Basketball Plays Blind Onball

By Brian Williams on January 7, 2013

From one of Coach Creighton Burns’ old Newsletters

If you are interested in receiving his newsletter, email me and I will forward your information on to him.

In this play, as 2 loops off a staggered screen, 4 steps up to set a blind pick and pop on 1’s man.

2 loops off free throw line staggered screen by 5 and 4

3 clears to weak side corner

1 follows 2’s cut on the dribble

5 dives to the rim to seal his man.

1 reverses his dribble

2 flows to the corner and 4 steps up to set middle pick and pop.

Option

If pass is made back to 4 and there is no available shot, he should always swing the ball to 2, and follow to set a 2nd pick and roll.

Basketball Drills 3 Trips 3 Buckets

By Brian Williams on January 4, 2013

3 Trips – 3 Buckets

by: Online Basketball Drills

I’ve always been a big believer that as a basketball coach, you should try whenever you can to mix conditioning with developing basketball skills. Not only because it’s a more efficient use of time, but because it teaches your players to think and perform well when they’re exhausted, which can be a huge advantage in the fourth quarter.

That’s why I also try to add some element of pressure, so that there is something on the line (usually more running) if the players fail to complete the drill.

One of my go-to conditioning drills is one I call 3 Trips, 3 Buckets. And it means exactly what it says.

Three players will line up at one end of the court, one under the hoop (player 1), one on the right baseline (player 2) and one on the left baseline (player 3).

This drill can work well taking jumpshots as well, especially, in the drive and kick variatio, but if you want to focus on conditioning, I would just leave it at layups,. as missed shots slow the drill down.

Online-Basketball-Drills.com is a free resource for youth and high school basketball coaches, jam-packed with more than 642 articles and videos covering every element of the game. Since 2005, we’ve helped thousands of coaches improve their players’ skills, achieve their team’s goals. Join our community today and receive 6 free basketball coaching videos from 2-time NBA coach of the year Hubie Brown!

Basketball Drills Passing Drills

By Brian Williams on January 2, 2013

These are some notes from Michigan Coach John Beilein that were recently sent out by Steve Smiley.

The first part is a little about philosophy and the second half covers some passing drills that Coach Belein uses.

Philosophy

The wolf gets his strength from the pack and the pack gets its strength from the leader
You can do anything you want in practice but not everything you want- simplify
Be who you are off the court on the court
Embrace adversity- let it push you forward
It is a marathon not a sprint
After all of your games watch what you say. After studying the film you will realize your team and your players were not as good or bad as you thought. Do not destroy their confidence.
There are lots of ways to win- open your mind
No turnovers- get a shot3 points is more than 2 points (film your shooters)

Drills

Make drills harder than the game will be
Tape them to show them how hard they are practicing
Give them goals and hold them accountable to them

Michigan Passing- 2 players and 1 ball

If the ball is in the air your feet are in the air to receive a pass
Catch it on 2 and step with a hot foot (the shooting hand foot)

Michigan Box Passing- 4 players and 1 ball

Same drill as 2-player drill with a catch, hot foot pivot right and a pass to the right
Same drill with a catch, hot foot pivot moving right foot to the left and a pass

Pass to the outside hand
Come open when the ball sees you by stepping down (out), showing hands, calling for the ball
After passing move back in to re-establish 15-18 foot passing spacing

Blast to the ball

Same drill with a catch, hot foot pivot left and a pass to the left but now you must run to the ball to catch it
Throw to the outside hand
Right foot on fire- move it quickly
Bring the foot through before extending the arms to pass, as this will protect the ball

All of these drills can be done again by adding another ball

Perfect Passing- 10 perfect passes in 30 seconds

Players must complete 10 passes with perfection (outside hand, foot fire, 2 feet in the air, clean catch)- if they are not successful, they run until the 30 seconds is completed

Perfect Passing against Defense- 10 perfect passes against defense

Dribble the ball over half-court

10 passes or 1 backdoor cut and a pass out of the backdoor qualifies as a success. Play team against team and transition on turnovers

5 perfect passes with 1 dribble

Playing 4 against 5 defenders. Same rules as before. Play team against team and transition on turnovers

Michigan Penetrate the lane- 4 balls and 8 players with 4 stationary defenders
Show shot (shot fake or can use a pass fake) while keeping knees bent and shoulders low

