The drop step, in my book, is tied for the most important move for a player to have in the post. If a player has a reliable hook shot, and a strong powerful drop step, building a vast post repertoire from that point on is simply a matter of adding a variety of counters and fakes to keep the defense off balance.
And since simply bounding the ball once and going up for a layup drill can be pretty boring for players and coaches alike, I find that the following drill does a great job of keeping things competitive and interesting.
If you’re not familiar with the drop step, it is a fairly simple post move. With their back to the basket and the ball held up strong underneath the chin, and both elbows up. Now in one movement, the player will make an open step with their low foot towards the hoop, and pound the ball into the ground with both hands. As the ball is on its way back up, they’ll step towards the basket with their high foot, squaring themselves up to the backboard, and go up strong with both hands.
Drop Step Hand-Offs
Have a player stand on each block, each with a ball in their hands. They won’t be moving from that spot. The player actually doing the drill will stand in the middle of the key.
I find this drill works best if you time it, I usually give the player about 60 seconds.
On your go, the player will run around in front of one of the players with the ball in their hands, taking the hand-off and performing a drop step, going up strong off two feet, and slapping the backboard or dunking if that is within their physical capabilities.
Ignoring the ball, they’ll run back up high again, grabbing another handoff and repeating the same move. The goal is to score as many baskets as possible in the allotted time. The player who is on the other end of the handoff will always be responsible for grabbing the rebound, make or miss.
Whether you’re using this as a basketball warmup drill, or the last hurrah at the end of practice, your players will benefit and love competing, but don’t forget to give them coaching tips along the way!