Big Man Drills

Although the title of this post is big man drills these can be done by anyone.  Guards will find great value in many of these drills as we often find ourselves under the goal needing to finish.  Several of these are not particular to posts and can be done by anyone wanting to work on their footwork and shooting.

Post Workout Video via youtube

Footwork

• Jump Rope:  Start by skipping rope for 60 seconds going as fast as you can.  Push yourself to increase your stamina and speed
• One foot Mikan drill:  In this drill, you shoot right hand/right side, pull the ball out of the net by stepping through, and then shooting left hand/left side.  Pull the ball back out of the net and you are back where you started.  Shoot for 30 makes and increase the number made as your skill level improves.  See the video for demonstartion
• Jump Rope:  "2 in a row" skipping.  Left-left-right-right, etc.  Go for 60 seconds.
• Two foot Mikan drill:  Same as the one foot, but you are jumping and landing on two feet on each side of the basket.  See the video for demonstration.  
• Pogo:  Make 30-throw the ball off the glass and go right back up and score.  Focus on the ball staying above your head.  

Form Shooting

• Starting on one side of the goal, you are shooting the ball with ONE hand, working on arch, elbow in, and follow through.  Make 25 from the left side, right side, and directly in front of the goal.  
• Shot Builders:  Start at about 5 feet from the goal in the middle of the lane.  Dribble the ball once and get it into your shooting pocket and go right up into a shot, focusing on correct form. Make 5 from that spot and take a big step back.  Repeat until you make 5 shots from each spot for a total of 25 makes. 

Post Moves

• Drop Step:  Work both sides of the basket, receiving a pass from a teammate, and dropping your trail foot towards the basket and finishing.  Make 30 before you move to the next post move.
• Turn and Face:  Flash to a block and catch a ball from a teammate.  Turn and square up to the goal and make 30 jump shots.  Make sure that you turn and face the basket before going into your shot.  This simulates a defender playing off of you and you make them pay by burying a jump shot.  
• Cross Over:  Flash to a block and catch a ball from a teammate.  Turn and square up to the goal-jab step and cross-over dribble taking the ball to the rim.  Make 30 shots.
• Up and Under:  This drill is best illustrated in the video.  Catch the ball, fake the jump shot, and when your defender is in the air, step through and finish at the rim.  Make 30 shots
• Short Corner/Medium Post Shots:  In this drill, you will go back and forth between the short corner and medium post, catching the ball and turning and shooting at each spot.  Make 30 shots.

Game Shots:  These are just some of the shots that we expect posts to be able to take in our various offenses.  These are by no means all of the shots that posts will get, but they are ones that they will see multiple times.  I could have put the short corner/medium posts shots in this section, but left them in the post moves section instead. 

• Top of Key:  In this drill, start at the low block and set a screen near the FT line for a teammate (simulated).  Step to the top of the key and take a pass from a teammate and shoot the 15-20 foot jumper.  Make 15 shots.
• High Shuffle Cut and Finish:  Start at an elbow and simulate receiving a screen from a teammate.  Cut off the screen and down the lane finishing at the rim.  Make sure to work both sides of the floor.  Make 30 shots.
• Pick and Roll:  Start at an elbow and screen for the ball on the wing.  After the screen, roll to the basket and finish at the rim.  Make 30 shots.

Rebounding:  Here are two drills that you can do in a gym with a partner that will teach you to attack the basketball and be strong with it.

• One-on-zero rebounding:  Have a teammate throw the ball towards the goal to provide a rebounding opportunity.  Work on rebounding with your "feet" which means that you have to try to get your body directly under the ball before leaving the floor to secure the rebounding.  Make sure that you grab the ball with two hands always and come down with it strong.  Turn and outlet to your teammate and go again.  Go until you are tired!
• Rebound with contact:  Have one person with a pad behind a rebounder, who has the basketball.  The rebounder throws the ball up to the rim and goes after it just like the previous drill.  The person with the pad hits the rebounder so that he gets used to rebounding with contact. 

As with any workout, the key to improving isn't just time in the gym, but GOOD time in the gym.  Work hard on the drills above and feel free to add your favorite drills into the mix.  Whatever you do, do it HARD and you will see yourself getting better.  
 

Point Guard Development Drills

Jordan and I talked on the way home about the point guard position.  It is the most important position on the team for many reasons, and it take a special person to want to take on the pressure of being a point guard.  If you want to be a point guard, here are some drills that I want you to be working on in the off-season.

