How to Improve ANY Basketball Drill

This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast, and I'm your host, Alex Sarama. This is the podcast where we help coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to create the ultimate resource to help make sense of how contemporary skill acquisition ideas can be applied within the basketball world.

Throughout the podcast, we'll unpack how an ecological dynamics framework alters our perspective of the game. If you're ready to join us in our quest to transform the basketball world, then this is the podcast for you. Since starting Transforming Basketball, I think a question that has been coming through a lot, especially more recently, is how can I disseminate these ideas to the other coaches I'm working with?

Or even just friends of mine within the coaching community. And, you know, it's not easy to go from, you know, not having an awareness of skill acquisition ideas to suddenly being confronted by terms such as dynamical systems theory and ecological psychology. So the idea behind this episode is to show the difference between a drills approach and an approach which is informed by a constraint-led approach, aka the CLA.

So what I'm going to do in this is it's going to be very short but very practical. I'm just gonna— I've taken some Very popular but traditional drills within the basketball world. I'm just going to riff, and I'm just going to improvise and give some examples as to how I could use the CLA to improve these.

So we'll see how it goes. And I think this is a really good way to provide suggestions. So maybe if you're working with another coach who hasn't yet come across the CLA, well, you could use these ideas as suggestions to them. So maybe As opposed to running the 3-man weave, you could use some of the ideas that I provide you with in this episode.

And just, you know, important to remember that everything we're doing, obviously we're trying to move away from drill-based coaching environments and instead creating more live environments based on effective constraint manipulation within small-sided games. So let's begin with a classic, the 3-man weave. A lot has been said about it.

I don't want to add to that. I just want to give you the alternative. So to begin with, we need to create more variability with the start of the weave. So instead of always having the offensive players along the baseline, let's just get them and random in different positions within the half court, and that's gonna be a great start.

Let's then take one defender who starts somewhere in the paint and one defender who starts anywhere else, and it's a 3-on-2 situation. One defender will start with the ball. They might shoot it, and then it's live from there. They could offensive rebound, their partner could rebound, or the offensive players should look to use their numerical advantage to obviously secure the defensive rebound and transition down the other end.

So this is obviously a 3-on-2 situation. Now, this is gonna be far more variable, and we are actually gonna see within this task principles of play in transition that reflect how we want our players to play. A 3-man weave has none of those things.

So the intentions are way clearer. And of course, we can constrain appropriately. So we could give the offense an 8-second clock to end the possession with a rim finish, a foul, or a 3-point catch-and-shoot attempt. So this would be a really good example of manipulating constraints from the CLA.

Now we could of course change it. We could add one more defender to make it a 3-on-3, and we could have that defender always coming in from a random angle. We could add another trip, so maybe there's one offense down and then the team that was previously defense gets a chance to play offense coming back.

We could change the scoring to emphasize certain outcomes, whatever we want within our principles of play. So there's so much more we can do than a very dead and static drill like the 3-man weave. And it's not a case of let's just do the 3-man weave for a warm-up and get them loose.

If you want to do something for a warm-up, then I'm going to provide ideas. That's going to be one of the other kind of ideas I share, alternatives to warm-up. We might as well do something that's actually making them a better mover versus merely adding unnecessary load.

The next one is the zigzag drill. This is a really easy drill makeover. All we have to do is constrain the space, for instance, playing from the sideline to the lane line extended, and we give the offense a certain time limit to get to the other end and score.

It's very easy. Now, that is quite a challenging task, and, you know, it's also very high load. It's gonna be very intense. So we gotta think, you know, what else could we do as opposed to just making this, you know, a very kind of intense full-court one-on-one?

Is there anything else we could do here to maybe add some more rest to the players, make it a little bit more manageable, etc.? So an easy way we could go about that is we could add defenders in certain segments. So what this will mean is they're not going to be as exhausted as always playing offense and defense, because by having defenders in other positions, they're naturally getting some more rest.

And these defenders, maybe they, they're octopus and they can't fully move, so they can just you know, be within this kind of narrow rectangle. So as these pairs are playing one-on-one, we got maybe one octopus who's just standing somewhere else. They can stand, and then they rotate in after.

So they're in groups of 3. Really easy. We could, of course, create different size playing areas. So as opposed to, you know, very neat rectangles, create different shapes on the court through pylons or floor mats. See how the players can advance within that.

And of course, maybe if the intention is to improve solutions moving defensively or improve dribbling skills, we're not playing one-on-one to score. We could just do it where we're creating different size shapes, and that you get points by getting to the end of the playing area within a certain time frame without losing your ball or committing a violation.

