4 Line Passing Drill

I am always on the lookout for good passing drills. Passing is one of the fundamentals of basketball and all too often coaches forget about working on passing. I do not necessarily spend a bunch of time on passing but I do like to spend a couple of segments each week working on a passing drill.

I came across this passing drill and immediately liked it. It drills passing with typical offensive movements. Especially with teams that use the dribble drive as a primary offensive concept, this drill works on passing using standard drives in an offense. It also uses passes that an offense is going to be using in a game. This drill can easily translate from practice to a game.

The reason this drill caught my eye is because I saw it being used in a pre-game routine. It has players running, dribbling, and passing. This gets the players using game movements to get them ready for the game to start. Depending on how much time a team has for pre-game, this passing drill can take 3-4 minutes to help get players ready to play the game.

Ball Starting on Top with Middle Drive

This is a 4 line passing drill because it uses 4 lines. Two lines are at the top angled out from the elbows. Two lines are in the corner. A basketball starts in each line on the top.

The first player in each line on the top drives into the middle of the floor. As they cross the mid-line, they throw a cross pass to the corner. The players driving have to be aware to stagger their drives so they are not dribbling into each other.

This drill is very similar to my penetration kick out shooting drill. This is the same time of driving movement.

Once each player passes the ball, they follow their pass to line up back in the end of the line. This keeps the drill continuing until the coach decides to stop the drill.

The player in the corner catches the pass from the drive. This is where the penetration kick out drill will get the shot. However, this drill is a passing drill. So, we are now simulating a good closeout by the defense preventing the kick out 3-pointer. The corner player makes the extra pass back up to the top line.

The corner player will follow their pass and get in line at the top now. When the top player catches the extra pass, the drill has completed one full cycle. Now the 2nd player in line at the top has the ball and they start the rotation of the drill again by driving and passing out to the corner.

The drill is going to keep every player moving. The players are going to be using both sides of the floor, they are going to be dribbling, and they are going to be catching passes. The only offensive fundamental not being covered is shooting the ball. In preparing to play a game, especially a pre-game routine, to get multiple fundamentals covered and the players running around the court is a nice drill to have. This drill has all of that.

Ball Starting in Corner with Baseline Drive

The drill can also start with the ball in the corner. The rotations are similar but the drive and passes are flipped.

The corner player drives around the baseline. The drill simulates back side help rotation by the defense. As the defense rotates, the best pass is a kick out across the lane to the top of the key. This is the pass being made in the drill.

Again, the players will follow their pass and get into the line they just passed to.

Once the player on top catches the ball, they make the extra pass to the corner. The ball has now returned back to the starting position and is ready to repeat the drive and kick again. The baseline drive is another drive used a lot with dribble drive offenses. This movement and pass will translate to game scenarios for most teams.

Conclusion

This drill has a lot of good game movements. This is a drill that will not be used every day but once or twice a week for 5 minutes is enough to get players loose and reinforce passes and passing lanes. Also, in a pre-game routine where I am wanting my players to get ready for the game this can be done in 3 or 4 minutes with a minute or two spent driving from the top and a minute or two driving from the baseline. The players are moving, passing and dribbling which is a lot more than some of the pre-game drills I have used or seen used.