Hall of Fame and Cone Shooting Drills

By Brian Williams on July 10, 2015

These shooting drills were posted in the FastModel Sports Basketball Plays and Drills Library

The site has thousands of drills and plays that have been submitted by basketball coaches from around the world.

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

I hope you can either add these to your summer workouts for a change of pace, or can use them for your fall workouts, or possibly even save them for practice when the season starts.

These drills were contributed by Kyle Gilreath. Kyle served as a graduate manager at Florida and is currently the Head Boys Coach at Astronaut High School in Florida.

He contributes a great deal of content to the coaching community through the FastModel library and his coaching blog, Words on the Bounce.

Kyle is the author of the coaching eBook Championship Execution. He is currently on the Pure Sweat Basketball staff as well.

Hall of Fame Shooting Drill

Make 8 shots from each of the 5 zones.

Make the following 8 shots from each of the 5 zones (color designates the spot where the shot starts:

1. Catch & Shoot
2. Mid-Rand Catch & Shoot
3. 3-pointer Catch & Shoot
4. 1 Dribble Right – Shot
5. 1 Dribble Left- Shot
6. 1 Dribble Right – Step-Back
7. 1 Dribble Left – Step-Back
8. 3-pointer Catch & Shoot

If a shot is missed, you go back to the previous spot/shot within that ‘zone’.

Cone Shooting Progression

Catch & Shoot

1 Dribble Right – Shot

1 Dribble Left – Shot

1 Dribble Right – Continuous Lateral Between the Legs – Shot

1 Dribble Left – Continuous Lateral Between the Legs – Shot

1 Dribble Right – Change – Floater/Runner

1 Dribble Left – Change – Floater/Runner

Shooting Stars Shooting Drill

By Brian Williams on July 8, 2015

This drill is a from Coach Mike Neighbors. He is currently an assistant coach with the Dallas Wings.

He used this drill when he coached in college, but can be tweaked to fit the resources and personnel that you have available in your coaching situation.

I hope you can find a way to find a system for all of your shooting drills to reward both game speed and shots made.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Shooting Stars Shooting Drill

We put a new twist on an old classic. I grew up shooting “stars” with my uncles in the driveway.

We always tracked number of makes or timed how long it took me to make 10 or 12.

Looking for a new way to insure players took game shots, from our game spots, at our game speed, we came up with this way to make it competitive among our three point shooters.

Keys to this drill:
1) Our game shots
2) From our game spots
3) At our game speed

It’s a ten shot drill. Player shoots from the corner (spot 1), sprints to opposite wing for shot 2, to the other wing for shot 3, to opposite corner for shot 4, finally to top of the key for shot 5.

Back to the starting corner for 6 and repeat the pattern of wing, wing, corner top to finish with 10 shot attempts.

We start the time as soon as she releases first shot and stop on release of shot 10.

We then take the total time and subtract 3 seconds for each MADE shot.

This tracking rewards the player for sprinting between while being able to settle and make shots.

The goal became get as close to 0.00 has possible.

For example, complete the star in 38.25 seconds with 8 makes would yield a score of 14.25. The fastest time we have on record is by Kelsey Plum. Made 9 shots in 30.20 seconds for a time of 3.20. I will predict she will eventually get a 0.00 or a negative time!!!

Basketball Drills: Dribble Moves

By Brian Williams on July 7, 2015

These dribble moves drill videos are two of the great resources available from basketballhq. They have several more videos as well as basketball coaching resource articles.

The drills can be modified to fit your needs and used during your summer skill development workouts or can be used in practices as well.

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.

BasketballHQ has just released their Basketball Coaches Training Group. In the group you will get access to different workout plans that are going to be for the team as a whole, by position, by the number of players and more. This is an all inclusive training group that is going to allow you to walk onto the court with a full workout plan in hand for your players through our easy to use Iphone and Android App. Every drill comes with a video breaking down the details of the drill, and all of the videos are instructed by a Pro or College coach and demonstrated by a high level player. click here for More Information on the Basketball Coaches Training Group.

Any Move Rhythm Dribbling Drill

Full Court Any Move Diamond Drill

Basketball Plays Horns Down Clear vs. Trap

By Brian Williams on July 6, 2015

A man to man quick hitter to run against a team that traps the on ball screen and then rotates up.

Coach Vonn Read an assistant coach at Houston has submitted several plays from his playbook series The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays to the Coaching Toolbox.

You can also see more of his plays in the Related Posts links at the bottom of this post.

Vonn has also served as an assistant coach in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Orlando Miracle, and San Antonio Silver Stars.

He was an advanced scout for the Orlando Magic as well as The Charlotte Sting.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Horns Down Clear

This is a Regular Horns Set.

Trap by the Defense – The defense traps the 1 player and rotates up to take away the pass to the 4 player.

