A Quick and Easy Drill to Teach Basketball Fundamentals

By Jeff Haefner

Do you constantly worry about making time for fundamentals? Have you watched your players miss rebounds because they haven't blocked out properly?

If that happens to you, as it does to so many coaches, then the station drill might be the answer. This drill is easy to manage and can cover six techniques in as little time as 30 minutes. And the players really love it because it's fast paced and constantly changing.

How does it work?

You will need to have six baskets, so get those side bank boards lowered and break your players into two man teams. This drill works best if you pair players up by position, two guards together, two centers together and so on. This means you will have two players at each basket.

The basic idea is simple. At each basket two players perform a different drill designed to practice the proper basic techniques assigned to that basket. Many times one player will be acting as a defender or passer while the other player practices the technique for that basket. A manager can run the score clock so that the drill moves along quickly. Each player has two and a half minutes to practice the technique at each station, if you want to finish in just over thirty minutes.

After the two and a half minute mark is reached, the manager buzzes the buzzer and the players switch roles. Once five minutes has been spent at a basket or station, the player pairs move to the next basket and practice a new technique with an appropriate drill. Keep your players hustling so that there isn't any time wasted moving from one station or basket to the other. Once the player pairs have been at each station the drill is over. This will take about 30 minutes and you will have addressed six basic techniques.

So imagine your players practicing free throws at one station, spot up shooting at another, and rebounding at a third station. You and your assistants can monitor the stations to insure that the players are practicing perfect technique. We don't want anybody practicing the wrong way, now do we?

Running the stations effectively

The first time you use this drill, you will probably want to go through each of the six stations and show the players the techniques you will want them to practice and how the drill works at each of the six baskets. Which techniques and how to drill the technique is important, so think that part through. How can you practice proper rebounding technique with two players working together? Maybe a cover on the rim and one player shooting over the other from 6 to 10 feet with both players going to the boards after the shot, might do the trick. But make sure you demonstrate the proper techniques you want the players to use when blocking out and battling for rebounding position. Yes, guards need to practice this too! Ask Michael Jordan.

Pressed for time?

You can trim the drill by only having three different techniques and double them up on two different baskets. There is no limit to the ways you can customize this drill to meet your needs. But the most important part of the whole thing is to learn the techniques of the game, have some fun and start getting those tough rebounds and making those open shots! Good luck and keep your feet moving on defense.


About the Author:
Jeff Haefner is the co-founder of www.BreakthroughBasketball.com and www.WinningDrills.com. These website include a variety of free articles, ebooks, drills, plays, and information for basketball coaches and players.

Perfecting Your Offense

By Jeff Haefner

You have great players with the total skill package, but they just can't fit into the patterned offense that you are trying to run. Does that sound familiar?

For me it is one of the greatest challenges to get those great players to fit their freelance style skills into the patterns of the offense. If you force the offense too much, you take away the player's creativity. If you don't run any kind of an offense, your team is undisciplined and haphazard. What is a good balance? For me it is all about clear cut options in each segment of your offense.

Give the Player the Option to Create Within the Framework of Your Offense

No matter what offense I am running, I want my players to look at the options that the offense should create whenever they receive a pass.

So my rule goes like this:

• First, look for the shot
• Second, drive to the basket
• Then, the options of the offense

I feel if my scorers have that freedom, they will often create shots and drives that help make the offense work because it is not so predictable. So whenever a player gets the ball, I want his first two impulses to be shoot if he is open and drive if he has a pathway to the hoop. If neither of those two options are available, then he needs to check for the option that the offense is designed to open up.

Sequence Your Drill by Varying the Defensive Pressure

I like to go through a pressure sequence every day we practice our set offense. By a pressure sequence I mean varying the degree of the defense's pressure. The first part of the drill is 'Zombie Defense Time'.

In this part of the drill the defenders are merely markers so you can show what the defense might look like at a chosen stage of your set offense. You do a lot of showing in this part of the drill. It goes something like this: "Ok, you got the pass and the pick is set to your right. Look for the shot off the pick. Is it there? No. Then watch for the pass to the big guy fighting past the screen down low. Right! He's open! Fire the pass!"

All the time, you know that pass is going to be open, because that's what you wanted to show your players, and the "Zombies' on defense allowed it to open up. You work through each option that might be available at that stage of the offensive set pattern with the 'Zombies' as markers.

Crank Up the Defense and Get the Players Reacting Automatically

The next sequence is to unleash the defense. Let the Zombies come back to life. Have them play tough defense and try to derail the offense.

In this sequence, you want your offensive players to react instantly to the defense. This is where players learn to recognize what is open to them. You repeat the different open options you worked on during 'Zombie' time at the same stage of the offense.

Do this over and over so that the offensive player reacts to that stage and the different open options at that stage of the offense without thinking. You can still control this drill by telling the defense the different ways you want them to react at that stage of the offense. So you predetermine which options will be open.

It's best to work on one stage of the offense each day. Practice and practice and repeat and repeat situations at different stage of the offense each day until the players make good choices automatically at all stages. Don't forget to build into your offense the, shot first, drive second, and check the offensive options third mentality.

The Drill

I begin my practice by deciding which stage of the offensive play sequence we will work on that day. I also decide which different open options I want the defense to allow at that stage of the offensive play. This means I decide what different choices the defense is going to give up at that stage of the offense. My players learn or relearn the options that will present themselves in this stage of the offense in the Zombie part of the drill.

Once I feel the players understand how to react to the defense, I move to the pressure part of the drill. This is where the defense plays aggressively, but gives up what I have decided they will give up. The offense should react instantly to which option is open.

If you practice the different options to a different stage of your offense each day, soon your players will be like robots with a creative side, picking the right option, after they have looked to create a shot or dribble drive first. The offense never looks the same because your players create first, run patterns last, but still run good patterns.


For new basketball plays and more tips on developing your offense, visit http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com or http://www.winningbasketballplays.com.