So much more we can do than a classic zigzag. And I think if coaches believe that defensive footwork is being developed within zigzag, It's simply not conducive to the footwork that emerges within the game. The defense will never wait for the offensive player to get to a location on the floor before turning and, you know, allowing them to dribble to a spot easily.

It never happens. So instead, I would just do, if you wanna develop defensive footwork, do one-on-ones with the defense starting in a different position every time. So they're gonna have to explore different footwork solutions to try and get back to neutral. So sometimes they could be behind, side on, sometimes they could be facing.

The basket. Sometimes they could be facing away from the basket. That different starting position is going to afford a different movement solution every single rep. Layup lines. So easiest thing we can do here, especially in youth basketball, instead of having the rebounder wait for the rebound, make them play defense.

Easiest start, easiest thing we can do. And even in a game, I did this with my prep team. We didn't have them as a live defender. We just had them as a guided defender. And all that did was add some repetition at repetition when we are doing layup lines in the game.

Now, obviously, unless we are very limited with the number of baskets, I would not advocate for a layup line when we're in practice because it's just not enough repetition at repetition. So I would actually rather that we have maybe 3 games of one-on-one going on at a time, and there's an element of chaos versus players waiting in a layup line.

You know, playing this one-on-one in less space, the best thing, because it's more representative, and players have to find ways to navigate the chaos and use space. Instead of doing a layup line, maybe you just have players— say you have some side baskets in the gym.

You have a defender who is the rebounder waiting in the smile, and you have another offensive player. They drive, they have to score in the smile, coming from a different angle every time, not just the layup line angle. And that's our 1-on-1. And then as soon as they finish, the next 2 go.

And it's just constant, constant action, lots of repetition, but every rep is variable and slightly different. So, you know, any form of 1-on-1 that you create, or any activity with finishing focus, is gonna be far superior in your practice to layup lines. Next one is 5-on-0.

So again, it's as easy as adding a defender. In this instance though, we need more defenders than just one. So I'd say the minimum defenders would be 3, maximum 5. Now, here are a few things you can do. You can be really creative.

Maybe 2 defenders can't use their hands, 3 defenders can. Maybe 3 defenders can only play defense outside the paint, whereas 2 defenders can roam anywhere, go wherever they want. So we can constrain the space, see what they do. And we might also get the defense to do different things.

So we might award them points if they can disrupt the offense with some type of coverage and it's successful. So maybe a team is blitzing in the next game. So we say to the defense, all right, you can't use a blitz twice in a row.

So you gotta mix in some other coach, some other coverages. But when you do use a blitz, if you force a turnover, you get 3 points. So again, we wanna force adaptations and develop players who can exploit space and understand how to create advantages in any situation.

The around the basket drill, otherwise known as around the horn. So see this a lot for warmups early on in a practice where player will run around the paint, run to the other side, receive a pass, shoot a shot from the block, or shoot a layup.

Then the other player will run around and it repeats. For me, this is exactly the same as the layup line. It's really ineffective. Players are waiting around and we just need to play one-on-one and create different one-on-ones. Now, if you wanna do the around the basket drill, Turn it into a small-sided game and do it with 4 players.

So no more than 4 players are waiting, and you have 1 defender always in the smile. And maybe if that defender wants to come out of the smile, they have to get 2 stops in a row. And we're working on our wall-ups and verticality.

The constraint could be they can't steal the pass to the offense, but they can disrupt them and try and force a catch in a difficult area. And the offense has a 2-dribble max to score inside the smile. Now, if you don't have enough baskets to do that and move everyone around, again, it's better to just play different advantage one-on-one games at the same hoop and let the players understand when to go and when to start their rep and say you can't have more than 3 one-on-one games at a time.

And if you're really tight on space, so maybe you have high numbers in the gym and only 2 baskets, something I've done really successfully is I've managed to get 4 games of one-on-one at the same time in the same rim. So what— how I've done that is 2 of the 1-on-1 games, if you're in the corners, or maybe wing and corner, whatever, if you're on the right wing and the left corner, you're allowed to score anywhere.

If you're on the, uh, left wing and the right corner, you can only score outside the paint. So again, we can find creative ways to use the space and keep the time on task at a good level. Shell drill. So easiest one here is just playing live.

Create different disadvantage-advantage situations from 3-on-3 to 5-on-5 and see how the defense rotates. Now, you can of course constrain what you want within it, and if you're wanting to improve your defensive execution, for me the easiest way to do that is flipping the scoring to score the defense.

Something I do a lot is I call it 3-on-3-on-3 rapid fire. where it's just half-court 3-on-3, different teams coming on if I've got high numbers. Obviously, if I haven't got high numbers, we could just play with 2 baskets, 2 games of 3-on-3, and the first team to get 5 stops on defense wins.

