One of the shots that is occurring more often is the one more pass shot. With teams running more spread out offenses and keeping more players on 3-point line, defenses are rotating to the ball when things break down and offenses have more chances to make one more pass to shoot without a closeout. That extra pass gives the next offensive player a wide open shot without having a defender rushing them.
This drill is designed to work on catching the ball in that one more pass situation. This drill gives the players the chance to work on making a good pass to their teammate to get a good shot without having to work on the catch. And it works on players learning how to catch that extra pass and get squared to the basket for their shot. It looks like a simple drill but as the players learn how to pass the ball, the speed of the drill and the speed of the passes can increase. The faster the players can execute this drill the slower the games will become.
This is an 8 player drill. The first 5 players are setup around the 3-point line while the other 3 are out of bounds on the lane line. Player 6 is the passer. Players 7 and 8 are going to start the drill holding 2 basketballs. Player 6 starts with 1 basketball. The drill is going to be quick in that as soon as Player 6 can pass the ball into Player 1, then they will be passing the ball. Player 6 will be passing 5 basketballs total before anybody moves for the 2nd round.
The 1st ball will be going all the way around the 3-point line. Player 6 passes to Player 1. Player 1 to Player 2 to Player 3 to Player 4 and finally to Player 5. Each player on the 3-point line will be touching the ball as it is passed around the perimeter. Once Player 5 catches the ball, they are turning to the basket and shooting the ball. Once they release the ball on the shot, they are going to follow their shot and rebound.
As soon as Player 1 passes the initial pass to Player 2, Player 6 is passing a 2nd ball to Player 1. The 2nd ball is moving around the 3-point quickly behind the 1st ball. Player 7 and Player 8 are starting with 2 basketballs to quickly give Player 6 another basketball as soon as they pass the ball they have. The players pass the ball around to Player 4. Player 4 shoots and gets their rebound.
The next ball is passed around to Player 3. Again, this 3rd basketball needs to be moving as quickly as possible after the 2nd ball is passed. Players 1, 2 and 3 are catching the ball, turning to the next player, passing them the ball, and then turning back around to catch the next ball. Player 3 is shooting the 3rd shot and following to get their rebound.
Player 5 shoots the 1st ball. Player 4 shoots the 2nd ball. Player 3 shoots the 3rd ball. Player 2 is here shooting the 4th ball. The players can start to get confused on which ball is in play and will try to make a pass that does not need to be made. This is where the players have to communicate during the drill so everybody knows which player is next to shoot.
The last ball is entered to Player 1 where they are able to get their shot. All in told this drill is 8 players with 5 players each getting a shoot during a rotation of the drill. This is working on catching and turning and making that extra pass in games. The drill is expanding to get a bunch of shots off quickly.
Once every player has had their shot, all 5 balls are rebounded and every player moves one spot to their left. Player 6 steps into the corner spot while Player 5 goes to the back of the line. The 5 basketballs are collected on the baseline and another rotation starts. The 1st ball goes all the way around to the corner. The 2nd is passed to the opposite wing. The 3rd ball stops at the top of the key. The 4th ball is passed twice to the wing. And the 5th ball is one pass to the corner.
The player in each spot shoots when they are supposed to and gets their rebound. The balls are collected on the baseline and everybody moves again. This continues until every player has had their turn at each spot. This is a great drill to work on that extra pass shot while also getting a bunch of shots up in a very short amount of time. This is a nice drill to add to the practice plan to give the players a different style of drill to get their shoots up during practice.
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