A full-court drill to build offense, defense From Florin Mirica, Alexandria, Romania

This drill is dynamic and emphasizes aggressiveness, competitiveness, proper execution, pressure on the ball, traps, aggressive match-ups and individual techniques for both offense and defense. It has helped our team improve in many different aspects and has brought a lot fun to our practices. Our players enjoy the spirit and competition of the drill.

2-on-1 to 2-on-3 drill

DIAGRAM 1: 1 inbounds the ball, while 2 tries to shake his or her defender to receive the pass. The coach can establish the area in which 2 is to receive the ball (free-throw line, top of the key, foul-line extended, etc.). X1 defends O2 aggressively, trying to deny the inbound pass.

DIAGRAM 2: Once the ball is inbounded, it becomes a 2-on-1 half-court situation with 1 and 2 trying to beat X1 up the court. X1 puts pressure on the ball (moving to where the ball is, applying pressure on the ball handler, etc.).

X2 and X3 must wait until the ball crosses the half-court line before they can jump into action on defense.

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DIAGRAM 3: Once the ball crosses the half-court line, it becomes a 2-on-3 situation, with X1, X2 and X3 trying to trap, double-team and steal the ball from 2 and 1. While two defenders trap and double the ball, the other defender aggressively matches the offensive player without the ball, trying to intercept the pass.

The drill continues 2-on-3 until defenders manage to rebound, intercept a pass or — in the worst-case scenario — the offense scores a basket.

DIAGRAM 4: After either a defensive stop 
or an offensive score, X2 and X3 become the attacking offensive players (one inbounds, while the other tries to receive the ball). Whichever offensive player (2 or 3) made the turnover or scored the basket becomes the sole defender on the ball in the backcourt and the drill again goes 2-on-1 the other way.

On the opposite side of the court, two new defenders step onto the floor and wait for the ball to cross half-court so that they can resume the 2-on-3 portion of the drill.

The drill continues up and down the floor until all the players have participated or it has been run for a set time limit.