If you get a stop, you stay on D. If you score, you get to play defense. The offense could be constrained to running particular triggers if we need to improve coverages in these areas, and we could constrain the space to make it more real.

There's lots we can do there. So That's the easiest way to improve your team's kind of concentration and commitment to defense without having to do a defensive focus drill. And in all my small-sided games, players understand that there's not just a singular offensive focus.

They know that in every game we're looking to execute our offensive and defensive principles of play. And one way I do that too is often I have 2 ways to win the game. So it could be in any small-sided game or scrimmage we're doing, you have 12 points to win the game on offense.

But at the same time, if you force 3 turnovers, you win. So a team might be on 11 points and 1 point away from game, but they commit their 3rd turnover, the other team wins. So again, all this takes is some creativity as the coach.

And by doing this, instead of having to have offensive and defensive drills, Every single activity, we are reconnecting our offensive and defensive principles. The next one is not technically a drill. It's a small-sided game, but a traditional one. And this is something like a 3-on-2, 2-on-1 break.

And again, I don't like these drills because yes, they're, they're live, but there's no variability. The offense is always coming from the same places, as is the defender or the defenders. And we don't want that. I want maximum variability, even when we're doing outnumbered situations.

I want it variable. If we're doing transition, trying to create ways for the offense to come from different places as well as the defense. So that's why the easiest one is just doing trips. So what I mean by that is maybe it's a 3-on-3 in the half court, and they're running some type of trigger.

Let's say we're executing a stack pick and roll, learning the 3-person kind of interaction within a stack pick and roll. You know, the screen, back screen, the picker, regular Spain as other people in Europe call it. They play the half-court rep, and as soon as the defense gains the ball, we transition to the other side.

Now, if we want to create an advantage, the coach may call the name of one of the new defenders, and they have to high-five the coach before they're allowed to play defense. This creates a temporary 3-on-2 advantage, which could become a 3-on-3 if the defense scramble and Figure it out.

So something like that is way more variable, way more unpredictable, and that is exactly what we want because that is what happens within the game itself. Static dribbling. So again, I see no value whatsoever in doing static dribbling of any type, whether it's one ball or 2 balls or tennis ball.

Again, it's, it's a completely different task to the game itself. And you know, the analogy I'd give you here is we've all seen those incredible freestyle performers in football and basketball. trickery galore. Many a time when they're in a game, we're often disappointed by their performance.

And the reason why is because dribbling a ball in a fancy manner, one-on-zero in a static environment, is not the same as dribbling the ball in a game situation when we have defenders, teammates, and other constraints. And that is what counts. So again, the biggest thing with me is efficiency, and I want players to feel like I really respect their time.

And I would never do something on court that wastes time. I want every second to count, and that's why we just don't have time for it. So even if a player wants some confidence, let's make it variable, and let's have a guided defender who sometimes might try and steal the ball.

There's so much we can do, and the easiest alternative to this is— I love this game, Stay Alive One-on-One. But the offense has to handle pressure for 5 seconds in a small area. And the defense has to try and steal the ball. After the 5 seconds, if they stay alive, the player gets to shoot.

It could either be a 3 if we're constraining it, or just a normal 1-on-1. So, so much we can do there. And then, of course, we can add further constraints. We could say, if you turn your back to the defense longer than a second, you lose.

So now they really have to find other solutions as opposed to just being a turtle and, you know, making it really easy. But then, obviously, we don't want that to appear in a game, because if a player always has their back, of a defender, they don't have affordances to easily drive or pass.

So again, think about how you manipulate constraints within it. And the last one we have here is warm-up routines. And I hinted that this would come at the very beginning. We gotta move away from routines and dynamic stretches, which do nothing. So instead, let's open up the degrees of freedom.

Let's play tag games. Let's even maybe play touch American football. Let's even play soccer, football, and say the defenders cannot tackle, but the offensive player only has 3 seconds on the ball to dribble, pass, or shoot. So then they can steal the ball through interceptions, you know, all of that.

There's so much we can do in a warm-up. And, you know, if we are resorting to merely doing dynamic stretches, it's just not a good way to start practice. It doesn't create any kind of engagement or joy within that practice environment. And, you know, anytime we have a more a live warm-up task, you will notice an incredible difference when you start practice with your first activity.

The engagement levels, the fun, it's going to be through the roof. So that's it for today, a very practical podcast on drill makeovers and how we can apply a CLA to some of the most traditional activities in the basketball world. Thanks for tuning into this episode of the Transforming Basketball podcast.

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