Corner wing closeouts From Brian Kissinger, East Valley High School, Spokane Valley, Washington

All players must be able to closeout effectively, and all coaches should make closeouts a daily point of emphasis. Here is a drill to get your practices started.

1 and 2 start beside each other under the basket in a “pistols” stance facing out to half court.

DIAGRAM 1: The drill begins with each player closing out to a cone on the baseline. Defenders closeout in help-and-recover to the point where both their feet are inside the lane. Emphasis is on sprinting, choppy steps and high hands, followed by a quick recover back to a pistols stance.

DIAGRAM 2: At this point, both players again closeout to another cone placed at the wing on their side of the court. Instead of recovering to help as with their first closeout, both players work arcing an imaginary dribbler out to a third cone placed near the center circle, similar to the Guard The Yard drill.

Both players change sides of the floor, sprint down the sideline and back into the opposite line from where they started. Another group of players can be doing the same drill at the other end of the court.

This drill can be done as a single-player drill, so that the second closeout is to a cone at the opposite wing.