CONTENTS

page content

3 DRIBBLING AND CROSSOVERS DRILLS

4 FIRST STEP DRILLS
5 SHOOTING DRILLS
6 POST GAME DRILLS
7 PASSING DRILLS
8 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING DRILLS
9 MOVING WITHOUT THE BALL DRILLS
10 HAND-OFF DRILLS
11 OFF-BALL SCREEN DRILLS
12 PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DRILLS
13 TRANSITION DRILLS
14 DEFENSIVE MOVEMENTS DRILLS
15 CLOSE OUT DRILLS
16 BOX OUT DRILLS
17 HELP SIDE AND DEFENSIVE ROTATION DRILLS
18 OFF-BALL SCREENS DEFENSE DRILLS
19 PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DEFENSE DRILLS
20 ZONE DEFENSE DRILLS
21 ZONE PRESS DEFENSE DRILLS
22 1-ON-1 DRILLS
23 HANDICAP GAME DRILLS
24 DEVELOPING COMPETITION DRILLS
25 BASKETBALL DRILLS FROM A TO Z PRESENTATION

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 DRIBBLING AND CROSSOVERS DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Players have to perform all dribbling and crossover drills with their head up. The habit of
hard dribbling is something that players learn from the very beginning. We have to teach our
players to use dribbling only to create an advantage for their teammates or themselves. Any
passive dribbling is a waste of time during a game. To improve our knowledge about
dribbling, it is important to create drills that are similar to those of an actual basketball
game.”

DRIBBLING AND CROSSOVERS DRILL no. 24

Players start in two opposite corners. Cones are set on the
court in a way that simulates double-team trapping. When
a player comes to the cone, he stops and makes two
retreat dribbles, a crossover and drives the next cone.
After the last retreat dribble, he finishes inside the key.

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 FIRST STEP DRILLS

Coaching tips
“An explosive first step can make the most important advantage in one on one game.
Players must respect the pivot foot and make the right repetitions without traveling. We
have to insist on a parallel stance so players will not define their next move by a front pivot
foot. Good balance and protected ball are important parts of learning. Players have to use a
pivot step and fake to create a good starting point for the first step to beat the opponent.”

FIRST STEP DRILL no. 59

Players in two rows in the middle of the court. Player 5 cut
from the sideline to the ball to the top of the key, to
receive the ball from player 1, performs a first step
(side step, cross over step, spin, etc.) and drives to the
basket. Player 1 does the same on the other side of the
court. After the layup, the players move to the end of the
opposite row.

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 SHOOTING DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Players have to keep a good balance and locate the target – rim. Arms in a comfort- able
position and extending the elbow in the moment of releasing the ball is the key to a good
technique. Follow through and finish with a relaxed wrist gives the ap- propriate rotation of
the ball. High elbow gives an optimal arc. Analyze the players’ shots during the practice and
try to find the optimal execution before you start with a lot of repetitions. Mental
preparation in basketball has mostly to do with the shooting.”

SHOOTING DRILL no. 96

Player dribbles two balls around the top cone in the middle
of the court. Then he passes one of the balls to the coach,
drives around the second cone and shoots from the elbow.
After the shot, he cuts past the second cone, receives the
ball from the coach and shoots from the opposite elbow.

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 POST GAME DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Players have to get in a good position near the basket. Learning to fight for posses- sion and
not avoiding contact with opponents are very important low post habits. When a player
receives the ball, he has to control his position and check the posi- tions of his
teammates/opponents. Work on good footwork and balance. Motivate your players to
master a low post go-to move and develop different options by using both hands.”

POST GAME DRILL no. 115

1 on 1 game. Players are set on the edge of the key facing
each oter. Coach passes to one of the players who
becomes the offensive player, the other one is the
defender. Reaction is very important in this drill. They play
until one of them scores, even after a defensive rebound,
the continue to play.

