have seen out there, great combination of team unity and effort..”

Below the diagram and the description of the drill, there is a You Tube video of Shaka Smart doing the drill himself to end VCU’s Final Four practice in 2011

X1 starts by defending post,

Coach1 throws ball to corner who drives,

X1 must take charge, then sprint to sideline where Coach2 rolls by towards endline for diving save,

X1 then sprints to opposite sideline where he must jump to save ball thrown by Coach.

Make sure your sound is on to see the You Tube video below of Shaka Smart demonstrating the drill at the 2011 Final Four.

Even though the video was filmed several years ago, the drill still has value.

It will have even more value if you add in your own ideas and make it something that fits what you do.

Here is another video of Shaka Smart going through a portion of his diamond press:

If you are interested in seeing more about Coach Smart’s Havoc Pressure Defense DVD, click here:

Basketball Drills 3 Lane Sureness

By Brian Williams on August 28, 2013

Taking care of the basketball requires many skills as well as a mindset of toughness.

The video in this drill is a 3 on 3 drill to work on sureness with the basketball being conducted by Coach Dave Paulsen. At the time this video was filmed, Coach Paulsen was at Bucknell. He is currently the Head Men’s Coach at George Mason.

Make sure your sound is on. I also have the rules for the drill listed to go along with the video.

To learn more about the entire DVD that this sample came from, click here: All Access Bucknell Basketball Practice. Anyone who purchases anything from the store receives one of my basketball coaching eBooks as a bonus. Just email me and let me know which one you would like to receive!

3 Lane Sureness Drill Rules

– Court is divided into 3 lanes

– Offense must stay in their lane and pass to the player in the lane next to them

– Offense is trying to go the length of the court

– Get open, don’t dance

– Make your man change planes and directions to get open

– Hold your man off

– If your man overplays you, back cut

– Defense is trying to get a steal or deflection, steals and deflections count as 1 point for the defense and ends the offensive possession

– After a turnover, the next group goes

– Switch offense and defense on the way back

Basketball Drills Toughener

By Brian Williams on May 22, 2013

I am posting this video to give you a visual idea of a drill that I saw current Indiana Men’s Assistant Coach Ed Schilling use in one of his practices. At the time, he was the head coach at two time Indiana High School 2A State Champion Park Tudor. I did not video the drill when I saw Coach Schilling lead it, so I am using this video as an example that is similar to what he did.

Before being hired at Indiana, Coach Schilling was an assistant for Steve Alford at UCLA and the Executive Director at Champions Academy where he did skill development workouts

Make sure your speakers are on to see and hear the You Tube videos This is a You Tube video, so please make sure that you are on a server that allows You Tube access.

This is not Coach Schilling, but I like a lot of what the coach in this video says and does. The only thing I would improve in the video is that in order for the offense to become tougher with the ball, the defense should foul more frequently in the drill than they do in the video.

Make sure that there are no fouls to the head or face and that all fouls are to make the ballhandler tougher. The offense cannot get back at the defense by fouling. That would eliminate the purpose of becoming tougher to keep from turning the ball over.

Ed also did a moving toughner where he used the old one on one zig zag drill with a dribbler and a defender (offense must stay on one third of the floor and dribble baseline to baseline) while the defender is fouling and hand checking.

This is a simple drill, but effective if done in the right spirit and with the purpose of making each other tougher. The expectation in our program is that contact is never an excuse to lose the ball.

Press the play arrow to see the video.

Basketball Drills: Celtic (Toughness Shooting Drill)

By Brian Williams on April 18, 2013

Player starts at spot 1 with the goal of making it back to spot 10 within 2 minutes.

Coach starts 2:00 countdown as the first shot is taken.

You must make 2 in a row before advancing to the next spot.

When the player makes 2 in a row on spot 5, she advances to spot 6. You don’t have to make 4 in a row.

If the player doesn’t make it back to all 10 spots in 2 minutes, record where they were as time expires. The goal is then to beat that in the next workout.

If the player does make it in under 2:00, then record the time and that is what the player will stirve to break next time.

Basketball Drills Full Court 3 on 3

By Brian Williams on September 5, 2012

From the Xavier Basketball Newsletter

By Mike Dunlap, Loyola Marymount.

