1. Mikan Layups   1:00

* Goal = 0 Misses & 0 Drops

2. Box to Box        1:00

* Passer on each wing. Post breaks block to block, receives pass and makes post move. Gets own rebound, throws it back out and breaks to opposite block

* Goal = 0 Dropped Passes

3. Elbow to Elbow Jump Shots 1:00

*Passer/rebounder underneath basket (variation – put passer on the wing)

* Goal = 75%

4. High Post Drive  1:00

* Start on block. Break up to High Post, receive pass, square up and drive. Get to basket in one dribble. Rebound own shot, pass it out, break up to opposite High Post

* Goal = 0 Misses

5. High/Low 3’s 1:00

* Post steps out to top of the key, receive pass from wing, and shoots the 3

Each one minute segment is to be run at full speed. Keep track of made shots and constantly try to set a personal best.

This could be run as a circuit with several players going through several repetitions. Keep score and the work out becomes a competition.

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Merry Christmas from your friends at HoopSkills!!

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Here are some very useful coaching coaching nuggets that I received from Alan Stein, Assistant Basketball Coach at legendary Dematha High School.

1. Give players a Quote of the Day
2. Communicate the goals for that day’s practice.
3. Remind players of what the team needs to be good at in order to reach its goals.
4. Work your perimeter players in the post. Helps create scoring opportunities and teaches how to feed the post.
5. Incorporate the specific movements that you must defend in games into your drill and 5-on-5 work.
6. Stress the principles within your offense.
7. Practice Special Situations regularly.
8. Reinforce to your players how the team approaches each offensive and defensive possession.
9. Always end practice on some positive note. Keep players hungry for the next practice.
10. Have scheduled Team Dinners to help team building.
11. If your players feel they are a part of something that is special, they will take pride in being a member.

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DO make your conditioning game like

DO thoroughly explain to your players why conditioning is such an important factor in determining the success of your season

DO stay positive and give praise to those who deserve/need it

DO take the time to research and outline a pre-season conditioning program

DO incorporate sessions in the weight room in your conditioning both before and during your season

DO add a ball to your on court conditioning drills DO add sprints on the court instead of the track to your practices

DO make your conditioning FUN

DON’T make conditioning optional for your players

DON’T let your players do all their conditioning by playing pickup basketball

DON’T make conditioning a reason for your players to hate you

DON’T leave out plyometrics, ladder and cone drills in your conditioning routine

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A great drill for young and older players alike is the x out layup drill. For younger players you want to work on the fundamentals and just making the shot. As you get older this drill should help you focus on speed and quickness and as a conditioning drill. Here’s how it works:

Take the ball and start at the right elbow (foul line). Take one to two dribbbles and make a right hand layup. Grab the rebound and dribble to the left elbow where you touch the left elbow spot with your foot and then go in for a left handed layup. Complete 5 with each hand and rest.

Make sure you are going off the correct foot and finishing with the correct hand. As you get older this drill should be basic and you should see how many you can make in minute. You will get very tired and is a great drill to help you focus on attempts and makes.

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One of the best ways to teach motion offense is in a 4 on 4 setting because it opens up the middle of the floor and encourages cutting, driving, and flashing to the ball.

One way to use a 4 on 4 setting is to take a particular play or movement and completely isolate it so that it can be executed over and over again. Here are some examples:

Pass and screen away only
Pass and basket cut only
Pick and roll only
Drive and kick only

While executing any of these plays it is always o.k. to cut backdoor if overplayed or to execute a dribble hand off. Later in the season you can instruct your team to execute any two, or any three, of these plays. However, no play can be run twice in a row. Eventually the team can be allowed to run any or all of the options.

While this drill will certainly improve your offensive efficiency it should also be noted that it will strengthen your defense as well as your defenders will  get countless repetitions in stopping basketball’s most common offensive movements.

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In this drill the offense is required to complete ten consecutive passes while running your motion offense. The rules for this drill are as follows:

• Ten consecutive passes must be made without committing a violation or turning the ball over.
• If the offense completes the ten passes then the defense runs sprints. If the offense does not complete the ten passes then they must run instead.
• No shooting is permitted.
• Dribbling is permitted only to prevent a five second violation, to balance the floor or to move to a vacated area.

This drill should last abaout five minutes and the offense and defense should reverse roles after every turnover or ten successful passes.

(The above drill was adapted from Pat McClary’s Coaching Basketball’s New Passing Game Offense.)

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Here is the third and final post containing an article written by Chris Dortch for NBA.com. It has some great advice from names we all recognize!

