> Basketball Drills

Basketball Drills

By Dr. James Gels, From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
"Helping coaches coach better..."

We use basketball drills to facilitate personal player development, as well as teaching team skills. Below are many time-tested, favorite basketball drills, as well as some newer cutting-edge drills, that you can use to teach the skills your players and team require. These drills are used by top-notched youth, high school and college coaches worldwide.

A good coach often has a core of favorite drills that are used most of the time. Other drills can be swapped in from time-to-time to teach a specific skill, or just to avoid boredom and add some variety. See "Planning Practices" on how to best use these drills and how to plan a good practice. Also see "How to Teach Basketball by Drill Progression".

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Basketball Drills - Ball-Handling and Dribbling Drills

All players should do these drills.

List of Stationary Circle Drills... coaches use/print this list of our standard ball-handling and dribbling circle drills.
Ball-Handling... stationary ball-handling drills, especially important for young players (5 min).
Stationary Dribbling Drills... basic one and two-ball drills (5-10 min), especially important for young players.
2-Ball Dribbling Drills... Coach Krzyzewski's Duke teams do 2-ball dribbling drills nearly every practice.
Tight Chairs Dribbling Drills... dribble-moves, get lots of reps attacking the chairs (5-10 min), a favorite of ours.
Sideline Dribbling Drills... teach dribble moves and get conditioning at the same time (10 min).
Full-Court Dribble Moves Drill... dribble-moves, attacking the chair on the wing (10 min), a favorite of ours.
Dribble Tag Drills... a fun dribbling game for younger kids (5 min).
Video Clips of Ball-Handling and Dribbling Drills... See all the video clips of ball-handling and dribbling drills.

Basketball Drills - Passing Drills

Full-Court 2-Line Passing Drills... full-court passing on the move, good conditioning, a favorite of ours (10 min).
Weave Passing Drills... the full-court 3-man weave, full-court weave with 3-point shot option, full-court 5-man weave, and half-court weave with shooting/close-out (5-10 min).
More Full-Court Passing Drills... "Star" passing drill, "Laker" passing and lay-up against pressure, 2-Man speed-dribble and passing drill (10 min).
Basic Half-Court Passing Drills... Rapid fire drills, partner drills, "monkey in the middle", triangle passing drill, drive and dish drill, find the receiver drill, Bennett drill, Coale drill.
Press Break Passing Drill... passing out of the press trap (5-10 min).
Motion Offense Drills... see the "Pass to Wing, Feed the Post Drill", and V-cut and back-cut drills on this page (10 min).

Basketball Drills - Shooting Drills

Team Shooting Drills... several good competitive team shooting drills.
Guard Breakdown Shooting Drills... sixteen (16) breakdown drills for perimeter players.
Bill Self's Shooting Drills (video)... videos of Coach Self's favorite drills using the Shoot-A-Way Gun.
Tom Izzo's Shooting Drills (video)... videos of some of Coach Izzo's favorite shooting drills.
John Beilein's Gun Shooting Drills (video)... videos from Coach John Beilein.
Muffet McGraw's Princeton Shooting Drills (video)... videos of Coach McGraw's Princeton shooting drills.
Jim Boeheim's Gun Shooting Drills (video)... videos from Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim.
Sherri Coale's Shooting Drills (video)... 8 drills from Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale.
Bob Huggins' Shooting Drills (video) - from former West Virginia University Coach Bob Huggins.
2-Man Shooting Drills... partner shooting drills, catch and shoot, shot-fake and jump-shot, shot-fake and lay-up, Bird drill, etc.
Lay-up Drills... several good lay-up drills.
Auriemma Uptempo Layup Drills... with video from Geno Auriemma.
Free-Throw Shooting Drills... several free-throw shooting drills.
Coach's Wissel's Free-Throw Drills
Coach Wissel's Hook Shot Drills
Coach Wissel's Basic Lead-Up ShootingDrills
Coach Wissel's Off the Dribble Shooting Drills
Individual Shooting Work-Out

Basketball Drills - Miscellaneous Offensive Drills

Competition in Drills, Your Greatest Tool to Improve Execution - by Mike May.
Partner Drills... offense and defense fundamentals.
5-on-5 Scrimmage with a Purpose Drills... scrimmage with specific goals in mind.
Learning the Jump Stop... footwork, jump-stop drills (5 min).
Footwork Drills... footwork drills combining a jump-stop, reverse pivot, V-cut, forward pivot, triple threat, close-outs, slides, back-peddle.
Footwork Progression Drills... from Ari Fisher.
1-on-1 and 2-on-1 Drills... competitive 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 drills (5-10 min).
Screen, Pick Drills... screening drills, pass and screen-away, pick and roll (5-10 min).
Motion Offense Drills... breakdown drills for teaching motion offense (10-15 min).
Motion Offense (Blocker Mover) Screening Drills - breakdown drills for motion offenses and the blocker-mover offense.
Pick and Roll Drills... set of drills from Jamie Dixon.
Mavs Drill... for teaching post rotation on guard dribble-penetration.
Read and React Offense Breakdown Drills... breakdown drills for teaching the Read and React offense.
Dribble-Drive Motion Offense Drills... breakdown drills for teaching the dribble-drive motion offense.
"One More" Passing/Shooting Drills... get your players to share the ball.
Drive and Kick Drill... drive and kick drills for teaching dribble-drive options.
2-3 Zone Offense Drills - breakdown drills for attacking the 2-3 zone defense.
Guard Breakdown Shooting Drills... fifteen (15) breakdown drills for perimeter players.
Low-Post Breakdown Drills... several low post drills for developing your post players.
Video Clips of Guard and Post Moves... video clips of standard guard and post player moves.
"50-Point" Full-Court Drills... drills used to help teach offense (10 min).
Special Situation Drills... from Coach Sar.