Point Guard Workout Video Part 1
Point Guard Workout Video Part 2

Ball Handing

• Ball Slaps:  start by "waking up" your hands before you begin your workout.  Start with the ball in one hand and slap the ball with the other.  Go back and forth between hands until you feel a little sting in each hand.  Don't slap it so hard that you break your hand, but wake them up!
• Fingertip Strengthening Drill:  Everyone has seen the drill where you tip the ball back and forth between your hands using only your fingertips.  In this drill, instead of tipping the ball back and forth, try squeezing the ball with your fingertips, popping the ball into the air. 
• Circle Drills:  Move the ball in circle around your ankles, knees, waist, torso, etc.  Make sure that you work both directions as you will find that one is easier than the other.  Focus on the direction that you find difficult and work on it!  Do the thing that's hard to do and the power will come!  Eyes up so that your hands and fingers are getting used to finding the ball.
• Figure 8:  Start with figure eight around your legs.  Again, one direction will be much more difficult than the other so work on it so that they are both equal.  Eyes up the entire time.
• Figure 8 dribble:  Focus on finding the ball with your hands.  This is an easy drill to do when looking at the ball, but much tougher with your eyes up.  Find a spot on the other end of the court to look at to force yourself not to look at the ball.  You can vary this drill by dribbling high, low, fast, or slow.  
• Rhythm Dribble:  This is a hard one to explain, but I will try.  Look for a video coming that helps illustrate it.  Start with the ball between your legs, right hand in front and left hand behind you.  Let the ball go so that it bounces off the floor while you quickly switch hands (now your left is in front and right behind).  Push the ball behind your right leg and then take it all of the way around the front of both legs and behind your right leg.  Now you should be back where you started.  When done right, you can hear the rhythm of the ball hitting the floor and your hands.  This is probably one of my favorite ball handing drills!

Dribble Drills

There are as many dribble drills as there are basketball coaches out there.  I am a proponent of trying to dribble with two balls as much as possible when working out on your own.  You have to be able to move with the basketball, and using two at one time just helps your hands and fingers get used to finding the ball on it's return from the floor.

• 2 ball dribble/stationary:  You can do many different stationary dribbling drills with 2 basketballs.  A quick search of the internet will yield many different and similar drills.  The focus here is to challenge yourself to work with two basketballs while keeping your eyes up.
• 2 ball dribble/moving:  Start at one baseline and dribble to the other baseline and back using 2 basketballs.  Start at about 1/2 speed and work up until you are at full speed.  You can try dribbling the balls simultaneously, or you can alternate as you move up and down the court.
• Standard change of direction drills:  The three most common change of direction dribbles that a good point guard needs are the crossover, between the legs, and behind the back dribble.  Using chairs, cones, or lines on the court, will help give you a "defender" and simulate the need to change direction.  Start working at 45 degree angles up and down the court using one of the three change of direction moves when you meet the "defender."  These are basic drills that are done in youth sports, but often overlooked in middle school and high school programs.  We will work on these almost daily, so get a head start by working on them on your own.

Whatever drills you find and choose to work on, remember that it is imperative the your eyes are not on the ball.  A good point guard MUST be able to see the entire court and the nine other players on it.  The more you work on your dribbling skills, the more natural it becomes to do so without seeing the ball.

Lay-ups

A point guard that can handle the ball is likely to be able to beat his defender off of the dribble.  That means he will have opportunities to finish at the rim and needs to be able to do so in different ways.

• From your basic 45 degree angle, start with the ball in triple threat position.  Use a jab step and crossover step and take the ball to the basket at game speed and finish at the rim with right hand on right side and left hand on left side.  Add the reverse layup on each side of the basket to increase the difficulty of the drill.
• With the ball on the baseline, simulate a baseline drill using your left hand on the right side and right hand on the left side.  Also add the reverse layup from underneath the backboard.
• From the top of the key, work on driving the ball down the lane and finishing on both side of the basket as well as straight on.  In all three of these positions, make sure to start in triple threat and make a move to get to the rim.

Jump Shots

Another skill that point guards need to have is the ability to pull up and shoot the mid-range jump shot when their path to the basket is cut off by help defenders.

• Start at the top of the key, in triple threat position, and dribble the ball into the lane at game speed.  Work on pulling up for the jump shot in all areas of the lane.  Make sure to get good arch on the jump shot in the lane so as to simulate shooting over the post defenders that have rotated over to help.  
• Move to different spots on the floor to work on different angles for the jump shot.
• Use a chair as a defender to simulate a screen and work on various angles of coming off of down screens to get your jump shot.  As you get more confident and successful, move your jumper back to 3-point range.   

Wrap-Up

As with any individual workouts, you will find things that you need to work on more than others.  Tailor your workout to not only work on those things that are strengths of your game, but to focus on those areas that you need to improve. As long as you are working hard to develop your game, and making good use of your gym time, you will see results.