Purpose: This combination drill works on a variety of basketball skills and fundamentals. The offensive players work on dribbling, passing, jump stops, and layups or jump shots. The defender works on stopping the dribbler and then recovering to help defend the wing shot or drive. Drill: Two offensive players near midcourt, one in the middle with basketball and one near the sideline. One defender begins at the free throw line. O1 begins by dribbling toward the lane, forcing X1 to defend … [Read more...]
Throw-In Break the Press Drill
Purpose: To teach players how to get open to receive the pass against a press. A simple drill, but necessary to help players learn to get open when closely guarded in the full court. Drill: Divide team into two lines; line 1 are the inbounders and line 2 are the receivers. The first player in line is the defender. (If you have large numbers or want to utilize time, use more baskets). O1 will attempt to pass the basketball inbounds to O2 before the 5 second call. O2 can utilize any number of … [Read more...]
Continuous 10-Second Basketball Game
Purpose: To practice and develop decision-making abilities in a full speed game situation. Offensive players will also work on scoring when a basket is needed. Defensive players will work on stopping the offense from scoring when that is needed. Also a great drill to improve conditioning. Drill: Divide your squad into 2 teams, with 5 players from each team on the court (5 offense vs. 5 defense). The teams will play a normal full court game of 5 on 5 with one exception ... each time they gain … [Read more...]
Trap the Corner Transition Drill
Purpose: To prepare the offensive players against a trapping, pressure defense. Obviously we generally do not want to receive the inbounds pass in the corner against pressing, trapping defense. We realize, however, that it does happen. Therefore, it is imperative to prepare our players for these situations. Drill: 2 offensive players and 3 defensive players. O1 has the basketball and is the inbounder. O2 is in the corner (O2 may also start in his 'normal' press break position before cutting … [Read more...]
Dribble Play (1 Finger Down)
This play works great directly out of your secondary break. It's a quick hitter that can be run anytime, but executes quite well out of your transition offense. We will look to run this directly out of our secondary fast break. It can be initiated by either calling it out, pointing to the spot where the point guard wants the screen to be set (1 finger down) or by simply dribbling directly at the 4. 4 will come over and set a pick for 1 equal to where the lane begins. 1 will look to turn the … [Read more...]
Fast Break Pass, Flash, and Cut Drill
Purpose: To teach players to move the basketball downcourt quickly, looking for a scoring opportunity from the secondary break. This drill can also be used as a sort of transition or secondary break offense quick hitter by having the players specifically looking to run this set. Drill: Have three lines as shown in the diagram - a line at O1, O2 and O3. The players waiting in line should be off the court. The drill/play starts with O1 dribbling to midcourt and passing ahead to O2. O2 will … [Read more...]
Bomber Secondary Fast Break Offense
Our 'Bomber Secondary Fast Break Offense' looks to attack and score with several options leading to inside or mid-range scoring opportunities. Wings make sure to run wide. Post players run opposite of ball then break to ball side block and post up hard. Our first look is always to the post. If the post is not open we can either reverse the ball back to the 1 and they enter the ball to the post, look to drive, or continue to pass the ball to the 4. Or 2 may decide to just throw a skip pass … [Read more...]
5 Keys to Playing Fast Effectively
Every player I meet or talk to wants to play fast. They want to get out, push the ball up the court and try to score as quick as possible -- which is great! However, the vast majority of these players do not understand what it means to play fast effectively. Getting out and pushing the ball is an excellent way to play because it creates the ability to attack offensively before the defense gets a chance to set up which can create easy scoring opportunities. Yet, before you can really commit to … [Read more...]
2-on-2 Catch Up Drill
Purpose: To work on scoring and defending in a transition situation. The offensive players will attempt to score while the defensive players will need to sprint and then defend the offense from scoring. Drill: 4 players line up along a baseline as shown by players 1-4 in the diagram. A player on one end begins with a basketball (O1 in our diagram). The drill starts with O1 passing to O2, who passes to O3, who passes to O4. Players O1 and O3 will become defenders once they pass the ball so … [Read more...]
Flow Ball Screen Transition Offense
The Flow Ball Screen Transition Offense can be utilized as a series of set plays or most importantly and effectively as a secondary transition offense. In the following diagrams, you will see 8 different entries into the 'flow'. Each of them utilize an on-ball screen to create scoring opportunities. Below the diagrams, you can read through the keys to help you run the Flow Ball Screen Transition Offense effectively. DRAG ENTRY The point guard, O1, sets up for the forward (O5) to ball screen … [Read more...]