1-ON-1 FINISHING DRILLS

Below are two 1-on-1 drills that will work on finishing at the basket while the offensive player's shot is being contested. Your players will also work on contesting shots without fouling.                


                  Michigan Finishing Drill

• 1 and 2 both face the basket.
• While still holding the ball, 1 places the ball on 2's back.
• The rep is live when 1 rips the ball off 2's back and attacks the basket.
• 2 tries to defend the basket as 1 tries to finish.

               

                     Handoffs Finishing Drill

• Coach stands between 1 and 2. 1 and 2 are facing the basket.
• Coach starts with the ball. 
• Coach will handoff to either 1 or 2.
• If Coach hands off to 1, 1 is offense and 2 is defense. 
• 1 attacks the hoop while 2 tries to contest and/or block their shot.

2 DRILLS TO HELP FINISHING AT THE BASKET

LOUISVILLE 1-ON-1

1 starts at the elbow while X1 starts right underneath the basket. On coach's call, 1 dribbles around the cone and attempts to get to the basket while X1 sprints to touch the cone. X1 attempts to stop the score.

If 1 scores, they go back to the offense line. If X1 gets a stop, they go to the offense line and 1 goes to the defense line.     

MICHIGAN DRILL

1 and 2 both face the basket.

1 places the ball on 2's back.

1 rips the ball off 2's back and attacks the basket.

When 2 feels the ball leave their back they can start to defend as 1 attempts to finish at the basket.      

   

JAGUAR 4-ON-4 DRILL

Jaguar 4-on-4 can give you both an offensive and defensive focus for your players. On offense you can have your team work on specific cuts, screens, or reads against pressure defense.  This drill also forces your players to offensive players to be strong with the ball, and execute great pivots.  On defense you can specify certain parts of your defense you need work on (stance, seeing both player and ball, jumping to the ball on the pass, etc).  

In Jaguar 4-on-4, the offense cannot dribble, but they are looking to score while the defense attempts to get stops. 

Each team gets 90 seconds to play offense. Most points, wins. You can add as many rounds as you like for the drill.  Each team gets to play offense and defense the same number of times.

SCORING FOR OFFENSE:

made baskets = 2's and 3's

1 point for each complete pass

SCORING FOR DEFENSE:

2 points for a forced turnover

1 point for every touch of the ball. Even if the offensive player continues to gain possession of the ball and the defensive player touches the ball, it is a point for the defense.

DRILL VARIATIONS:

Give the offense 1 or 2 dribbles each time the catch the ball.     

IMPORTANCE OF A PRE-PRACTICE ROUTINE

Does this sound like your gym?  Practice starts at 3:30.  The first of your players start entering the gym at about 3:00.  Little by little your entire roster is in the gym getting ready for practice.  There might be a group of three over in one corner talking about school.  Another pair of players are off by themselves talking about what they are going to do after practice.  Maybe a handful will shoot the ball, lightly jog after it, and then take their time to shoot again.  Is this time being used wisely?  Quite honestly the answer is, no.

Developing a pre-practice routine for your players can be extremely beneficial in the skill development of your players.  A pre-practice routine is a quick series of activities of skill work. Having a pre-practice routine has it's benefits
1. Gets your players in the gym earlier.
2. Helps develop the skill development of your players.
3. Promotes accountability with your players.
4. Eliminates wasted time in the gym.

Coaches can create any type of pre-practice routine they feel fits their team.  You can make them position specific or develop one that will help develop the overall skills of your players.

The following pre-practice routine can be easily completed in 8 minutes.
*Make 20 Mikan shots
*10 Form shooting shots from three feet (hold follow through)
*Four different 2-ball ballhandling drills (30 seconds per drill)
*1 2-ball partner passing/catching drill (1 minute)
*Take 20 game shots (position specific)

If you were to use this pre-practice routine then it would be important for the coaching staff to first teach the players how to do each one of the parts in the routine. Once the players understand what is expected they will then know that the routine must be completed before the official start of practice.

Changing the pre-practice routine throughout the season could be valuable to keep your players from becoming bored with the same thing day after day.  An idea would be to change the routine periodically:  weekly, monthly, or at half point of the season.

Have fun creating the routine for your players.  It can be extremely beneficial for their skill development as it eliminates wasted time in your gym.

COACHES SHARE RESPONSES: FREE THROWS DURING YOUR PRACTICES

Thank you to the coaches who took the time to submit a response to the Coaches Share.  It is incredible to think about how much we, as coaches, can learn from each other.

This week's Coaches Share question: How much time do you spend on free throw shooting during practice?  Do you have any good free throw shooting drills to share?

"I make sure to incorporate free throw shooting drills immediately after drills that make my players tire out. This way the free throws are executed when the players are puffing and it's more like a game situation.  Usually I get them to shoot 10 free throws each. After they've completed them, they must report to an assistant to get their makes out of 10 jotted down. This holds the players accountable to improve on their current free throw percentage as they can see their progress (or lack of progress)."

 ~ Coach Mac  http://www.basketballforcoaches.com

"We have our players shoot 5 free throws three different times throughout practice.  We try our best to have them shoot those free throws after a tough drill so their legs are tired."

~Coach T.L.

"I have my team do a variety of things with free throws during practice as I don't have any one philosophy on when to shoot them, or how many to shoot.  At the end of at least one practice per week the players have to make 20 free throws before they can leave the gym.  Seems to be a lot of focus with them at that time because the reward is that their practice is over when they make their 20th free throw.  The one downside to this is that players are leaving the gym at different times, which I don't always like but free throw are important so I feel the trade is ok."

~Coach Davis

"At some point during practice, usually after a drill that tired out the players, we shoot ten free throws.  One drill we do (probably once a week) is we shoot pressure free throws.  Each player shoots ten free throws.  I set a number of free throws made as a goal - which is usually 75%.  For each free throw under 75% they run what we call a Tiger (our nickname) which is a sprinting drill.  So making four less free throws would equal four Tigers.  If the team meets the goal we do not run."

~Coach B (IL)

"We chart our players free throws each day in practice.  At the end of the week we have an award for the best free throw percentage for the week.  Usually the award is a Gatorade, nothing big, but it is something that motivates the players."

~Coach Marty

"Our players have to make 15 free throw a day in practice.  They make some of them during our free throw shooting period which is usually seven minutes.  If they don't make 15 during that time then they make the rest of them after practice."

~Coach Scott (NY)

"Keep it simple.  Shoot them when they are tired."

~Coach A.R. (FL)

COACHES SHARE 8-18-12

Coaches help coaches by sharing.  Email your response to today's Coaches Share question and have your response added to tomorrow's blog entry.  Your response can be as long or short as you like.  Email your response to  dietelgreg@gmail.com

QUESTION:  How much time do you spend on free throw shooting in your practices?  Do you have any good free throw shooting drills to share?


Email your response to dietelgreg@gmail.com and be part of the discussion.  Your response is then posted in tomorrow's blog.