Basketball is a game of quick reactions. The best coaches don’t cloud the minds of their players with a ton of excess baggage for fear they’ll start thinking too much rather than reacting. Eastman’s tried and true shooting tip, for example, is remarkable in its simplicity.

“Ten toes to the rim,” Eastman said. “If you do that, you can’t be anything but square. And if you’re square, you’ve got a good chance to make the shot. It’s stuff like that we’re trying to get it down to.”

Atkinson, who has an extensive international player development background, has changed his approach over the years to better approximate game conditions. How simple is that?

“I used to be a big repetition guy,” he said. “Let’s make 25 shots from one spot. But I’ve come to find that as limiting; you’re not challenging the mental process. In a game you’re going to get different shot opportunities; you might get up a 3, then go to the rim the next play. So why not work on expanding the thought process?

What are you going to do in a game?”

Besides simplicity, Eastman has another thing going for him that makes him one of the best in the business. It’s called passion.

The Celtics have done a great job developing lower draft picks, thanks in part to the careful eye of executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge and in part because of their player development program. Eastman is quick to credit the franchise’s various player personnel successes to head coach Doc Rivers and his other assistants. But make no mistake, Eastman has played his part.

ESPN analyst and former Duke player Jay Bilas works with Eastman during the summer at the Nike Skills Academy and speaks in reverential tones about the effort Eastman puts into his teaching and his willingness to share what he knows.

“When we finish a workout, he sweats as much as any player out there,” Bilas said. “He throws every ounce of his being into it.

“Every time I’m around him, I learn stuff. I take a ton of notes. Kevin’s the type of guy that, if he gains a piece of knowledge about the game, he would never keep it to himself. He would consider that an affront to the game.”

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Here is the second of three parts of an article written by Chris Dortch for NBA.com:

NBA coaches know what to look for in the selection process. During a recent workout, Kenny Atkinson of the New York Knicks sidled over to a 6-foot-10, 260-pound post prospect and told him the trajectory of his jump shot was a bit too flat.

“So I told him to get his elbow up a little, and he started making them,” Atkinson said. “Then we worked on his footwork a little bit, and he went to the corner and started to make 3s. I’m sure the mentality with him has always been, ‘you’re 6-10, you need to be down on the block.’ But to me, with that shot being worth an extra point, it adds to your value if you can make it. It won’t be his bread and butter, but it expands his game.”

With that brief exercise, Atkinson could report back that this player was coachable, just like Landry Fields, whom the Knicks took in the second round last season. A couple of tweaks to Fields’ jumper by assistant coach Dan D’Antoni turned Fields into an NBA 3-point threat. His career percentage from the college three-point line was .343. As an NBA rookie shooting from three feet farther than he did in college, Fields shot .393 from behind the arc.

“A lot of that was footwork, getting more arc on it,” Atkinson said. “Dan will be the first to tell you those weren’t monumental changes, they were subtle changes.”

The key was that Fields was willing to make them.

Clearly, the prevailing opinion on the Knicks staff is that poor shooting mechanics can be corrected.

“There’s a lot of argument back and forth [in the coaching fraternity] about what skills you can improve,” Atkinson said. “There are guys who debate whether you’re a shooter, or not a shooter. As a coach, I’d like to think you can improve shooting.”

Eastman, who has been immersed in skills development since he wrote a 30-page booklet as a senior at the University of Richmond in 1978, believes that, too. And the process is easier than a lay person might imagine.

“A trait that I have is the ability to simplify something,” Eastman said. “We try to get every skill to three or four teaching points, no matter what it is.”

That comment reminds me of something amateur golf legend Bobby Jones once wrote about swing thoughts. If he took one thought to the course, Jones believed, he would play well. If he had two floating around his brain, he was in for a challenging day. And on those days when three or more thoughts fought for his attention, he couldn’t beat his grandmother.

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Here is a great competitive drill that allows you to work on your half court offense but really emphasizes defense.

Teams play “live” 5 on 5 starting at half court. (If you have 12 players, you could have three groups and play 4 on 4)

Defensive team starts out by working to get a single stop. (A stop means gaining possession of the ball either by a steal, a defensive rebound, or by an offensive turnover.)

After getting one stop, the defense then attempts to get two stops in a row, then three, then four and finally five straight stops.

If the offense scores then they get to play defense.

The two teams alternate back and forth until one team gets five stops in a row.

The drill can also be done backwards with each team staying on defense until they get five straight stops. When both teams have stopped five straight then they compete to get four straight stops, then three, then two, then one

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