Individual Instruction On-Court Workout 5/29/14

The Summer is arguably my favorite part of the basketball season. While I love the competitiveness of practice and games during the season, I am very passionate about player development and helping kids improve out of season. With that said, today started Day 1 of Summer in Florida as we are no longer in school; that also means the gym is available in the mornings to workout our players.

In an effort to provide you (the reader) with the most up to date and enlightening coaching material possible, I am going to start posting the workouts I put my players through each day. I am not going to sit here and try to convince you that I am a “Pro Development Coach”, my goal is to teach my players skills to help their individual games on the court to help our team. If you’re looking for juggling tricks while dribbling, I am sorry you won’t find those on my site.

I try to keep my workouts no more than 45 minutes as I feel if I push my players to their limit they physically should not be able to go all out for much longer. If I have multiple players I will go an hour or maybe a little longer to incorporate the extra number of shots they need to get up that day.

I am not going to list when and where in the workouts, but I work in free-throws and water breaks throughout my sessions where I see fit. (ie-If the player is absolutely gassed I will give them a break to shoot a few FT’s and grab a quick rinse.)

Here was this morning’s workout:

10-10-10

I always start my workouts with this drill as it really gets a lather going for the player while also staying in close as a warm-up factor. With a coach or teammate rebounding, the player must make 10 bank shots in a row from all three spots (Left, Middle, Right).

Mid-Range Move and Shoot

Similar to 10-10-10, this is also one of my favorites to start a workout with to get the player going and find their rhythm. Today I had my player start a little inside 15 feet to work more on his mid-range. Player starts in the corner and takes his first shot, make or miss they move to the other section of the spot (back and forth) until they reach their goal of makes per spot. When using five spots, the shots come from the following areas:

1: Corner to Wing
2. Wing to Elbow
3: Elbow to Elbow
4: Elbow to Wing
5. Wing to Elbow

Goal: Make 6 for 8 from each series of spots.

2 in Row – 5 Spots

Again, today was more of a warm-up day to get back into the routine so I wanted to re-enforce a great warm-up routine to find our shooting rhythm. Utilizing the five spots around the perimeter, a coach or teammate will pass to the player. On the catch, player will make a hard shot fake and one dribble left for a mid-range jumper. On the make, this is repeated with one hard dribble right. Player must make two in a row at all five spots before they can get out.

Goal: Make 2 in a row from each spot.

Moves on the Move Finishes

These next set of drills I got from Kentucky head coach John Calipari at Coaching U Live. Player starts with the ball on the block and speed dribbles to the last cone. Once at the last cone they will slow slightly to change the pace, then perform a HARD inside-out move at the middle cone before crossing over at the third cone and finishing at the rim. Player is only allowed 1 dribble after the last cone. (On reverses you may allow two dribbles). It is really important to emphasize the selling factor of the inside-out to move the defense laterally (not allowed to step over any cones).  Each segment the player had to go 4 for 6, if he missed more than 2 in a segment we started that segment over.

Goal: Make 4 for 6 per segment (per side) without missing 2 in a row.

Segment 1: Inside-out / Crossover and finish strong side at the rim. 4 MAKES
Segment 2: Inside-out / Crossover and finish reverse with outside hand at the rim. 4 MAKES
Segment 3: Inside-out / Crossover and cup the ball with both arms to protect with and finish reverse with inside hand at the rim. 4 MAKES

REPEAT SEGMENT 1->3 ON LEFT SIDE

Segment 4: Inside-out / Between the Legs and one dribble mid-range jumper. 4 MAKES
Segment 5: Between the Legs (at middle cone) / Crossover and one dribble mid-range jumper. 4 MAKES
Further segments will include step-back jumpers.

REPEAT SEGMENT 4->5 ON LEFT SIDE

Low and Slow Step-Slides

Player starts in the corner and must sit down low in a defensive stance. Goal is to stay as low and move as slow as possible. This drill is a great leg builder as it can take up to two minutes to complete if performed correctly. Player takes a small step with leading leg and then slides rest of body to catch up.

 

Low and Slow Bounces

Using the same diagram above, this drill helps with foot quickness and re-enforces staying low and building leg strength. We have all seen the stationary foot-fire drills in basketball camps. This is similar except both feet bounce simultaneously as quickly as middle. As the player bounces (feet should bounce about an inch) they SLOWLY move laterally. Again if performed correctly, this drill can take up to 1-2 minutes to complete.

We repeated this drill for a total of two times.

Closeout Slides

To finish out our defensive segment we did a defensive closeout drill. Player starts by taking two explosive steps and then stutters to closeout with high hands (the closeout is the diagonal line below). After closing out they then slide horizontally to mimic cutting off a driver before closing out again.

 

60 Makes – 5 Spots

In order to get up a good number of shots with only myself rebounding and passing we did this three level shooting from five spots. Player started at spot 1 shooting mid-range jumpers, he had to make 5 total from this spot before moving back to the 3-point line where he then had to make 5 3’s. After making 5 3’s, he had to finish off the spot with 2 college 3’s. At anytime if the player missed 3 consecutive shots at any of the three levels, that “spot” had to be started over. (i.e.- if he missed three consecutive 3’s from spot 2, he had to move back to mid-range (spot 2) and start over.

Goal: Make 5 mid-range jumpers, 5 HS 3’s, and 2 college 3’s.

10 3’s in 1 Minute

This is one of my favorite drills to finish off a workout. With 1 minute on the clock, and a coach or teammate passing, the player must make 10 3’s within that minute. However, they must sprint and touch the half-court line between each shot.

Goal: Make 10+ 3’s in 60 seconds.

Total number of MADE shots in this workout= 234. As the Summer progresses this number will increase.

Let me know what you think about the workout above; did you find it informative? Would you like me to continue posting or stick to individual drills?