Online Basketball Drills

Basketball Drills, Plays and Coaching Tips

Pick and Roll Defense – Fighting Over

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Purpose

Teaching players how to fight over and properly defend the ball screen

Drill Setup

  • Split team into groups of four, two on offense, two on defense, with each group at their own basket
  • Ball handler starts out on the wing, screener on opposite block with defense matching up

How it Works

  1. Screener comes up to set pick for ball handler
  2. Screener’s defender calls out screen location to teammate
  3. Ball handler uses screen, forcing on ball defender to fight over the screen
  4. Screener’s defender in drop coverage, staying a couple feet below the free throw line, protecting the hoop but also far enough out to contest a mid range pull up if the on ball defender has trouble with the screen

Coaching Tips

  • The Screener’s defender must call out which direction the screen is coming from, alerting the on ball defender to the action and allowing them to get into position
  • Before starting the drill, walk players through the whole action step by step so that they understand where to be and what is expected of them When the on ball defender knows the screen location, they should begin to slide in that direction, preparing to fight and get their lead leg above the screener, allowing them to shuffle around them while staying with the ball
  • Explain that this coverage is designed to prevent shooters from getting an open look behind the screen, for non-shooters, simply have the on ball defender go under the screen

 

Conditioning Drills & Tips for Cutting!

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Drills & Tips for CuttingBasketball conditioning drills that are focused on fine-tuning your cutting can be invaluable. Tighten up your cutting game by incorporating these drills and tips!

Inside Out

The first basketball conditioning drill we’ll talk about is the inside out, which is a great catch and shoot drill.

After we’ve dribbled with the pass a little bit, we’ll dribble it up in and you’ll make a hard pass to make that cut. We want to make it game-like.

Then change your angle. Now you’re going to dribble it harder, then throw it to your partner, following up with a cut off, and then go right and do the same thing.

Run for 4 to 5 minutes, working on different cuts.

Back Door

When you work on the back door, the whole emphasis is to get a one-two count in your mind. Try to get a one-two count, step up into it, force the other player to come up into the passing lane, and then back door by showing your hands and cutting hard to the basket.

TIP! When you work on the back door, you’re trying to come up. A great suggestion is to use a football pad to allow you to put more emphasis on it.

Hand Off

Your partner starts dribbling, and says “hand-off”. You are going to take the ball, put it out in front and score in the lane.

Pick & Roll

Start dribbling the ball, and follow up by setting the screen on your opponent. Then you’re going to come off.

TIP! The only rule with a pick and roll, is a minimum of two dribbles off the pick and roll. If you can get two dribbles off the pick and roll, especially by coming off it on a naked pick and roll, you’ve got a very good chance to get a great shot or a great pass for somebody else.

I’m not big on the whole “come off the pick and roll, pull back, and shoot the 3 behind the line”. But with that said, the other thing you want to do is create space, and create spacing for everybody else by those two dribbles. When you watch NBA point guards and great point guards in college, they understand this. It’s important that you can create that space. It gets you a better opportunity to shoot and gets your teammate a better opportunity for a shot.

For more great Cutting practice drills, be sure to check out our previous posts on Man to Man Defense and 4 on 1 and Man to Man!

Do you have other cutting drills or tips to share?  Feel free to comment below!  And don’t forget to Follow Me on Twitter, where I will share more valuable basketball conditioning drills and tips!