At the beginning of the season, there is one problem that almost all coaches can identify with having to deal with – conditioning. Being in better shape than your opponent is a massive advantage, yet running constantly in practice is not very good for player morale, and definitely won’t make you too popular in the locker room.
That’s why instead of just making them run pro sprints, or 17’s, most of the time your better off pushing
your players to go through your drills with such high intensity that they become conditioned while working on their basketball skills.
4 Man Break
If you want to be a fast-paced team, it’s important that you not only get in good shape, but that you practice getting the ball out into the break as quickly as possible.
Have four players circle in the key; a point guard, two wings, and a post player, waiting on you to shoot the ball. When you do, the rebounder will immediately get the ball to the point guard, and each of the wings will sprint down a sideline, and the post sprinting in behind the play as the trailer.
The offense will make four trips, one push ahead to the right wing for a lay-up, one to the left wing, one
push ahead to the wing followed by a post entry, and one push ahead to the wing followed by a pass back to the point guard for a lay-up.
Coaching Tips
- As the wings come down the court, regardless of whether they shoot or not, they will run through the key and exchange sides every trip down.
- The object of the drill is to be perfect – that means the ball doesn’t hit the ground, and they don’t miss any lay-ups. If anyone misses a lay-up, dribbles, or if the post player lets the ball hit the floor before he can grab it, they must restart the drill from the beginning.
- If you want to give your players a real challenge, make them do 8 straights trips – two lay-ups for each player.