Basketball Drills - Post Player Breakdown Drills
By Dr. James Gels, From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook"Helping coaches coach better..."
Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links, which means that Coach's Clipboard receives a small commission (at no cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.
Often in practice we "breakdown" for 10 or 15 minutes and have post players doing their drills at one end and perimeter players doing drills on the opposite end, with a coach or assistant at each end. These drills will help develop the offensive skills of your low post players.
Post Moves Drill
Good post players have to be able to "finish" and score against a defender. See the diagram. Have your post players cut from the opposite side to the ballside a step above the low block. If the post player catches the ball too low on the block, there will be limited spacing for a drop-step baseline move. The coach or manager passes to the low post player. At first, have players make their moves without any defense, and then add a defender as seen in the diagram.The post player executes the baseline drop step move (see "How to Become a Good Post Player") and tries to score against the defender. Initially, have the defender allow the drop step move, but contest the shot. You can use an assistant as the defender, or you can rotate your players - offense goes to defense, and the defender goes to the end of the offense line. Have the defender use a pad and bump the shooter a little to get them used to finishing against contact.
Have your post players rotate through each of the following moves (both right and left sides):
- drop step to the baseline
- drop step to the lane and jump hook
- up and under move
- turn and shoot move.
- cut to short corner, receive pass from wing and shoot.
- cut to short corner, receive pass from wing, shot-fake, dribble-baseline for lay-up.
- from opposite block, cut to elbow, receive pass from wing, turn and shoot.
- from opposite block, cut to elbow, receive pass from wing, shot-fake, dribble for lay-up.
Eventually, go live with the offensive player permitted to do any of the moves, and the defender playing all out defense.
Rebound-Outlet-RePost Drill
Use the same basic setup as seen in the diagram above. Have a manager, or player not involved in the drill, toss the ball up on the rim. The two post players go for the rebound. The player who rebounds, makes a quick outlet pass out to the coach on the wing, and then he/she immediately re-posts, receives the pass right back from the coach, makes a post move and tries to score.Sometimes in a game, after getting a rebound, a player will force up a bad, contested shot inside, when the better option would be to pass back outside and then re-post - this is what we are trying to teach with this drill. After running the outlet pass drill awhile, go live and let the rebounder make the decision to either power the shot back up, or outlet pass and re-post.
2-on-2 Live Drill
This is a live 2-on-2 drill. It helps post players to learn to play together, to read the defense, attack the defense with a post move, to screen for each other, to box-out and rebound while also working on post defense. See the diagrams below.Have a coach on the perimeter passing to the post players, and receiving the pass back outside. The coach can move from wing to wing. Whenever the defense gets the rebound, they must pass back out to the coach and then they are on offense. The post player can also pass back out to the coach anytime he/she is well-defended. This is an important fundamental to learn, rather than have the post player just "throw" up a bad shot. Play to 5 and losers do push-ups.
In diagrams A - C. we see three situations that can arise that we want them to learn to read. Diagram A shows the defense fronting the ball-side post. The opposite post flashes to the elbow and gets the pass. The low post seals the defender outside and steps to the hoop for the pass and lay-up.
In diagram B, the ball-side post defender is playing behind and so we just pass directly into the post. The opposite post moves up to the weakside elbow to allow spacing for his partner to make a post move. In diagram C, the defense is denying the ball inside and so the ball-side post screens for the weakside post, who comes across for the pass.
In diagrams D - F, we see one of our post players moving out on top to play "hi-lo". The coach passes to the post player on the top and the low post moves into the lane with an aggressive post-up and gets the curl bounce pass from the top, makes a post move and scores. The low post player must be aware of the 3-second rule and if he/she does not immediately receive the pass, moves out of the lane, comes back and re-posts.
The other option is for the outside post player to fake the pass, and make a hard dribble move to the hoop (Diagram F). When this happens, the low post player should step out to allow spacing for this dribble move.
These 2-on-2 drills are competitive and fun. The coach can stop the play at any time to teach.