Drive right past the defender body to body with one or 2 dribbles
Jump stop and shot fake
Pass to the player in the line to the right of you
This player is calling out “1 more, 1 more”
Try to get into the lane with 1 dribble
Catch the ball on a hop
The dummy defender does not move but has wide hands
Have soft feet on the jabs and on the catch/hop
When the ball penetrates the lane and gets picked up, you should hear a pop of the ball(ball slap)

Same drill but go left with a crossover move with the hot foot

Shot fake and pass to the left and rotate left

Same drill with a right attack and a spin dribble

Pass left

Basketball Plays Middle Zone Screen

By Brian Williams on December 31, 2012

This idea is from Mike McNeill’s coachesclipboard.ca site:

Ball screens in the middle of the floor can be very effective against zone defenses because, like good ball movement and screening action, they can force defenders out of their area of coverage.

I have included some other resources of ways to attack a 2-3 zone defense. below. The diagrams are links to other pages on this site.

In the first diagram, the ball-handler, O3, turns the corner and attacks the lane because X2 does not come over to stop penetration.

X2 stays matched up on O1, and as O2 turns the corner, X5 and X3 step up to stop penetration which opens up O2 on the wing for an uncontested 3 pt. shot.

In this diagram,, as O1 comes off the ball screen, X2 steps over to stop the penetration.

This opens up the pass to O3 for a shot. If X4 is able to stop O3’s shot, then a pass to O2 in the corner creates an open shot.

Zone Offense Video Clips

The videos are sample videos. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PURCHASE ANYTHING TO SEE THE VIDEO SAMPLES

Coach K. 2-1-2 Zone Attack The videos aer sample videos. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PURCHASE ANYTHING TO SEE THE VIDEO SAMPLES This is a very short segment of a DVD from Coach K showing him coaching his 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone attack in practice. The point he makes that I like is that we all need to have some type of misdirection in our zone attack. He makes the point dealing with a misdirection dribble for individuals, but in my opinion, we need to have some misdirection in our passing principles as a team as well when we attack a 2-3 zone.

Five–The videos are sample videos. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PURCHASE ANYTHING TO SEE THE VIDEO SAMPLES Set play to run against a zone defense. The link will take you to a page on the Championship Productions web site. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the video of this play. The play forces the zone to guard three movements–a basket cut, a flex type screen, and a staggered double for a shooter.

Basketball Drills Xavier Shooting Part 2

By Brian Williams on December 28, 2012

This is the second part of some basketball shooting drills from the Xavier Men’s Basketball Newsletter.

If you are interested in seeing the archive of their newsletters, click this link:

Xavier Newsletter Archives

Here is a link to the first part of the shooting drills: Xavier Shooting Drills Part 1

32 Shooting

Shoot in partners. One partner completes the whole cycle and the other partner rebounds. They switch. There are five spots on the court–corners, wings, and top.

The shooter takes a jump shot, a shot fake–one dribble pull up, and a shot fake-one dribble–then a dribble move to beat a helper in for a layup from each spot. That means three shots starting from each spot. The shooter gets 2 points for each make for a total of 30 possible points. The last two possible points come from shooting 2 free throws at the end. Winners get a reward or losers run or do pushups.

X-Out Layups

It is essential to teach finishing at the basket as a part of your shooting work. I like this drill for it. Put one minute on the clock. Players start at the right elbow at each basket. Player dribbles in with right hand and finishes on right side. Catch the rebound, dribble out with left hand to left elbow, jump stop, pivot and face the basket in triple threat stance, Attack basket on left dribble and finish with left hand. Players keep track of makes in the one minute time. Work on different kinds of finishes, running layup, 2 foot power layup, reverse, and any other finishes that you teach.

Oak Hill Full Court Shooting

Great drill to work on dribbling, hustle, and shooting. The drill is fun for the players.

Split players into two teams. Each team starts on a lane line on the same end of the court facing the opposite basket. When drill starts, players dribble to opposite end using using outside hand away from where the defense would be. Shoot a pull up jump shot at the elbow of the opposite end. If the shot goes in, it is worth two points. If it misses, the player must get his own rebound and shoot layups until he makes it. The layup is worth 1 point.

When the ball goes in, player takes it out of the net and dribble back to the end he started on using outside hand and shoots the pull up shot at that end. Plus 2 for a make, if it misses, rebound and shoot layups until it goes in for Plus 1. Get the ball out of the net after the make and pass to the next player in line.

In a Row Free Throws

When players are shooting free throws, have them keep track of how many they make in a row. When they shoot in partners, they shoot until they miss and then switch. Have players record their streaks to track their progress.

