Dribble Penetration Kick Out Drill

The key to any good shooting drill is to simulate game like scenarios as much as possible. The way the game of basketball has been moving towards dribble drive offenses as of recent makes dribble penetration kick outs a part of most offenses. This drill works on several different areas that make a team harder to ground.

There is a driver and a shooter in the drill. The driver is going to be working on how to pass the ball to a shooter. The drill will work on where to pass the ball. And the drill will help the driver understand what it is they are reading and reacting to by the defense to make the decision to pass the ball.

The shooter in this drill also gets a couple of things to improve their game. They will learn passing lanes from the lane to the 3-point line. The shooter will learn how to move into these passing lanes based upon how the defense moves to stop the drive. This can mean the shooter needs to stay right where they are or take a step or two to get into a better passing lane to make the pass easier.

The shooter will also be working on their footwork during the catch. And finally the ability to control their body using proper shooting form to shoot the ball. And with getting more shots in practice, it hopefully translates to a higher percentage made during a game.

The drill is a very simple drill but can help a team get a lot of different shots up during a short amount of time. The drill uses different driving lanes and passes to simulate as many different types of game shots as possible.

Top Penetration with Kick Out

The first group of penetration kick outs is shown above. The ball starts at the top of the key. The driver drives to either elbow. As the driver is penetrating, the ball side wing starts to drift to the corner. The reason for this is if the wing defender steps over to help on the drive, the wing moving to the corner increases the distance between the wing and their defender. This additional distance makes it harder for the wing defender to recover to contest a potential 3-point shot.

Once the driver gets to the elbow, they make a good pass to the wing as they are moving to the corner. The wing catches and shoots the 3-point shot.

I will do this with two lines. The top of the key line goes to the same side. The 2nd line is on that side going from the wing down to the corner.

I will also run the drill with 3 lines. One line on each wing and one line at the top. The first player at the top picks to go to either the right or left elbow. That wing moves to the corner for a shot. The 2nd player at the top will then go in the other direction with that wing moving and shooting. The 3rd player goes the same direction as the 1st player and so on. This alternating sides gets more players involved in the drill which increases the number of shots the entire team is able to get up.

Top Penetration with Loop

I will run the same drive but will now have the wing shooter loop behind the ball instead of drifting to the corner. This is a read based upon the wing defender. If the defender slides straight across to help on the drive, then the wing drifts down to the corner. If the wing defender slides back towards the rim when helping on the drive, then the wing needs to cut up away from the baseline to create space. This is where this loop cut comes into play.

The wing moving is solely about creating as much space between them and their defender as possible. The wing should read their defender when helping on the drive. If the defender moves straight across or up towards half-court then there is more space created when the wing moves to the corner. If the defender moves backwards towards the baseline, then there is more space created when the wing moves towards half-court in this loop cut.

The drill is run the same as before except now the wing is looping behind the drive for a kick out pass and shot. I want players to be ready for any situation so this change in the wing cut makes the players prepared to take advantage of how the defense is defending the drive.

The loop cut needs to be done from both sides. The footwork involved in coming up around the 3-point line from each wing is different. The inside foot should be planting on the catch before the shot. Depending on which wing the shooter starts on will dictate which foot gets planted first. Players need to have the ability to shoot moving in both directions. So, I will run the drill going one way and then repeat the practice time with the drill going in the other direction.

Wing Penetration Kick Outs

The last type of penetration and kick out pass starts with the ball on the wing. Just like with the top penetration, I will use two different cuts on the kick out passes from the penetration off of the wing. The first cut is moving down to the corner. The 2nd cut is the coming up around the top similar to the loop cut from before.

I will start the drill with penetration coming from one wing and then switch the drill with the drive coming from the other wing. I did not show in the diagrams the reverse side drive but everything just gets flipped.

The wing penetration kick out to the wing or corner comes up a lot for a team that does a good job of advancing the ball in transition. An offense that can get the ball passed up the floor early to the wing has a chance to get a bunch of these kick outs. An early possession wing drive will collapse the defense much more often leaving the backside wing and corner wide open.

The loop cut is much more readily available in a half-court possession where the defense has been set. The loop gives the player receiving the kick out a couple of options. They can catch and shoot. They can also catch and attack with a layup or pull-up 15 foot jumpshot. This type of cut puts a lot of pressure on the defense to help on the drive and then react to the cut coming around.

Conclusion

This drill is simple to run but it gets a lot of good basketball game movements done in practice with passing and cutting. Little things like passing with the outside hand on the drive can help reduce defensive deflections as well. The drill can be modify to fit better into every team’s offensive plays. So, each team can adjust it to fit their offensive plays.