Drills

Defensive

Defensive quickness drills

A big part of being a good defensive player is quickness (your ability to cut off an offensive player, your ability to slide out into the passing lane, etc.).

To help develop your quickness, work on footspeed drills such as jumping rope, doing defensive slides, running sprints, running stadium stairs, and doing cone drills. By increasing your quickness, you'll be a better defender. Here are some details on the drills you can do.

- Jumping rope: start off with a good warmup (30 to 45 seconds of jumping rope at a slow pace). Then do a series of 30 to 45 second repetitions where you jump with both feet, alternate from one foot to the other, and then jump on one foot or the other for the entire repetition.

- Defensive slides: you'll work on these during practice with your team, but you can also do these on your own. Start on the baseline at one corner of the court and slide to the middle of the lane, then switch directions and slide back to the sideline, continuing all the way up the court to the opposite baseline.

- Running sprints: go to a track and warm up with a lap or two of easy running. Then go onto the grass of the football field and run a series of sprints. Start off with some shorter sprints (20 to 30 yards), and work your way up to longer sprints (40 to 50 yards).

- Stadium stairs: running stadium stairs is a great way to get in shape and work on your agility. Start off with a good warm up, then run one set od stadium stairs stepping on each step, then one set where you kick your knees up high, one set where you put both feet on each step, one set where you run up stepping on every other step, and finally one set where you jump on each step with two feet.

- Cone drills: cone drills involve putting a cone (or some other object) on the court (or grassy field) and doing various sprint and slide movements from cone to cone. For example, place four cones about 10 yards from each other, with one cone in the center of the four. Slide from the center out to one cone, then back to the center, then out to the next cone and back to the center, continuing until you've slid out to each of the cones and back to the middle. Work on increasing your speed out and back to the cones.

Ball Handling

Full Court Zig Zags

Stand on the baseline just under the right side of the backboard and dribble to the right sideline at a 45-degree angle with your right hand. Stay low, keep your head and eyes up so you can see the floor. When you get to the sideline, change direction with a cross-over dribble and dribble with your left hand at a 45-degree angle to the center of the court. Once your each the center of the court, switch directions again with a cross-over and dribble to the right sideline. Repeat this drill the full length of the court. Once you reach the other end of the floor, turn around and do the same drill back.

Repeat this drill for 5 full court lengths. Keep the ball on your fingertips. Stay low, and keep your head and eyes up so you can see the court at all times.

Full Court Speed Dribble

Standing on the baseline, dribble at full speed up the court. Stay under control but push the ball up the floor as quickly as possible while still maintaining complete control of the dribble. When you reach the opposite free throw line, come to a strong and on-balance two-foot jump stop. Repeat the drill 5 times, each time stopping at the opposite free throw line with a two-foot jump stop.

Stutter-Step Dribbling Drills

One key element of good offensive players is changing directions. If you always dribble in one direction, or always make your offensive moves in one direction, you make things easy on the defense. So, you've always got to mix things up by changing direction, making fakes in one direction then going in the other, and keeping the D guessing which way you'll move.

Stutter-steps are a great way to keep the defense guessing. Typically, when a player with the ball is about to change direction, they'll slow up a bit, or use a stutter-step to make the directional change. So by practicing a good stutter-step, you'll be able to use it to change direction, or use it to fake that you're changing direction. Either way, you'll keep the defense guessing as to which way you're about to go, and that gives you an advantage.

Here's a great (and simple) drill to work on stutter-steps. Start on the baseline and take 2 or 3 hard dribbles toward the free throw line. Sutter-step like you're about to change direction, and continue forward with a straight dribble. Now, take 2 or 3 hard dribbles towards the half-court line, stutter-step and this time change direction. Continue on to the opposite baseline using stutter-steps, sometimes changing directions with the step, sometimes not. Dribble up and back the full length of the court at least 5 times practicing this stutter-step drill.

Shooting

Form Shooting Drill

Having good, solid form is a key element in being a good shooter. To work on your mechanics, use a close to the basket shooting drill.

Stand 2 or 3 feet from the backboardand on one side of the basket. Using only your shooting arm, shoot a bank shot into the basket. Use perfect form (ball on finger tips, elbow in, shoot up-and-out towards the basket, follow through with good backspin on the ball). Rebound the ball and shoot again. Shoot at least 15 shots from each side of the basket. Shoot with your right arm from the right side of the basket, and shoot with your left arm from the left side of the basket. Once you've shot 15 shots from each side, step back 2 or 3 feet further away from the basket and repeat the drill.

Fake and One-Dribble Moves

There will be times in a game when you catch a pass and immediately go up for a jump shot. But it is important that you're able to shoot the basketball at the end of a move as well. Working on fake and one-dribble move drills will help you improve this part of your game, and more realistically simulates scoring opportunities you'll likely get in actual games..

Toss the ball out to yourself, catch it and pull it into your body and get into the triple threat position. Make a good, solid pump fake and then take one strong dribble to your right. Make sure your dribble moves you past an imaginary defender and towards the basket (the dribble should take you at a 45-degree angle towards the basket). Come to a solid, on-balance stop, then go up for your jump shot. Do this drill 5 times pump faking and dribbling to your right, and 5 times dribbling to your left. Do this drill from 4 to 5 different spots on the floor (for example: on the baseline, on the right and left wings, and on the right and left elbow.