This drill really helps concentration. I like to display the top ten longest streaks on a board in the gym. When we started doing this, we had some 10s and 12s. I had a player in the summer who went nuts for this. We would get done with summer workouts and 9:00 pm and he would still be there at 10:00 shooting his streaks. He ended up being the only one on the board with all 10 top streaks. Most importantly, it showed during the season.

Sutton Pivot Shooting

How you do the drill is determined by how you teach pivoting.Player start under the rim. A passer/coach starts at the volleyball line. Players pass to the coach and sprint towards their pass. As they do, the coach at the volleyball line passes the ball back and shouts a direction. Players must pivot in that direction and shoot. The drill makes players work on pivoting and shooting. Great drill.

Basketball Drills Xavier Shooting

By Brian Williams on December 27, 2012

These basketball shooting drills are from the Xavier Men’s Basketball Newsletter.

If you are interested in seeing the archive of their newsletters, click this link:

Xavier Newsletter Archives

Olympic Shooting

Vance Walberg drill. 3 players, 2 basketballs, 5:00 on the clock. The players simply shoot 2 man, 2 ball shooting for 5 minutes. Players keep track of their makes for 5 minutes. Reward the players with the highest scores. Also, record the scores over the course of the year and see how they improve. Run the drill for three point and mid range shots.

21 Shooting

Another variation of the 2 ball 3 player shooting drill. Players do 3 player 2 basketball (Olympic Shooting above) and keep track of their individual makes. Once one player makes 5, the drill stops. All three players shoot 2 free throws. Players add one point for each made free throw to their score. Shoot three rounds and the player with the most points wins. It’s called 21 shooting because if a player wins every round (5 + 5 + 5) and makes all 6 free throws, he or she ends up with 21 points.

Walberg Shooting

Break the players into teams of 3 to 5 per team. The less per team, the better. Each team gets 2 basketballs. The drill is timed for 5 minutes.There are 5 spots on the perimeter–the corner, wing, top of the key, opposite wing, and opposite corner. You can shoot 3s or midrange shots. Players start in the corner and shoot until the group makes 5.

Once the group makes five shots, they move onto the wing. When they make 5 at the wing, they move onto the top of the key, or to the free throw line if you are shooting midrange shots. They continue until they have made 5 shots as a group from each of the 5 spots. If time hasn’t expired yet (teh drill stops when the 5 minutes is up), they go to the top of the key and shoot until the 5 minute time limit is up.

This is when the drill gets fun. Teams start with a score of minus 25. Each make is worth 1 point. So, if they finish all five spots in the five minutes that were put on the clock, they will have a score of 0. Every shot they make at the top of the key (or to the free throw line if you are shooting midrange shots) is worth plus one. Once they make shots from the top of the key (or free throw line), they are now into positive numbers.

Reward the winners and set a team goal that everyone needs to break even. Once everyone is able to break even, increase the goal. When we started doing this drill, we had most groups between minus 10 and minus 5. By the end of the season, we were regularly getting groups that were between plus 10 and plus 15. The improvement was great.

If you only have one or two baskets, two teams can go at one hoop. Gets crazy, but it works!

KIng of the Hill Shooting

You need several baskets, but it is a great drill. We have 18 players and 6 baskets. Each basket has a number trhat corresponds to its rank. Basket #1 is the top basket and #6 is the bottom basket. Three players to a basket.

If you have more players, put 2 groups of 2 at the top basket.

Put 1 minute on the clock and give the players an area to shoot from (elbows, corners, wings, etc…) Players shoot fo the minute and rebound their own shots. Player with the most makes at each basket moves up one hoop. The player with the lowest score moves down one hoop (except for the last basket)

After everyone has moved 1 basket, we shoot again. You can shoot from the same spot or change it. The idea is to compete and be the player to end up on hoop #1 at the end to be the “King of the Hill.”

Mustang Shooting

Players start at 15 feet and shoot for five minutes. Every time they make 4 in a row, they can take a step back. Every time they miss 2 in a row, they take a step in. The objective of teh srill is to see how far back they can get in five minutes. After five minutes, playes switch. Simplel, but effective and can show a player her true range.

Make 2 Miss 2 Around the World

Do this drill in partners. There are five spots on the floor–corners, wing, and top. Players start in the corner. To advance to the next spot, they have to make 2 in a row. If they miss 2 in a row, they are out and their partner gets a turn. The idea is to get all the way around the arc without missing two in a row. It’s tough and competitive for the players.