Talk about your classic drill.  The Mikan drill is nearly as old as basketball as it is named after George Mikan who was the first great true big man in the sport.  George claimed this drill helped in several areas of the game including coordination, concentration and the ability to finish around the hoop with either hand.

Here’s how it is done:

Player starts under the basket with the ball above his head.  Player steps left foot over right foot and shoots a right handed layup.  Player rebounds the ball and immediately crosses the right foot over the left foot and shoots the ball left handed for a layup.  Pretty simple but a few things to focus on.

1.  Keep the ball above your shoulders.  When you lower the ball people tend to steal it so keep it up and protected with your elbows.

2.  Focus more on the correct form instead of speeding through the drill. 

3.  Establish a rhythm when going side to side to increase confidence and performance.

Once these things are done you are ready to go quicker and see how many you can do in 30 seconds.  If you do the drill for a minute your head will be spinning and you’ll be seeing stars.  30 seconds is plenty and make sure that you are using both hands to do the drill.

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Since we have a great audience of individuals who are young coaches I thought I’d put together a drill that can be used at practice to help develop some beginning post moves.  Have the players line up on the left side at the lower block.  The coach should stand on the right side of the court near the 3 point line at a 45 degree angle. 

The player at the front of the line has the ball and he throws it to the coach on the opposite side of the court.  The pass is to be a chest pass that is firm and direct.  If the player throws a slow lobby pass then have him/her try it again until they get it right.  Once the pass is made to the coach the player sets up on the opposite block with his back to the basket.  Make certain the player has his feet on or a step above the block with his feet outside of the lane.  Once they catch the ball have the players work on the following moves:

Drop step toward the baseline-This move is done by catching the ball and moving your baseline foot toward the basket.  This is a drop step and should be accompanied by a dribble.  Finish this move with a made layup.

Drop step toward the middle- Instead of moving your baseline foot this time you move the opposite foot toward the middle of the key.  Finish this move with a jump shot or a jump hook.

Square up Jump shot- Catch the ball and immediately pivot to face up to the basket and go right into a jumper.

Square up shot fake- Catch the ball and pivot to face up to the basket.  Fake a shot and drive either direction for a layup.

Make sure you work all sides of the court and that players are able to use both hands.  They don’t need to be experts right away but over time make sure they are developing and working to make it better.

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When playing post defense many coaches teach playing in front of the offensive player and this is called ‘fronting’ just as it sounds.  However, when a shot is made from outside that leaves the offensive player in excellent position for the rebound.  Teams generally shoot below 50% from the field so the thought on this is that you want to mix it up and do a little of playing behind and ‘front’ the post player.  For me I play behind knowing that they will miss half the shots they take during a game and I want to have a better chance at rebounding the misses.  Here are some ways you can’t teach and practice correct post defense:

During practice run a shell drill with 3 players on the outside (point and 2 wings), 1 post offense and 1 post defense.  EVERYONE needs to learn to play post defense including guards.

Have the offensive player cut from block to block as the ball is moved around the perimeter.  The defender needs to make it difficult for the offense to get to his spot.  Understand that the offense is trained to catch the ball a little above the block and just outside the key.  The defense is supposed to keep them away from that area or push them a little higher.  This drill should be physical with a lot of lower body being used. 

The defender should stay BOTTOM side with a hand up and forcing a pass, if there is one, to the middle of the floor where help defense can easily get there.  IF the defender is playing top side it is too easy for the pass to go in and have a clear lane to the basket.  The defender should not go through the offensive player to stop the pass but should make the pass go to a spot where the offense is uncomfortable catching the ball.

The defender should always maintain physical contact with the offensive player and not allow space.  Once the offensive player catches the ball he should try to score.  If the ball is scored the defense stays until they get a rebound or create a turnover.

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I was watching some wonderful college basketball the other night and witnessed some different variations of post defense that I thought was worth pointing out. When watching Illinois vs Tulsa I was able to see a potential first round big man for Tulsa go against several different variations of post defense and some that frankly I hadn’t seen much before.

Illinois features a 7′1 big man named Mike Tisdale who is wire thin but a good athlete. Tulsa features a more polished post man around the same size who was bound to give Illinois trouble. I fully expected the ILLINI to front Jordan and try to keep him from getting the ball. After all, the team would have to throw it over the taller Tisdale to get it to him and Illinois did this a little throughout the game. As it turned out though Illinois played behind several times but did two things perfectly:

1. They pushed Jordan away from the block and into an uncomfortable position. He would catch the ball and try to repost lower to get better position and was successful on some occasions but when that happened precious time went off the shot clock.
2. Illinois was always ready to help in the middle. They would not allow a baseline post pass to Jordan where help would be tough to give so they allowed him to catch the ball always with the middle open where Illinois could quickly double team and force a trap.

I was very impressed with the scheme that Bruce Weber and the Illini put on and was happy they came out of there with a win. What I’m saying is that the key is to really play to your teams strength and know who you are up against. If you have a taller player on the inside then it isn’t a bad idea to try to keep him in front of the offense. If you have a stronger player it isn’t a bad idea to try fronting also or try to push the offense a bit away from the basket. The key to remember is to see what works best for your players and what they are comfortable doing and know the strengths of the team you are playing.

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