Basketball drills to improve both your team performance and your coaching basketball level

Whatever kind of basketball drills you need, in the end most coaches just want more variety and effective drills for their practices. Players often get tired of doing the same thing over and over. But if you can get them practicing the same skills while using a different setup, it will freshen things up and both player and coach will get what he or she wants. The majority of basketball drills you use will focus on the fundamentals and techniques of shooting, dribbling, passing and rebounding. Make sure you get your players at least adequate at all of these skills and that each and ever player is better at each one by the end of the season. It’s your job to teach them the core skills of the game.

Shooting basketball drills

For shooting basketball drills, you can choose one of a myriad of options. You can model after the great college coaches in the game who often release basketball coaching DVDs of their practices to show other coaches what’s been successful for them. Also, there are also books and ebooks you can buy online that analyze clinics across the country and the methods of the top coaches, as well. You can find as many basketball drills as you need for shooting and the other skills, if you put your mind to it. For shooting, remember that players need to get the form right from a young age so stationary drills with the shooting hand held in front of the face repeating the correction motion over and over with or without a ball can help imprint that on a player’s brain. Only once the correct form and motion is down, should you move your players on to mobile shooting drills and drills that simulate game situations.

Passing basketball drills

Some of the best passing basketball drills are that kind that have been used for a long time. One classic drill is the three-man weave. This drill involves three players starting from one side of the court in order to get to the other side for a lay-up, passing amongst each other they all reach the other side. Players pass the ball from side to side and each participant, once receiving the pass on one side overlap to the middle and pass to the other player coming the other way and continue to overlap in this weave going down the court. Of course, players should also be drilled in how to pass properly and in control, using two hands on the ball and whipping out a strong, straight pass from the chest. While this pass will not work in every situation in a game, as a coach you know that it’s the most controlled pass and should be used whenever possible.

Dribbling basketball drills

While it’s most important for guards, of course dribbling skills have become more important for all players as the modern game requires small and even power forwards to be increasingly versatile and drift out from the key as often as possible. Therefore, all your players should be taking part in at least the minimum amount of ball handling basketball drills during your practices. Of course, you may want your guards and small forwards to spend more time than your big men in such basketball drills as they will be handling the ball more in situations during game time. However you organize it and split up your players during different times in your practice, make sure that each player gets the correct amount of time to improve. Big men often neglect dribbling basketball drills because they do not think they will use such skills often. But in today’s basketball world, a multi-talented power forward or center can make your offense so much more creative and dangerous. Get all your players dribbling as much as possible, so that they are as comfortable running with the ball while dribbling as they are walking down the street.

Introducing basketball drills to your players’ practice

Be sure to incorporate these core basketball drills into your routine in as many practices as possible, as well as other skills practiced such as rebounding. With this skill, you can do individual technique coaching as well as team drilling to find who’s hungriest for that ball once it’s in the air and to see who needs to improve in this area.

Of course you will have your offense and defense set up certain ways, so your team basketball drills may depend on your basketball philosophy. But if you can get your players skilled in the basics, it will make it easier for you to implement your offensive systems. All players need to know the fundamentals well in order for you to succeed, and should be able to shoot, pass and dribble in their sleep. It won’t take long to see improvement if you keep freshening up your practices with new drills that challenge the players to get better.