Basketball Drills - Full-Court Transition Offense-Defense Drills

Match-up Press Drills... breakdown drills for teaching the full-court match-up press (15-20 min).
Press Inbounds Deny Drills... how to force turnovers from Tyler Whitcomb..
Transition Offense Drills... rebound and outlet, filling the lanes, 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 breaks (10 min).
Full-Court Transition Offense Drills... Fred Hoiberg's speed drill, Coach Sars rebound-outlet-break drill, and pepper-runner drill, and also the Piston and Pitch 'n Fire drills (5-10 min).
Weave Passing Drills... the full-court 3-man weave, full-court weave with 3-point shot option, full-court 5-man weave, and half-court weave with shooting/close-out (5-10 min).
2-on-1 Continuous Transition Drill... transition offense-defense, conditioning, passing on the move, 2-on-1 offense-defense.
4-Second Box Transition Drill... from Butler Coach Lavall Jordan.
Michigan State Progressive Transition Drill... transition drill used by Tom Izzo at MSU.
Memphis Transition Drills... competitive transition drills.
Full-Court 2-Line Passing Drills... a favorite passing on the move transition drill, 2-on-0, 2-on-1 and 2-on-2 (5-10-min).
Auriemma 3-on-0 Transition Drill... from Coach Geno Auriemma.
5-on-0, 5-Trips Drill... use this drill for teaching the secondary numbered break, or for running plays off the break (5-10-min).
3-on-2, 3-on-3 Transition Drill... 3-on-2 and 3-on-3 drills for both offensive and defensive transition (10 min).
4-on-4 Transition... transitioning from offense to defense, defense to offense (10 min).
4-on-4-on-4 Transition Drill... a favorite full-court 4-man teams drill (10-15 min).
5-on-4 Transition Scramble Drill... a great full-court transition 5-on-4 drill (10-15 min).
5-on-3 Transition Defense Drill... from Greg McDermott (Creighton).
11-Man (and 7-Man) Drills... a popular full-court transition drill (10-15 min).
Rebound-Outlet-Break Drill... transition drill getting the fast break going (10-15 min).

Basketball Drills - Defensive Drills

1-on-1 Drills... half-court and full-court (cut and pressure) drills, defending in the open court (5-10 min).
Defensive Close-Outs and Drills... several drills for teaching good defensive close-outs (5-10 min).
Shell Drill... a favorite used for teaching man-to-man principles of deny, helpside, etc (10-min).
Man-to-Man Positioning Drill... teaching man-to-man positioning, on-ball, deny and helpside (5 min).
M2M Defense Breakdown Drills... this has many of the drills that will help you teach team man-to-man defense.
Xavier Competitive Toughness Drills... drills used by coach Chris Mack.
Bob Huggins 4-on-4 plus 1 Defensive Drill... teach defenders how to rotate quickly when at a numbers disadvantage.
Breakdown Drills for Teaching the Pack Line Defense... how to teach the pack line defense.
Breakdown Drills for Teaching the 2-3 Zone Defense... how to build a good 2-3 zone defense.
1-on-1 Defensive Drills from Coach Joao Costa... by Coach Joao Costa, on-ball, off-ball, helpside, defending cutters.
Defending the Ball-Screen Drill... video by Coach Tom Izzo, defending the pick and roll.
Deny, Corner Trap Drill... deny and trap the corner (5 min).
Trapping Drills... learn to trap and back-tip.
Take the Charge Tips/Drills... the charge should be part of your defense against the dribble-drive (5 min).
Z-Drill and Lane Slides... teaches players defensive footwork, conditioning (5-10 min).
3-on-3 Competitive Defensive Drill... pick up your defensive intensity with this competitive drill (10 min).

Basketball Drills - Rebounding Drills

Rebounding Box-Out Drills... competitive box-out and rebounding drills.
2-on-2 Drills... competitive 2-on-2 box-out and rebounding drills.
War Drill... a variation of Michigan State's team rebounding drill.
Hustle, Loose Ball Drills... loose ball, hustle drills.

Basketball Drills from Ganon Baker

Ganon Baker Basketball Drills... Stance N Step - 4 Cone Drill, Circle Gladiator Drill