From Aaron…
I normally like to run the “shell drill“.

It starts with 5 offensive players passing the basketball around the three point line with 5 defensive players rotating to the position of the ball.  It’s simple.  If you’re one pass away from the ball you need a hand in the passing lane.  If you’re more than one pass you need to be cheating off your player looking to help.  You work the ball around and have the defense rotate.

Remember, this is primarily a defensive basketball drill so tell your players to keep their head on a swivel and to stay low. This drill progresses with the offense then taking one dribble penetration (making the defense help) and then dishing (making the defense recover).  It ends by a small five on five match until the offense scores.  Stress to the defense to keep their “shell” even if there players are moving around.

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From Rene…
Stop the Ball Drill
Goal of the drill: To teach the players to run to a spot in front of the ball handler instead of along side of them.

Drill setup: Two lines near the baseline under the basket, one line with the basketballs(offense), one without(defense). The line with the basketballs(offense) is on the outside of the other line.

Drill execution: You can either have the defense line start a little ahead of the offense line to give them a head start or have the offense line angle there approach toward the mid-court sidelines (place a cone at the intersection of the mid-court line and the sideline) and the defense line take a direct approach to the far basket. On the whistle, the first player in the offense line dribbles towards the cone at the mid-court/sidelines, when reaching the cone they cross-over and head for the far basket to do a layup. The defense line player takes a more direct line to the far basket in order to get to a spot in front of the offense player.

When they meet (hopefully before the basket) the defensive player squares up into a defensive stance and then they play 1 on 1 until the defensive player gains possession of the ball.

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From Tony…
I’m sure all of you already do this basketball drill but it sure has helped me get my big men going to the hoop higher and harder not to mention the basketball conditioning it gives them.

I place a basketball on each of the rectangles on either side of the hoop. Then the player must as quick and hard as he can reach down , grab the ball and explode to the basket while shooting. As soon as he hits the ground he runs to the other ball and does the same while you are setting the first ball back into its spot.

Have him do this as much as he can effectively, then just work up to more reps as he gets stronger and better.

From Cary…
To improve a defender’s ability to move their feet, I have found this basketball defense drill to be helpful.  This drill can be done from full court or from half court.

Essentially, you have a defender who steps out between the dribbler and the hoop.  He has to prevent the offensive player from dribbling down and getting a layup.  The defender must put his hands behind his back and keep them there the entire time.  He now must use his feet to stop a layup.   Be sure and pair up players of similar speed.

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From John…
This is a defensive basketball drill we use with our 5th grade boys team but it can really be used at any level.

Two lines under the basket, one basketball for each line; one basketball coach standing on each elbow. The first two players in line pass the ball to the coach in front of them and close out in a defensive stance. We look to make sure the last few steps before getting to the coach are short and choppy so they don’t over commit and also look for them to stop arms length away.

As the player approaches, the coach will make one or two stationary offensive moves (typically jab steps) to make sure get the defender is reacting correctly. Finally the coach says go and the player slides to the corner, drop steps at the corner and slides across the baseline and gets in the other line from where he started.

We use this drill in basketball practice but also in pre-game warm ups to get the kids thinking about defense.

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From Tom…
Here is my basketball tip:

1 Player is shooting a free throw.
Two defensive players are in the lane.
After the shooter shoots the ball the other two either rebound or take it out of the net and go 2 on 1 back down the court.
You need to have 2 other lines under each basket. After 2 on 1 you go back down 3 on 2 (two other players step out) after they score or miss it is 4 on 3 back down the court (two other players step out.).  Then you go 5 on 4 and finally 5 on 5.

This is a great basketball drill to work on transition and getting back on defense. Talking on defense you are always down a man except on the last possession. Whoever scores on the last possession gets a point. First team to 7 wins.

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From Debbie…
“Bull in the Ring”
My team loves this game, they beg to play it. Teaches players to more aggressive on the boards.

Have your team line up all the way around the free throw area.
The object is to score two baskets first and you get to get out of the “ring” To start thebasketball drill place two players in the middle and toss the basketball up. As soon as one player scores two baskets a new player gets in the ring against the player that is still in. (New player comes in from the left under the basket and old player leaves on the right under the basket and everybody else moves around)

You must stay in the ring until you score your 2 baskets. If you find that a player is in the ring too long and getting tired replace that player. The players around the free throw are there to keep from going out of the “ring”.

