Basketball Drill - Drive and Kick Drill

Submitted by Online Basketball Drills

In an ideal situation, your half court offensive sets would produce easy basket after easy basket, while you sit back on the bench and enjoy the glory. But as all experienced coaches know, things often don't go according to plan. Your offense can break down. Your opponent can make adjustments. And unless your players have the ability to create and improvise in the half court, you'll have a hard time getting high percentage shots.

One of my favorite drills for helping players create opportunities and make smart decisions on the fly is the Drive and Kick series. The whole idea of this drill is learning what to do, on and off the ball, when a player beats his man but can't get all the way to the hoop.

Drive and Kick Series

The simplest iteration of this drill is setup as follows: three offensive players, a defensive player, and an assistant coach. The player starting with the ball will line up free throw line extended on the right side of the court.

The second and third offensive players will be on the left side, one just outside of the free throw lane extended, and the other doing his best Bruce Bowen impression, spotting up in the corner.



The defensive players will start a couple feet away from the two wing players, ignoring the spot up shooter. The assistant coach will start the drill by closing out on his man, who will then dribble by him to the left, where the second defender will hedge in, cutting off his penetration and forcing the pass up to his man, who he will then sprint to close out as well, forcing left.

This player will take two dribbles left, before making the pass to the shooter in the corner, who will pull the shot in rhythm.

Once your players have the hang of this, you can show them the baseline drift. I've found it easiest at this point to add in cones at the free throw line extended and the baseline, to teach players the ideal places on the court to spot up. Here we'll also replace the assistant coach with another defender, as we get ready to go live with this drill.



For the baseline drift, we'll have two players line up on the 45 degree angles on the arc, and one at the top of the key. The player initiating the drill this time will drive baseline before making the pass to the player on the opposite side, who will drift down to the corner to receive the pass. The player at the top of the key will slide down to the 45, and receive a pass from the man in the corner and take the shot.

Work on this series a few times per week with your team and you're see some dramatic differences in your spacing, ball movement, and offensive execution.

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