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 PASSING DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Develop a habit of passing directly, straight, and fast to the target (teammate). Organize
the passing drill in a game situation to push your players to choose the appropriate passing
technique according to the position of the defense.
Teach passing and receiving the ball at the same time. Players do not have to use a fancy
pass, but the useful one to be successful.”

PASSING DRILL no. 159

Player starts by dribbling two balls from the half court line
to the top of the key where he passes one of the balls to
the coach under the rim. He then drives the ball to one of
the cones, takes a pull up shot and runs to the other cone
to receive the ball from the coach for a second shot.

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 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING DRILLS

Coaching tips
“20 % of knowledge, technique, experience, and physical preparation; 80 % of de-
termination, desire, fighting spirit, self-sacrifice. We have to work on both parts and educate
our players about the importance of the offensive rebound. After we cover all rebounding
skills, we put our players in competing situations, so they become familiar with contact and
fighting for a rebound.”

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING DRILL no. 226

We divide the players into two groups. A player from one
of the teams shoots a free throwa (we change the shooter
after every shot). Two players (from the opposite teams)
are fighting for the rebound. The player that grabs the
rebound stays on the edge of the paint. The other player
runs around the cone to his row and a new player steps in
for the next rebound. A made free throw is worth a point,
a rebound is worth a point. Rebounding after a made shot
counts as well. First team to reach 21 wins the game.

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 MOVING WITHOUT THE BALL DRILLS

Coaching tips
“We always teach our players to maintain good spacing on the court. Good cutting
techniques and the right timing will upgrade our team’s offensive efficiency. If we want to
speed up our game, we have to play with more passing and less dribbling – this kind of game
requires better moving without the ball and good individual of- fensive basics.”

MOVING WITHOUT THE BALL DRILL no. 246

Players in two rows in two corners. Each player has his own
ball. Two coaches (passers) standing on the two wings.
First two players from the row pass the ball to the coach,
run to the top of the key and cut to the basket past the
cone. They then receive the ball inside the paint and
finishes after a jump stop. The drill is performed
continuously.

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 HAND-OFF DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Hand-off is very similar to the Pick and Roll game. It requires good movement of the two
involved players and the spacing of the other three players on the court. We start teaching
the right technique with 2 on 0 drills, then we add defenders. Players have to understand the
importance of angles, timing, and reading/reacting regard- ing the defenders’ reaction.”

HAND-OFF DRILL no. 728

Players are set in two rows in corners and six players are
set on the top of the key and in the middle of the court.
Players drive towards the next one, who is waiting in his
position to hgive a handoff. The handoff player proceeds to
the next position with the ball, the other player replaces
him. After the last handoff, the player goes for a layup and
moves to the end of the opposite row.

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 OFF-BALL SCREEN DRILLS

Coaching tips
“It is important to teach how to set the screen and how to use it before we go and build
some offensive sets. The screener is standing in a balanced stance with hands crossed (on
the chest or under the stomach), watching the ball and the other players on the court. The
defender’s movement defines the angle and the corrections in the moment of the screen. It is
good to start with the drills without defense to under- stand the right technique. Later, we
have to add defenders one by one to under- stand the right timing, angles, and reaction of
both players after the screen. When we teach the off-ball screens, we have to pay attention
to the passer’s technique.“

OFF-BALL SCREEN DRILL no. 754

Players in 3 rows. Player 1 sets a screen on the edge of the
paint and cuts around the cone (screen) to receive the ball
from player 4 for a 3pt shot. Player 2 cuts around the
screen to the wing position to receive the ball from player
3 for a 3pt shot. Shooters get their own rebound and move
to the top row, passers move to the end of the row on
baseline. After 2 minutes, we change the direction of the
drill.

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 PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Pick and roll game became the most popular part of most offensive set plays nowadays.
There are many details defined in the first book that we have to pay at- tention to. There is a
rule that we have to respect when we are working with young players: do not use screens
too early just to score more points in the game. Young players have to learn how to move
without the ball or screens. We have to teach them how to create an advantage with one on
one game before we pass to the pick and roll game. If we skip some basketball fundamentals
at the beginning, we will never fix them in the future, and we will limit our players’ abilities.”

PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DRILL no. 771

Players in a row in the middle of the court. Two defenders.
The player with the ball plays pick and roll at the cone. The
first defender plays a hedge (jumps out) and does not let
the player penetrate to the middle. The second defender
can:
A) Make a step back. In this case, the player has to make a
pull up jump shot. or
B) Make a step forward. In this case, the player makes a
split dribbling to the middle and finishes with a layup. After
1 minute, the three players change roles.

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 TRANSITION DRILLS

Coaching tips
“The transition starts in the instance of changing the possession of the ball. We want to
shorten the reaction after a rebound, a stolen ball, or a scored basket as much as we can.
We need to respect some principles, which are the most important when we run the
transition (outlet pass, communication, running lines, and spacing). Once we start to run the
floor, we must prepare our team for a primary or secondary transition. Transition drills can
replace a part of conditioning training such as a spe- cial basketball endurance workout.”

TRANSITION DRILL no. 783

Three players in the paint, two in the middle of the court.
Player 3 cuts on the sideline where he receives the ball
from player 1. Player 3 passes the ball to player 4 in the
middle circle. Player 5 runs along the sideline, receives the
ball from player 4, and finishes with a layup. Player 2 runs
along the sideline and picks up the ball on the oppo- site
side. The exercise continues with the transition to the
opposite basket. Players change places all the time, so it is
important that they understand the sequence of moves.

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 DEFENSIVE MOVEMENTS DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Effort, sacrifice for the team, will, energy... Everyone can be a top defensive player. You do
not have to be the most talented or have the athletic abilities to be- come a good defender.
These are the arguments to motivate your players when it comes to the defensive part of
your practices. A dedicated defender will always find a place on the court and enjoy the
respect from his teammates. Teach your players to enjoy the time spent on defense because
every team spends 50 % of every game playing defense. “

DEFENSIVE MOVEMENTS DRILL no. 806

Players in two lines. Player from the right line passes the
ball, sprints, and jumps towards the ring, then he moves in
a defensive stance to the end of the opposite line. Player
from the left row passes the ball, sprints and makes the
closeout on the cone, then he moves in a de- fensive
stance to the end of the opposite line. After a while, we
change the direction of the drill.

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 CLOSE OUT DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Prepare your players to react on every opponent’s pass and to shorten the time when
running on a close out. A combination of a sprint and short steps are defined by the player's
abilities. We have to teach our players how to become unpredictable when they run to close
out on an offensive player. When we teach young players, we do not want them to read the
opponent’s qualities too much, so they put the max effort on every close out. A senior player,
on the other side, has to read and un- derstand how to create defense regarding the teams’
tactics and opponent quali- ties.”

CLOSE OUT DRILL no. 826

in corners and two defenders (4,5) on the edge of the
paint. Player 1 drives to the right and passes to the cor-
ner. Defensive player 4 has to help and runs to close out on
player 2 in the instance of passing the ball. Players 2 and 4
play 1 on 1. After they finish, player 1 goes to the corner,
player 2 stays on defense, player 4 takes the ball and goes
to the end of the line. The next drive is to the left.

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 BOX OUT DRILLS

Coaching tips
“The coach must convince his players that it is impossible to play a successful game without
fighting and contact. There are three basic techniques of boxing out, but the most important
rule is to prevent the way to the opponent and to get the offensive rebound. When we train
the box out and the defensive rebound, we have to teach our players how to react after the
rebound. Dribbling or an outlet pass is very im- portant after a rebound, in order to perform
a good transition offense.”

BOX OUT DRILL no. 839

Coach takes a 3pt shot from the top of the key. Players 1
and 2 go for the offensive rebound past one of the cones.
Defensive players x1 and x2 check the movement of the
offensive players and perform the box out. After the
rebound, players switch roles.

