Basketball Drills - Guard Breakdown Shooting Drills

By James Gels, from the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook, @ www.coachesclipboard.net

Often in practice we "breakdown" for 10 or 15 minutes and have post players doing their drills at one end and perimeter players doing drills on the opposite end with a coach or assistant at each end. Here are some perimeter shooting drills that we use. We will go through several of these with each player getting two or three repetitions at each drill on each side.

With each drill, we do both sides and we have our players start in triple-treat position, make a jab-step fake or shot fake, and then execute the dribble and shot as indicated in each diagram below. We teach that the left foot is always the pivot foot (for a right-handed player) and vice-versa for the left-handed player.

So, when going to the left, right-handed players will make a crossover step, not a crossover dribble (which can be stolen by a defender). We watch players carefully to make sure they are using the cross-over step correctly and do not travel.

Guard Shooting Drill #1 - Dribble-Baseline:

In diagram A, the first drill is a simple dribble down to the baseline and shoot the mid-range jump shot. Each player gets his/her rebound and goes to the opposite line.

Guard Shooting Drill #2 - Dribble-Baseline, Back-Dribble Out:

In diagram B, each player will dribble down to the baseline, then back-dribble out, cross-over dribble and dribble into the seam and shoot the jump-shot. This drill is important because sometimes, in a game, players will dribble down to the baseline, stop the dribble, get trapped and lose the ball. This dribble teaches them to back-dribble out of the baseline and then still find the open shot in the seam.

Guard Shooting Drill #3 - In the Seam:

In diagram C, it's a simple dribble move into the seam with the pull-up jump shot. For right-handed players in the right line, this will be a crossover step.

Guard Shooting Drill #4 - Corner, In the Seam:

In diagram D, we start with all players in the corner (use both sides). Again, it's triple-threat position, a shot fake or jab-step, and a dribble into the seam between the corner and wing for a mid-range jump shot (like in diagram B).

Guard Shooting Drill #5 - Wing, V-Cut, Lay-up:

In diagram E, we again use both sides, and pass from the point to the wing. The wing makes a V-cut, catches the pass in triple-threat position, makes a shot-fake and dribble-drives for a lay-up.

Guard Shooting Drill #6 - Wing, V-Cut, Jump Shot:

In diagram F, use both sides, and pass from the point to the wing. The wing makes a V-cut, catches the pass in triple-threat position, makes a shot-fake and then a one or two-dribble adjust into either the seam or toward the baseline for the mid-range jump-shot.

Guard Shooting Drill #7 - Drive, Kick out to Corner:

Diagram H. We like our point guards to dribble-penetrate, and pass out to the corner if defended inside. Here, the point dribble-penetrates, passes out to the corner, for the quick shot from the corner.

Guard Shooting Drill #8 - Weave Screen Shooting:

Diagram I. This drill helps us execute our weave-screen plays and gets shooters ready to shoot the "3" coming off the screen and hand-off. Use both sides. You can start with the ball at the top (point), as seen in diagram I.



Or, you can have the ball-handler lines start at the half-court line, and then the ball-handler dribbles to the top and then over toward the wing for the hand-off. Shoot several 3-point shots, and then shoot several one-dribble pull-up jump-shots.

Next, you can do several fake dribble hand-offs with the ball-handler keeping the ball and quickly "turning the corner" and dribble-driving to the hoop. Finally, finish the weave-screen series with the receiver back-cutting for the pass and lay-up (drill #9 below - diagram J).

Guard Shooting Drill #9 - Dribble at, Back-cut:

Diagram J. This drill enforces our rule, "if someone is dribbling at you, back-cut" (except in a called weave-screen play). The point dribbles toward the wing. The wing moves out higher, holds a fist up (a signal for a back-cut), and then back-cuts quickly, all the way to the hoop.



The point guard should make the pass early. It's important that whenever a player back-cuts, the back-cut must go all the way to the hoop. In a game, if the cutter stops short and the point guard makes the pass, it's a turnover.

Guard Shooting Drill #10 - Feed Post and Slide to Corner:

We don't want our perimeter players standing still. When our wing players (O2 and O3) feed the low post, we want them to slide to the corner. Oftentimes, the wing defender will momentarily drop down toward the post, turns his/her head, and momentarily loses sight of our wing. We have our wing slide to the corner. This is an easy pass back out of the post and is often open for the 3-point shot from the corner. Similarly, if the ball is passed from the low post back out to the point, then our wing must slide back up.