We use the 3 on 3 full court game to tell us who can play and who cannot. It gives us a truthful look into our future because this game exposes players in a meaningful way. Moreover, the coaching staff and players can see who is fit and knows how to win!

The game also improves cardiovascular fitness quicker than any track specific work that I know. Why? Because we are doing anaerobic and aerobic work without the players really having to look at it as conditioning”. In other words, we get to sing while we work, or should I say “play.”

The players like this game mostly because it emulates the game itself.

We use heart monitors during this game. This is an objective measurement. Our players heart rates are normally above 190 beats per minute. Ouch. We want to be as objective as possible when evaluating our players. This takes the guess work out of what you are doing. The more criteria/tests we can use the better. Yet, we do not want the players to think it is all an exam. If you asked me what one competition/game we use to assess our players, 3 on 3 full court is the game- the best of the best.

1) The accurate measurement;
2) The easy evaluation of the who (i.e. which players and combinations know how to win by charting each win/loss);
3) The ability to see who can pass, cut, and score by eliminating the dribble completely;
4) The elimination of the dribble also creates “team first as the 3 players must assist each other to get the ball up the floor; this immediate adversity pushes the players toward each other;
5) The coaches can see which players want to play defense, and actually know to move;
6) The games are played to 2 points (i.e. one point/basket) because this allows you to quickly observe who knows how to win and play under pressure
either offensively or defensively.

I do not know any salient disadvantages to this game. While the players do not like 3 on 3 full court without the dribble initially, they eventually ask to play this game. You can add the dribble by saying that this will be a 1, 2, or 3 dribble day: you will be a hero–enjoy.

The Rules

1. No Dribble

Forces players to pass the ball
Cut-and-replace action by necessity
Fitness level improved
Footwork improved by necessity
Quick ball movement required

How? Tell players there will be no dribble until they learn that this is a team game.

2. Game played to 2 points

Quick games
Coaching staff can evaluate wins and losses
Who makes frequent game winning passes/shots under real game pressure
Who can get stops and/or defensive rebounds
Who is mentally/physically tough

3. Fouling

Defense calls fouls
The second foul by defensive team on the same possession results in a loss by that team.
Keeps the games moving and does not let games get out of hand.

4. Taking a charge

If defense takes a charge the game is won by that team.
Puts emphasis on taking the charge.

5. The long outlet

When the winners court has a team win they call over the team leading or who has won from the losers court. If there is a tie on That court then next point scored determines the winner.
The winning team may set up under the basket to inbound the ball with the other two players al half court ready to go as the winners. From the losers court sprint over to play. The winners may outlet the ball to half court but not over the half court line. This allows the other team time to get set. However, the winners from the losers court must sprint over and once the first playlr has entered the court the ball may be thrown to half court, but not over. This really keeps the game moving.

6. No cherry picking

Serves no real purpose.

Once the ball has crossed half court, either with pass or dribble, all three players on the offensive team must cross half cort as the ball is scored–period.

7. Ball must be picked up by three quarters court

Allows coaches to see who can play defense.
Exposes the individual and the team.
Exposes players and ultimately assists players to improve their fitness level.

If the defensive team does not pick up at three quarters court, they lose a point and, if it happens a second time, they lose the game.

Structure

1. Winners Court/Loser’s Court

Emphasize the “King of the mountain” cocept. You win and your team stays on the winner’s court. Hence, every team is looking to beat you as the wins accumulate.
Call it what it is–winner’s court and loser’s court
All teams waiting to play come here from the loser’s court. There is never an overflow on the winner’s court.
If the winners from the loser’s court finish before the winner’s court has completed their game, they will wait until the winner’s game is decided, and this happens very rarely.
The losers from the winner’s court goes immediately to the loser’s court to play. They do not go to the end of the line and wait to play.

2. Running Time

Put 20:00 on the clock for the first week you play this game.
The game will exhaust you players. You can add 5:00 per week. You wil see you players physically adjusing quality vs. quantity.

3. Changing Rules and Empahsis

You can add the dribble as time passes.
You can change certain rules per session or weeks. For example, the ball must go inside befoer it is shot. Or, we want one screen and roll before the bal is shot.
This allows the coach to see things and foces players to incorporate different situations.

In conclusion, the “try it, you’ll like it,” statement applies here. The 3 on 3 winner’s/losers’s court game is on the best instructional games we do in our pre-season. This game allows you to objectively evaluate your team.