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 HELP SIDE AND DEFENSIVE ROTATION DRILLS

Coaching tips
“A good defensive team works as a single unit on the court. Every player has to re- spect his
role and his responsibility. Coach sets the defensive principles, so players know their
responsibilities in their defensive role on and off the ball, on the strong or weak side of the
court. There are many defense drills based on helping and rota- tions. When we set our
defensive tactics, we have to push the player on the ball pressing the opponent, because he
knows his teammates will help and rotate. One on one defense has always been the master
of defensive roles.”

HELP SIDE AND DEFENSIVE ROTATION DRILL no. 1344

A 2-on-2 game. Two offensive players drive the ball from
the corners to the wings, guarded by the defenders. The
coach moves to one side to receive the ball. After the pass,
the two defenders define the strong and the weak side to
play 2-on-2.

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 OFF-BALL SCREENS DEFENSE DRILLS

Coaching tips
“The most important thing about screens defense is communication. There are three
principles of defending the off-ball screen (switch, follow, short cut). We have to de- fine how
to defend individual opponents in our team tactics,. It is important to cre- ate a system
where we do not put our team into big mismatch situations by switching on every screen.
The appropriate defensive position allows the defensive players to resolve a screen situation.
This is why young players need to know how to play on the weak side before we pass to
screens and set plays.”

OFF-BALL SCREENS DEFENSE DRILL no. 1357

A 4-on-4 game. Four offensive players with defenders
stand in a diamond formation. Players 1 and 2 set the
screens on the box spots. Player 3 cuts to the wing posi-
tion to receive the ball from player 4. After the pass, player
3 drives to the top, and player 4 cuts to the paint. They
repeat the drill five times by choosing the left or right side.
We define the defensive concept on screens we want to
train.

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 PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DEFENSE DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Like in every defensive tactic, common sense comes first. The two directly in- volved players
have to communicate to prepare the defensive pick and roll princi- ple they want in a certain
situation. It is good to run defensive drills part by part, but at the same time, we need to
involve the other three players in our pick and roll defending system. As I mentioned earlier,
even if we set the help side and rotations to help the two defenders on the screen, they have
to try to resolve as much as they can by themselves.”

PICK AND ROLL / PICK AND POP DEFENSE DRILL no. 1373
A coach with the ball is on the top of the key. Two pairs of
players (the offensive player and the defender) are on the
wings. Two players (centers) are on the low posts. The
coach decides to pass to one of the sides. The center on
the ball side is on offense and runs to set the pick and roll.
The other center is on defense. They play a 3-on-3 pick and
roll game, considering the defensive principles we want to
train.

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 ZONE DEFENSE DRILLS

Coaching tips
“It is important not to start too early with a zone defense in youth categories. We need to
teach young players how to play the team and individual defensive roles before we go to a
zone defense. Effective zone defense requires dedicated teamwork of all five players.
Changing the defensive tactics during a game can change the rhythm. Our zone defense
should be a surprise for the opposite team. We don’t want to run the same zone defense for
a long time. Teams usually prepare less in- bound set plays against a zone defense compared
to a man to man defense. So, a zone defense can be useful in out of bounds situations.”

ZONE DEFENSE DRILL no. 1383

A 5-on-3 zone defense under the free-throw line. Two
passers start on the wing spots, two offensive players on
the low post positions, and one on the top of the key.
Three defenders must move based on the ball’s position
and prevent the pass to the low post players. The two
passers and the top player pass the ball, and the defend-
ers move on the three low spots for 15 seconds. After that,
the two teams switch roles.

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 ZONE PRESS DEFENSE DRILLS

Coaching tips
“Zone press defense requires a lot of coordination from the team. However, also this tactical
element is a defensive system to surprise the opponent, so it is very hard to run it during our
team practices. This is why we have to create some drills with fewer players or a handicap
situation to make our zone press defense better. Zone press defense can be effective after
the game stops for a few seconds (out of bounds situations, free throws). Defenders have to
use the time limits and out of bound lines to help create traps on the court.”

