I've heard of coaches who do nothing but run players on the first day of practice. That's great if you're coaching track, but as a coach who values practice time for culture, teaching, skill development, and more...that's not even fool's gold. Invest practice time or spend it.
With limited practice time, I'm going to condition players within the context of drills, ideally teaching multiple principles at the same time. Although I prefer to get players' attention without wind sprints, occasionally players (as a team) go 'on the line'. I consider it reorientation. They probably call it something else.
3 on 3 Break - into 3 on 2 with chaser. After basket attack, offense goes to defense, defense sprints back to baseline, and next offense steps out.
Continuous 3 on 3
Shivek Drill (both ends)
X Drill - player 1 on right with ball takes one dribble and passes to coach, cuts first around coach. Opposite line player 2 cuts behind and gets drop pass from coach, no dribbles and passes to initial player for layup. Player 2 rebounds and attacks full court with the dribble and passes to Player 1 for the layup. Next player in each line immediately follows.
Transition defense
Ultimate 1 and 2 - Ultimate derives from Ultimate Frisbee. We play it with a variety of rules. Ultimate 1 is 5 on 5 (or 5 on 6 or 6 on 6) full court without dribbling. The goal of ultimate 1 is to advance the ball into the end zone by passing only. Passing and cutting are essential. If the ball is deflected, dropped, or dribbled, it is turned over immediately.
Ultimate 2 has conventional basketball scoring. Usually, we allow one dribble and bounce passing (not allowed in Ultimate 1). The same turnover rules apply. Both encourage fast and physical play.
Argentina Passing. They say there are fistfights in Argentina about not owning the diagonals (longer running).
Conditioning doesn't mean drudgery. Vary the drills, make it competitive, and bring attitude and these drills can energize the team.
