Post Your Favorite Drill

The coaching community shares information and debates controversies. How does one build better players? 

I can't say that I have a favorite drill, anymore than I expect that a carpenter would say she has a favorite tool. But I believe that superior players excel by creating and preventing separation. I also believe in the adage, "good players need two dribbles, excellent players need one, and elite players none." 




For example, Evan Turner gets great separation with the crossover. 




And Steve Blake shows that he can repay a favor. 

The drill can be run "statically" (offensive player has the ball) or dynamically with the offensive player receiving the ball on the move. I prefer the latter, but with three baskets and I can run six groups (1-on-1, using both sides) which gets far more repetitions. 

It's pretty obvious that "2 Dribble Limit" means that you get a maximum of two dribbles to score. I'm not saying that ball reversal isn't important, but the last thing I want to watch is teenage girls dribbling the basketball east and west, NOT attacking the basket. If you can get to the rim with one dribble, so much the better. If you can get into the paint with a dribble for a mid-range shot and finish, great. But you can't bring a knife to a gunfight. As they say in No Excuse Leadership, "bring a tank and four friends."

We can modify the drill by adding another defender in the paint and keep score by awarding one point for a hoop or one point for a stop. You can matchup by size or create size mismatches to challenge players. 

I tell young players with a good "catch and shoot" game, "that's nice, but any good coach stops that". Shooters need to learn penetration and penetrators who can't shoot seldom last. 

Teach them to spell, too. "There's "a rat" in S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E." Be that rat.