Basketball Drill - 4-Second Box Transition Drill

By Dr. James Gels, From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
"Helping coaches coach better..."

This full-court transition offense drill comes from Butler University Head Coach Lavall Jordan. It focuses on offensive transition, quick outlet and quick passing, sprinting up the court, and communication.

"When we get the rebound, we want to go," - Coach Lavall Jordan. This drill helps create that habit of getting out and sprinting up the court.

Running the Drill

Use groups of four. Using a box set (see diagram), two guards O1 and O2 are at the elbows and two post players O4 and O5 are on the blocks. A coach tosses the ball up off the right side of the backboard and O5 rebounds and quickly outlets to O1. The opposite post player O4 immediately goes and sprints wide up the sideline (outside the half-court cone).

There is no dribbling in this drill. O1 catches the ball with a jump stop, pivots and fires the next pass to O2 cutting hard to the middle. O2 catches it with a jump stop, pivots and passes to O4 cutting hard to the hoop for a lay-up. Coach Jordan wants the receiver's feet on the floor when catching the passes so there is no traveling.



The layup must be made within 4-seconds. All four players sprint up the court and all four players must also be inside the 3-point arc within four seconds. If they don't beat the clock, they go back and do it over again. If they succeed, they stay on the far end while the next group runs the drill. Once all groups are on the opposite end, run the drill back up the court. Use the left side of the backboard too.

Communication is important. The outlet receiver yells "outlet, outlet!", the middle receiver yells "middle, middle, middle!", and the sprinting post calls for the "ball!"

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