This type of trap can create problems for the offense if the trap is a good one.

This is the adjustment to the trapping scheme!!

The 2 player will clear to the opposite corner right before the play to take away the defensive rotator (X2).

The defense will trap the 1 player.

The 5 player will roll to the block to occupy X4 at the rim.

Since the 2 player cleared to the opposite corner, X2 cannot rotate up to guard the 4 player at the top of the key.

The clear action takes away the rotator (X2)!!

Coach Read has also put together The Basketball Encyclopedia of plays. You can check them out here: The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays or read more about the books:

Any coach looking for the latest and innovative plays from the Professional, College, or High School levels can stop looking. With a compilation of over 7,700 different plays, you will never need to purchase another basketball playbook again. These playbooks can be used as a great reference tool for years to come. This 2 Volume Book includes plays from 19 different play categories, and they are the most extensive playbooks on the market.

The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays (Platinum Series) contains over 7,700 Plays (Both Volumes combined) from the NBA, WNBA, USBL, and College levels from someone who has worked as an Advanced Scout or Coach on each level!!! This book has been intensely compiled over the last 21 years, with plays taken from a lot of NBA Coaches (past and present), WNBA coaches, and College coaches (Men’s and Women’s) from around the country.

Any coach that is serious about improving their knowledge of the game from an X and O standpoint will benefit tremendously from these books. These Books can be used to discover New Quick hitters, add a New Package to your playbook, or develop an entire Offensive System. There are a lot of new ideas and concepts in these books to study, and the Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays can be a great resource for coaches on all levels!!! This book is definitely for those X and O junkies who are always looking to improve as a Coach.

“THE GAME IS ALWAYS CHANGING? ARE YOU?” Vonn Read

Here is the link: The Basketball Encyclopedia of Plays

5 Out J Cut Post Up Play

By Brian Williams on July 2, 2015

An idea for a way to post up any player from a 5 out set.

The play is from Kyle Pertuset’s Spread and Go Motion Offense.

Here is the link to find out more about the bundle: Spread and Go Offense Plus Drills, & Ultimate Matchup Zone Playbooks.

If you have any questions about the Playbooks, please feel free to email me or call or text me at (317) 721-1527.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

5 Out J Cut Post Up

To show how this action works, we will start with a 5 out set where the action has progressed to the point
that the 5 has the basketball on top of the key.

The 5 will make a pass to the wing, and post up by way of a “J Cut”, the 2 will then feed the post.

The “Pick Away”

This is a great counter if X4 elects to sag off to provide help.

The “Butler” Cut is an “Slip Cut” bluff action for defenses who switch or start to overplay if you choose to predominantly be a “Slip Cut” action team upon feeding the post, or if you have very smart players who have the presence of mind to know when to execute this advanced read.

This action can also be used to create a “lob” opportunity.

When the “Flash Cut” option is executed the players on the perimeter must fill up to the open spots on the floor to allow a spot for the cutter to fill as they should have already after 5 made the pass to the wing and began the cut.

The play is from Kyle Pertuset’s Spread and Go Motion Offense .

The 5 Out Spread and Go Motion Offense Playbook and the and the Spread and Go Motion Offense Drills Playbook is combined with Scott Peterman’s Ultimate Matchup Zone Playbook as this week’s eBook bundle. Here is the link to find out more about the bundle: Spread and Go Offense Plus Drills, & Ultimate Matchup Zone Playbooks.

If you have any questions about the Playbooks, please feel free to email me or call or text me at (317) 721-1527.

Building a SMASH Basketball Player

By Brian Williams on June 30, 2015

This player evaluation system was sent to me by Jeff Daddio, assistant coach at Farmington High School in Farmington, Connecticut.

I have included a link to download a pdf of the evaluation rubric at the bottom of this page.

You can contact him at [email protected] or via twitter is @CoachDaddio.

A SMASH player is a complete basketball player. A SMASH player encompasses all of the tangible and intangible characteristics necessary for success.

SMASH stands for Skills, Mind, Athleticism, Spirit and Heart. The SMASH rubric is a method of player evaluation that looks at all 5 major component of a SMASH player.

Skills make up one half of the rubric and are broken up into shooting, passing, ball-handling, rebound & defense.

Mind is what is sometimes referred to as “basketball I.Q.” It is a player’s ability to think the game both as a whole and within their individual matchup.

Athleticism contains the measurables- speed, strength, height and more with an even split of movement and body.

Spirit refers to emotional characteristics with a focus on attitude. It is broken up into leadership, selflessness and commitment.

Heart is a player’s drive, determination and motivation level.

All 5 components of a SMASH player can be improved and the evaluation rubric helps each player do just that. It is all part of the journey to build the best, most complete basketball players- the SMASH players.

Click here to download the document as a pdf.