First see this if you are not familiar with the basic shell drill. Here is a competitive, live 4-on-4-on-4, fast-moving, half-court shell drill. One team is on offense, one on defense, and one in-waiting behind the endline. The first team to score five baskets wins, and the losers do push-ups or run.
The offense stays on the court until they are stopped. If the defense fails to stop them, the team waiting becomes the defense. If the defense stops the offense, they now become the offense, the offense goes off, and the waiting team becomes the defense. We may play two or three games depending on how much time we have.
4-on-4-on-4 Live Drill, three stops
A competitive, tough, half-court drill, we have three 4-player teams. A team can only win when it is on defense. One team is on offense 4-on-4, one on defense, man-to-man., and one is waiting under the endline.
If the offense scores, the defense is "out" and steps off the court - the offense becomes the defense, and the waiting 4-player team becomes the new offense. The defensive team tries to get 3-consecutive defensive stops - it has to be three in a row to win. The two losing teams do push-ups (or run). We may repeat this drill for two or three games.
Full-Court Cut Throat Drill
This is similar to the three stops drill above, but now full-court. It is excellent for conditioning, transition offense and transition defense.
To win, the defense must get three consecutive stops.
If the defense gets a stop, they must sprint back and defend the basket at the opposite end. The team that is out, takes the ball out and attacks offensively. The team that was on offense and failed to score, goes out and sprints down to the opposite basket so they are ready to go in on the next possession.
If the offense scores, they run back on defense. The team that is out, takes the ball and attacks on offense. The team that was on defense and gave up the score, sprints back to the opposite basket and gets ready to come back in.
On any foul (defensive or offensive), that team goes out.
Losers run or do pushups.
4-on-4-on-4 Full-Court Transition Drill
This is probably our favorite drill of all, and we ran it nearly every practice as it's great for teaching transition offense and defense, conditioning, passing-catching and shooting on the move, and finishing at the hoop. See: 4-on-4-on Transition Drill. Have fun!
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