Practice for 2 Players

What's the perfect number for player individual skill development? I don't know but there's value in having two. I'm no standard, just somebody willing to throw out ideas and concepts. If you find anything useful, remember Picasso, "good artists borrow; great artists steal." 

It's summertime and I'm not a track coach. Make it fun. You run on your own time. 

What do you want to include? How long should practice be? Do you want to teach post skills to everyone? Show players drills that they can take home and work on (Camp Driveway). Teach the details and why. Pete Newell wrote, "they're not cattle." 

Excellent players don't "get back to fundamentals". They constantly develop them. Show players the symmetry of the game. Learn how good defenders play and develop counters.

What concepts might we include in our two person practice?  

Warmup. UCONN women did stretching and light jogging (two laps) around the court...no corners cut. 

Random versus block practice. "In the retention tests, the results indicated that it was the random group that performed better on the retention task thus suggesting that random practice is more effective in the learning of motor skills."

The value of constraints. I believe in building in constraints during skill building. Limit the space, dribbles, and time the ball can be held. When possible, initiate skills off the catch (dynamic) instead of from a 'static' start. 

Decision making and execution. Players learn more with decision-making and execution sequences. 

Competition. Workout with a friend to develop competitive routines. 

Which elements belong in a two-person workout? 

Attack mindset. We use the three-point line as the 'spacing' line with two-dribble maximum. 

Coach plays as x5

Layups from multiple angles (straight and reverse)

Rollouts (closeout and attack)

See Spot run to a spot (few repetitions)

Separate from chest to chest defense

Frito Lay. Layup and shot from free throw distance

Ball handling. One-on-one inbound and attack. 

Passing. 
-Teach inbounding (coach defense) into the paint (look off the defender) 
-Post entry (various)
-2 person (bounce pass and chest pass) 

Shooting. (See previous posts on shooting games)
-Form shooting (flips, chair shooting, kneel and shoot)
-Quickness (quick draw...two-handed hard bounce, catch-and-shoot)
-Accuracy (shoot to side of backboard)

One on one separation play. (Creation and denial). With and without the ball. 

Review footwork every practice (for better positioning both inside and outside).

Cutting (reading defenders in space and using screens). Coach can simulate various overplays to illustrate options to get open. 

Review: Four ways to score (what's your go to and counter move).

Pierce Wing series without and with defense.