ZONE PRESS DEFENSE DRILLS no. 1396

We play with three teams of two players. Two offensive
players start on the baseline, and the two defenders guard
them. The player with the ball drives from the baseline to
the half-court line. The defender on the ball has to stop his
dribbling at the center. The defender from the help side
has to make the double-team in the middle. The offensive
player passes the ball from the trap to the opposite
baseline to a new team of players. The pair on offense runs
to the baseline to play defense on the next team. The
offensive player always drives to a trap because we want
to practice the trapping at the half-court line.

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 1-ON-1 DRILLS

Coaching tips
“One on one game is the starting point of every type of basketball game. Two play- ers
compare their offensive and defensive knowledge without any other help. We want to put
our players in actual game situations by using different one on one drills. There is not much
space for lots of dribbling when a player wants to create an advantage in one on one
situation. The technical knowledge in one on one game de- fines the quality of a player.
Therefore, we have to give as many options and knowl- edge to our players as we can. In the
end, every player gets his own go-for moves. The more he knows, the more options he has
during a game.”

1-ON-1 DRILL no. 1416

We set four cones on the "horns" spots. The two players
start on the baseline by passing the ball to each other. At
the coach’s sign, the player with the ball has to drive
around the second cone on his side. The other player is on
defense and has to run around the nearest cone. When the
two players come around the cones, they start to play 1-
on-1.

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 HANDICAP GAME DRILLS

Coaching tips
“We can find hundreds of handicap situations during every basketball game. This is why we
have to create and use many handicap drills in our practices. It is impor- tant to let the
players use their imagination and push them to find the best solutions to get in a good
scoring situation. With drills like this, we work in both directions – we develop offensive and
defensive qualities. Handicap games motivate players to sprint all the time to keep the
offensive advantage, so we develop good transition running habits.”

HANDICAP GAME DRILL no. 1459

Two teams start on each side of the court. The game be-
gins with a 1-on-0 game. When the first player scores, the
opponents take the ball and play 2-on-1 on the opposite
basket. On every change of possession, the new team on
offense adds two new players until they come to the 5-on-
5 game. The game plays out in the following order:
- 1-on-0
- 2-on-1
- 3-on-2
- 4-on-3
- 5-on-4
- 5-on-5
In the moment of the handicap situation, they play with-
out the offensive rebound. After the end, we give the
players 30 seconds of a break before they restart.

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 DEVELOPING COMPETITION DRILLS

Coaching tips
“The character of a player is always a bigger weapon than his technical or tactical
knowledge. If we think about any great basketball team, we will always find at least one
player with a stronger character than the others. I believe that character is writ- ten in
genetics. We have to find a way to get the best from our players. Sometimes, we have to
create drills that put players in situations where they are pushed to fight on the court.”

DEVELOPING COMPETITION DRILL no. 1488

Two teams of players start in two rows in the corners. We
set three cones on the free-throw and wing positions. The
game begins on the coach’s sign. Every player passes the
free-throw cone and then curls around the side cone
before he shoots or makes a layup. Every player has to
finish with a basket – if he misses, he has to get the
rebound and shoot again. We set the number of baskets
the team has to make to create a competition.

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Coach,

I hope the drills were helpful and you can apply them to your practice plans.
It is only a brief introduction to the huge library of drills that can be found in
the three books “BASKETBALL DRILLS FROM A TO Z”

BAKSETBALL DRILLS FROM A TO Z is the best choice for you if you want to
improve your coaching knowledge. The remaining 1478 drills are included in
the three books, along with other tips for better practices.

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1st book:
500 Basketball drills from A to Z

2nd book:
501-1000 Basketball drills from A to Z

3rd book:
1001-1500 Basketball drills from A to Z

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