Single Person Drills
The first two drills are done with only one player. So the player can do these anytime, alone. The first drill is the classic "Mikan drill", which gives the player a feel for how the ball reacts off the glass and improves his/her touch under the basket as well as footwork. The second drill is "Roll and Retrieve, Power Lay-up drill".Mikan Drill
Do this drill right under the basket. Become familiar with how the ball comes off the backboard, and at different angles. Start by standing right under the basket. Step on the left foot and do a baby hook lay-up on the right side, using the backboard. Catch the rebound and step on the right foot and do the baby hook lay-up on the left side using your left hand. No dribbling is allowed. Repeat this continuously alternating right and left sides for a couple minutes. This will help you with your lay-ups, both right and left-handed, and give you a better feel for the backboard.
More advanced players can then progress to the Mikan drill doing reverse lay-ups, and eventually to the 2-ball Mikan drill.
Roll and Retrieve, Power Lay-up Drill
In this drill, the player has the ball at the right elbow and rolls it on the floor toward the right low block. He/she runs after the ball, retrieves it, squares up to the basket, makes a pump fake, and makes the power lay-up, or bank-shot off the glass. Make ten shots on one side and then repeat the drill on the left side.Three Person Drills
The following drills are done with three players. Diagram A shows the set-up for the next three drills. Do each of these drills for one or two minutes and then rotate players, so that each player gets a chance to perform the moves.
Drop Step Drill
He/she then sprints back under the basket, V-cuts out to the right block, jump stops, retrieves the ball on the right block and does the baseline drop-step move on the right block. He/she continues back and forth from block to block for one to two minutes. Players #2 and #3 rebound and place the ball on the blocks for player #1. After one or two minutes, the players rotate and #2 now does the moves.
Jump Hook to the Lane Drill
Up & Under Move Drill
Turn and Shoot Drill
Again, the same set-up (diagram A) is used as in the Drop Step Drill. This time player #1, sprints out from under the basket, jump stops, retrieves the ball, makes a head-shoulder fake toward the lane, pivots on the outside foot and shoots the short bank-shot off the glass. He/she then sprints back under the hoop, V-cuts out to the right block and repeats the move on the right side (jump stop, retrieve ball, fake to the lane, pivot on the left foot, and bank it in).Step-Hop Drill
Power Shot Drill
(Diagram B) This drill will simulate contact when going up for the shot. Players should learn to finish even when under pressure.
The ball is placed on the floor in the lane near the basket, between defenders #2 and #3. Players #2 and #3 extend their arms high over their heads and keep them there at all times. #1 runs in and picks up the ball and puts it under his/her chin with elbows out in a strong position. He/she then tries to power the shot up between the arms of the defenders. The defenders may "body up" and bump the shooter, and may actually hit his/her shooting arm, but may not jump or attempt to block the shot.
After a few attempts, rotate players. If you want, you can include boxing-out and rebounding in this drill by adding the 3-Man Rebounding Drill after each shot is taken.
Flash to High Post Drills
Starting on the opposite low block, the post player flash-cuts to the ballside elbow, and receives the pass from the coach (on the wing). First, we do our "pinch and go" - catch, pivot and dribble-attack the hoop for a lay-up. The first step is key and we want players to get to the hoop with just one dribble at game speed.Next, we have our players catch, pivot and face the defender, jab-step and shoot the elbow jump-shot.
Short Corner Post Drills
Sometimes it's hard to get open on the low block (e.g. vs a 2-3 zone defense), or your post defender is taller than you, or is a good shot blocker, and you can't effectively score inside. In this situation, take your defender away from the hoop where he/she is less comfortable. Most "bigs" like to stay in their comfort zone near the hoop.Pop out to the short corner, get the pass there, and hit the medium range jumper. Then next time, when the defender moves out to defend you, shot fake and drive the baseline to the hoop for the lay-up or reverse lay-up (using the basket to protect against the block from behind).
First have post players, start at the low block, pop out to the short corner, receive the pass from the wing (coach or manager), and shoot the jump-shot. Do this on both sides. Then do the same drill, except this time the post player makes a shot fake and a quick baseline dribble move for the lay-up.
Transition - Rim Run Drill
In transition, we want our first post player up the court to sprint to the paint, get open, and look for a quick pass and a chance to score before the defense gets set.In this drill, our post player starts at half-court and sprints to the paint, and then finds and steps into the defender. Then he/she seals the defender and receives the pass from the coach (on the wing), makes a post move and scores.
Related pages:
- How to Become a Good Post Player
- Footwork Progression Drills
- Forward Scoring Workout
- 3-Man Rebounding Drill
See these YouTube videos - Basketball Post Drills
