Basketball - Crowdsourcing - Practice Activities That Made a Difference

Coaches ask for 'crowdsourcing' ideas for player development. There's no "one size fits all" because twelve year-olds and NBA rookies have different needs and growth arcs. 

First, a few principles:

• Condition with a ball. 
• Use constraints - time, physical limits (e.g. dribbles)
• Include defense...or offense if it's a defensive drill.
• Competition lifts players. 
• Add decision-making

Examples:

Conditioning

3 x 3 x 3 shooting

Tongues look like neckties if players 'go hard' in this drill. Encourage communication as passers must call out the shooter's name.

Constraints

Dribble tag within the arc. 3 to 4 minutes at each end. Constraints include:

• Non-dominant hand dribbling
• Vary types of dribbling - hesitations every 3rd or crossovers 
• Combos - non-dominant hand plus varied dribbling 

Advantage-disadvantage drills. 5 versus 7 full-court. No dribbling. Can only score in the paint. If the ball hits the floor it's a turnover. When you can break full court pressure against seven, only five defenders feels like a mismatch. 

Include Defense (or Offense)

Box drills from the elbow get introduced initially "on air." Adding defense changes everything. Pivoting is undertaught. Attacking with fewer dribbles adds value. 

Shell drill with offense adds a different dimension. Also, insist that the 'shell' defenders face different challenges - pass and cut, pass and screen on the ball and off the ball, pass and slip. 

Competition Simulates the Game

One vs one (always limiting to two dribbles)

Two vs two (PnR, DHO, give-and-go, slips emphasized)

Three v three (with constraint of playing inside the split - the line bisecting the court)

Small-sided games (Link and link within)

Playing three vs three at each end of the court (inside the split) with a coach for each group was a 10 minute staple. Can start with a spread formation, triangle, low post and wing, etc. The possibilities are endless. 

Every good team has solid offense and defense in the half-court. Offense is played more often three-on-three than five-on-five. If you want, you can team Zoom Action and Pistol during these segments

Decision Making

Small-sided games and scrimmaging are both ideal to train both offensive and defensive decisions. Chris Oliver suggests other approaches... sometimes they feel gimmicky but I have a ton of respect for him. 

Lagniappe. Repost from 2017. Coaching taught me a lot about what both players and I knew or didn't.