In diagram K, we have our wings get in triple-treat, curl bounce pass to the low post (coach or manager), and then slide to the corner for the return pass and 3-point corner shot. He/she rebounds and goes to the opposite side.

Guard Shooting Drill #11 - Feed Post and Slide back to Wing:

In diagram L, the wing again curl-bounce passes into the post and slides to the corner. Now the ball is passed back out on top to O1 and the wing slides back up, gets the pass from O1 and shoots the 3-pointer, rebounds and goes to the opposite line.

Guard Shooting Drill #12 - Feed Post and Skip-Pass to Opposite Wing:

In diagram M, the wing again curl-bounce passes into the post. The post player skip-passes out to the opposite wing for the 3-point shot. We'll do this drill on one side, and then repeat it on the opposite side.

Feeding the Low Post Drills

The next three drills are "passing into the post" drills as much as they are shooting drills. Feeding the low post oftentimes requires the perimeter player to make a dribble adjustment, in order to get a better passing angle into the post.

If the post defender is playing on the high side (diagram K above), the perimeter player should take one dribble toward the baseline and feed the post. If the post defender is on the low side, our perimeter player should take one dribble toward the top and feed the post. These next three drills are similar to the last three, but now we add a post defender and have the perimeter player make the dribble adjustment.

Guard Shooting Drill #13 - Feed Post (Post Defender on High Side) and Slide to Corner:

In diagram K above, we position a dummy post defender on the high side. The defender is there just to influence the passer and will not actually deny or intercept the post pass. Our wing player starts in triple-threat position, makes a one-dribble adjust to the baseline to create a better passing angle, and then makes a right-handed bounce pass to the post player's baseline side (away from the defender).

This is a left-handed pass if you are on the left side of the court. The passer then slides to the corner, gets the return pass, shoots, follows the shot and rebounds, and gets back into line.

Guard Shooting Drill #14 - Feed Post (Post Defender on Low Side) and Slide to Corner:

Here, we position a dummy post defender on the low side. Our wing player starts in triple-threat position, makes a one-dribble adjust toward the top to create a better passing angle, and then makes a left-handed bounce pass to the post player's top side (away from the defender).

This is a right-handed pass if you are on the left side of the court). The passer then turns and cuts back to the corner, gets the return pass, shoots, follows the shot and rebounds, and gets back into line.

Guard Shooting Drill #15 - Feed Post (Defender on Either Side) Skip-Pass to Opposite Wing:

This drill is similar to Drill #12 above, except that we again add a post defender and the dribble-adjustment. We start with one offensive player on the opposite wing ready to accept the skip-pass, shoot, follow the shot, rebound and get back into line. We start with the post defender on the high side, but we could have this defender position himself either on the high or low side, teaching the perimeter player to "read" the defender and to make the correct dribble-adjustment.

If we have time left over (post players still doing their drills), we pair up and shoot 3-pointers or free-throws.

Guard Shooting Drill #16 - Screen and Kick Shooting Drill

With this drill, we place two chairs (red boxes) just inside the arc, near the left elbow area to similuate a screen (see diagram A). O1 starts with the ball on the top left and dribbles hard around the screen. O2 is spotting up in the corner-wing area for a kick-out pass and 3-point shot. We use assistants as the defenders X1 and X2. The X1 defender can either go under or over the screen, and O1 has to read this defender and make the correct offensive play. X2 can stay out and deny O2, or help inside to stop O1 dribble-penetration.

Offensive reads:

• Diagram A. Screen and kick.
  
  
  
  
• Diagram B shows X1 going under the screen. O1 pops out and takes the 3-point shot.
  
  
  
  
• Diagram C shows X1 chasing over the screen. O1 attacks the hoop for a lay-up (if X2 stays out on O2 - no help).
  
  
  
  
• Diagram D shows X1 chasing over the screen, and O2 hedging inside. O1 shoots the pull-up jump-shot near the elbow.
  
  
  
  
• Diagram E shows X1 chasing over the screen, and O2 hedging hard inside. O1 kicks a pass out to O2, and O2 takes the 3-point shot.
  
  
  
  
• Diagram F shows X1 going under the screen, and X2 denying O2. O2 reads this and back-cuts for the pass from O1.
  
  
  
  

O1 has to make the correct read. You can start with the defenders doing the same thing each time to drill the basic moves, but eventually have the defenders mix it up so that O1 learns to read the situation.