Anything goes in this game (except for pulling hair and biting). This really gets my team pumped up to play great basketball defense.

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From Mike…
Perpetual 3 on 2’s - full gym - one basketball
 
2 lines in alternate ends of gym (line 1 and line 2).
First three players in line 1 take ball down court and play against the first 2 players from line 2.
As the first 3 players leave from line 1 the next 2 players from line one come out to the top of the key and wait to play defence.
As soon as the first 3 players from line 1 either score or lose ball to the defender they go to the back of line 2 and the next player from line 2 joins the 2 playing defence and go down and try to score at the other end against the 2 waiting players from line 1.  As soon as a basket is made the the next player from line 1 joins the 2 defenders and goes down on offence  to play the next 2 from line 2 who are waiting.

This pattern continues for as long as you want to keep the basketball drill going - hence the name perpetual 3on 2’s.

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From John…
I coach a young group of boys who are not overly big.  Rebounding had been an issue.  To teach the concept of boxing-out and really fighting for position, we introduced two basketball drills that the boys absolutely love.
 
The first basketball drill is called “Butt Wars” and involves two boys in the lane with their backs, or butts, touching one another.  They get low in a good box-out position, and then we let the butt wars begin.  The object is to push the other player outside of the lane.  We try to match people up based on strength, and this has been a great drill to teach out little guys to be aggressive in boxing out and also how hard they have to work to actually move someone to get in a good rebounding position.
 
The second drill is “Keep Away”.  We put a basketball on the floor, match up two guys.  One guy has to box out the other and keep him from getting the ball.  The person going for the ball, can spin and move as much as he wants - but he cannot dive for the ball.  If the defender can keep his man away for 5 seconds, he wins.  This basketball rebounding drill helps with the rebounders foot work and keeping his base down low for rebounds.
 

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From Sander…
I worked out this simple basketball drill a couple of years ago, training youngsters about 10-12 years old.  You could name it Sumoboxing (or something)!

You have 6 players pair up in 3 teams of 2 players. This exercise concentrates around the 3 circles on the basketball court.  2 around the free throw line and the 3rd is the 1 at half court.  One player is the offensive, starting outside the circle. The other one is the defense, starting in the middle of the circle.  The defensive player in the middle of the circle stands above a still ball, which lies in the middle of the circle.

The play starts when the basketball coach whistles.  At the whistle, the offensive player has only one goal: trying to get to the ball and touch it.

The defensive player’s job is to prevent this, by working his back into the offensive player and boxing out the offensive player, by using his body and strength to prevent the offensive player from getting to and touching the ball for one minute long.

An offensive player the touches the ball maybe 6 times in one minute. After that minute the offense becomes defense and vice versa.  The one with the least amount of touches sprints the difference (player 1:6 touches to player 2: 8 touches = 2 sprints)

My young players really liked this exercise in between other exercises, because of the physical aspect(using your body to defend a ball).  You also create a sort of awareness of the physical aspect of boxing out an offensive player.

Kids really work hard to protect their ball, laying the base for boxing out and working hard for an offensive rebound.  And it is always fun to watch those kids really get into it and create a winner’s mentality.

You could also work out a different way to determine the number of sprints by giving the defense points when they box their player out of the circle.

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From Art…
This basketball drill is called the run around. 

You take four players and put them at the two elbows, and two on the baseline off the block two to three steps.  I slap the ball and have the four offensive players run around them on the court.  The defensive player has to make contact and know where the players are on the court.  When the ball is shot all Defensive players attempt to box out. 

If they get the rebound they fast break under control to the other end of the court to make the lay up.  If not they set it up in the half court offense minus the post player or whoever is not represented.  They play until they score.  If the offensive team rebounds, they put it back up and attempt to score, defensive team plays defense. 

It is intense and a very good change of pace.  You get basketball defense, boxing out, aggressive rebound skills, ball handling, and a chance to see some good transition of fast break to secondary break to basic basketball skills.

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