Competitive 4-on-4 Basketball Drills

From the Coach's Clipboard Basketball Playbook

I've been asked if we have some favorite competitive 4-on-4 drills, so here we are.

4-on-4-on-4 Shell Drill

First see this if you are not familiar with the basic shell drill. Here we are jumping right into the competitive, live 4-on-4-on-4 half-court shell drill. This is a fast-moving half-court drill. We start with one team on offense, one on defense, and one in-waiting behind the endline. The first team to score five baskets wins, and the losers do push-ups or run.

The offense stays on the court until they are stopped. If the defense fails to stop them, the team waiting becomes the defense. If the defense stops the offense, they now become the offense, the offense goes off, and the waiting team becomes the defense. We may play two or three games depending on how much time we have.

Keep the drill moving and make sure the waiting team steps quickly onto the floor. In fact, we even allow the offense to get a quick basket even if the defense is not yet ready. This teaches them to be ready and transition very quickly.

4-on-4-on-4 Live Drill, three stops

A competitive, tough, half-court drill, we have three 4-player teams. A team can only win when it is on defense. One team starts on offense 4-on-4, while the other is on defense, man-to-man. One is waiting under the endline.

If the offense scores, the defense is "out" and steps off the court, the offense becomes the defense, and the waiting 4-player team becomes the new offense. The defensive team tries to get 3-consecutive defensive stops - it has to be three in a row.

Once a defensive team accomplishes this, the drill is over and the other two teams do push-ups (or run). We may repeat this drill for two or three games. If you have 15 players, you can also run this drill 5-on-5-on-5.

Full-Court Cut Throat Drill

This is similar to the three stops drill above, but now full-court. It is excellent for conditioning, transition offense and transition defense.

• To win, the defense must get three consecutive stops.
  
• If the defense gets a stop, they must sprint back and defend the basket at the opposite end. The team that is out, takes the ball out and attacks offensively. The team that was on offense and failed to score, goes out and sprints down to the opposite basket so they are ready to go in on the next possession.
  
• If the offense scores, they run back on defense. The team that is out, takes the ball and attacks on offense. The team that was on defense and gave up the score, sprints back to the opposite basket and gets ready to come back in.
  
• On any foul (defensive or offensive), that team goes out.
  
• Losers run or do pushups.
  

4-on-4-on-4 Full-Court Transition Drill

This is probably our favorite drill of all, and we ran it nearly every practice as it's great for teaching transition offense and defense, conditioning, passing-catching and shooting on the move, and finishing at the hoop. Players love it, and it's truly positionless basketball. You need a minimum of 12 players, and could have as many as 16 (15 players and a coach). Rather than re-posting the drill details here, just go to the original 4-on-4-on Transition Drill page. Have fun!

4-on-4 Transition Drill

This drill also emphasizes both transition offense and transition defense. Keep score and play to a set number. Losers run or do pushups.

Setup and running the drill: (red is offense, blue is defense, yellow is the coach with the ball). The offensive players line-up on the endline, while the defenders line across the free-throw line extended. Both teams face each other. The coach has the ball and simultaneously yells the names of two of the defensive players (in this diagram, 2 and 4) and throws the ball to the offense.

The offense immediately gets the fast break going. The defense tries to stop the break. In order to give the offense a head start, the two defensive players whose names the coach called out, have to first go touch the end line, and then sprint back to help on defense.

The offense tries to score. If the defense steals the ball or gets the rebound, or gets possession after a made basket, they quickly push the ball back up the floor for their own fast break and score. Once they score, or are stopped, the ball goes back to the coach, the players line up again, and it starts all over again, but this time with the blue team on the end line, and the red team defending.

4-on-4 plus 1 Drill

This is a favorite of coach Bob Huggins, who was known for having teams that play tough man-to-man pressure defense. However, his trapping style of defensive play could lead to a "numbers disadvantage" on the first pass out of the trap, where the defense is now at a 4-on-3 disadvantage.

Coach Huggins uses this drill every practice, as it drills defenders on how to quickly scramble out of the trap and help on the open offensive player. Make this drill competitive by changing offense and defense every five possessions, keeping score. Losers run or do pushups. For the details, see the 4-on-4 plus 1 Drill page.