Kevin Eastman Skill Development Drill
Kevin Eastman has had an extensive coaching journey in college ranks as well as in the NBA spanning over 4 decades in the game. He is currently the vice-president of basketball operations for the LA Clippers. At a coaching clinic back in 2007, coach Eastman shared his knowledge and philosophy on skill development aspect of the game concerning both inside and perimeter players. In addition to all the teaching points, Coach Eastman demonstrated numerous drills that he uses with his players focusing on shooting and footwork primarily. This Kevin Eastman Skill Development mini playbook contains 5 drills including one warm-up drill that coach showed at the clinic which can be used at all levels of play.
As a player, Kevin Eastman attended the University of Richmond and played on the Richmond’s basketball team from 1973 to 1977 where he was a two time team captain and a three-year starter scoring over 1,000 career points and became a member of the university’s athletic hall of fame. He also had a short career playing professionally for the Richmond Virginians of the All-American Basketball Alliance league (AABA) where he appeared in total 11 games and averaged over 9.0 points per contest.
Coach Eastman’s coaching career began in 1978 as an assistant coach for his alma mater Richmond University followed by three year and two year stints at Colorado State and VCU universities respectively. Coach Eastman returned to Richmond for another year as an assistant coach for the 1985-86 season before accepting his first head coaching job at NAIA’s Belmont Abbey university. After 3 great seasons at Belmont and a short stint as an assistant at Tulsa, he became the head coach for the University of North Carolina Wilmington from 1990-1994 seasons before taking on the head coaching role at Washington State University from 1994-1999 seasons. Coach Eastman began his NBA career as an assistant coach to Doc Rivers for the Boston Celtics team from 2004 to 2013 seasons which included multiple playoff appearances, 2 trips to the NBA finals and a championship winning season in 2008. As Doc Rivers moved to LA Clippers, he took Kevin Eastman with him as an assistant for the 2013-14 season.
In addition to being a phenomenal basketball mind, Coach Eastman is a speaker, an educator and also the owner and president of Kevin Eastman Basketball and co-founder of Coaching U Live both of which were created as a way to give back to the game. He is widely regarded as one the world’s best clinicians and teachers of the game. He also shares his leadership acumen and team building philosophies with corporate leaders and audiences around the world. He also continues his long relationship with Nike as the national director of Nike’s skill development programs for the nation’s elite high school and college players. Working with other skill development experts such as Ganon Baker, the program has proven to be a solid platform where young players can lay the foundation and develop the skills they need to compete at the highest levels.
Following a restructuring process of the clippers’ management, Coach Eastman became the vice-president of basketball operations for the franchise – a position he currently holds. Hopefully you will find these drills helpful for you and your program and in your skill development workouts with your players.
Click on the pdf link to download the Kevin Eastman Skill Development Drill:
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