Purpose: To teach the players to be strong and to make strong moves around the basket area while being fouled in a competitive situation. Drill: Players of about equal size pair up at a basket. They play 1-on-1 under the basket, keeping the ball in the shaded area as shown. There are no fouls or jump balls in this drill. The first player to reach 10 baskets wins. Coaching Points: The coach must make sure the players do not get carried away and use excessive physical contact. The point is … [Read more...]
Offensive Putback Rebounding Drill
Purpose: To instruct offensive players in how to get offensive rebounds and to finish by scoring the basketball. Drill: At least three players and coach/manager are needed at each basket. In the diagram, 'C' is the coach; 'O1' is the rebounder; and each 'X' is a rebounder. The drill begins with the coach having two basketballs. He will start the drill by tossing one ball up against the backboard. Player 1 rebounds the shot and puts it into the basket. As soon as the first ball goes through … [Read more...]
Double Stack Low
Double Stack Low is a simple zone quick hitting play intended to get a jump shot from the weak side. With this setup, it will work best against an even front zone such as a 2-3 or 2-1-2. 1) The play starts off with O1 (this should be your best jump shooter) bringing the ball to the middle. O1 calls the play (any number or name is fine). 2) Player's O2 & O3 pop out to the wings to receive the ball. 3) O1 passes the ball to O2. Once the two low post … [Read more...]
Basic Flex Offense
The flex offense is a patterned, continuity offense that makes effective use of backscreens to create easy and open scoring opportunities. There are also other cuts, flashes, and movements to create open shots. The flex offense diagrammed here is the basic flex offense. The flex requires good offensive spacing and good timing between the passes, picks, and cuts. There are certainly other options that can be utilized though these are the basics. Check out even more Flex Actions over at The … [Read more...]
Drive to Jump Stop Layup Drill
1) Purpose: The purpose of this drill is to teach basketball players the proper technique of coming to a two-footed jump stop before shooting a layup. Drill 1 - Drive Baseline, Jump Stop Layup Drill: The first player in line starts in a corner and drives hard to the basket. A good jump stop must be executed to shoot the layup. Rebound the basketball and pass to next person in line (each player could also have his/her own basketball depending upon number of personnel and number of … [Read more...]
Full Court Zone Press Attack Offense
This is a simple, yet very effective offense to use when facing a full court zone press. 1) O1 takes the basketball out of bounds. O2 and O3 line up at the free throw line and will break opposite of each other. They may need to start out in a stack position and screen one another to get open. O1 passes the basketball to O2 and then sprints to the middle. If O1 is open, O2 passes him the ball. O1 will look to advance the ball up the floor with the dribble while O4 and O5 fill the lanes. O2 … [Read more...]
Free Throw Ladder
Purpose: To improve free throw shooting percentage by incorporating a competitive situation into team free throw practice. Drill: Place all of the player's names on a poster or board (or even just use a spreadsheet). To help prepare the poster, the players shall pair off and shoot 25 free throws each. The coach then writes the names in order, with the highest scorer at the top. If there are any ties, they can be broken by having the players shoot one free throw each. Each day following, … [Read more...]
Open Middle Basketball Play
The open middle quick hitter is a pick and roll play that gives the point guard 5 options. It is a simple play to run and with a point guard who understands his options, this play is very effective in getting an easy and open scoring opportunity. The play starts with the point guard (1) to the right of the key. The play is initiated when #5 comes up from the low block to set a high ball screen for #1. As #1 uses the screen, #3 should be cutting from the corner to replace #1; #2 should be … [Read more...]
Double Skip Pass Drill
Purpose: This drill helps the players work on making skip passes, receiving skip passes, and moving into an open gap in the zone prepared to shoot. Drill: One line at the top as shown. Use as many baskets as you can to keep lines short. O1 starts by making a skip pass to the coach or manager (C). After making the pass, O1 slides down outside the 3-point line. 'C' skip passes back to O1. O1 takes the shot and follows it. Coaching Points: Players should work at making good passes and using … [Read more...]
Overload Continuity Zone Offense
This zone offense is so named because the continuity is created by the point guard dribbling from side to side, pulling the defense with him (thereby creating an overload on one side of the defense). Screens are also plentiful in this zone offense to create open shots. This is an efficient offense that can be run against either an even- or odd-front zone. 1) This continuity zone offense begins with the point guard dribbling to a side of the floor. For the description here, O1 starts by … [Read more...]