‘Curls-and-Flares Drill’ improves reads From Jason Graves, head boys coach, Ritenour High School, St. Louis, Missouri

This is a great drill for teaching your players how to read screens. Have a coach positioned at each mid-post area and have three lines of players — one at the top of the key and one in each baseline corner.

Diagram 1

DIAGRAM 1: Curl. 1 passes to 2 and screens the coach away from the pass. Player 3 breaks from the weak-side corner, curls off the screen and comes over the top to receive the pass.

Diagram 2

DIAGRAM 2: Flare. If the coach tries to jump under the screen, the player away from the pass uses a flare cut to pop open on the weak side.

Diagram 3

DIAGRAM 3: Backdoor. If the coach tries to cheat through the player’s screen, the backside player reads the defense (the coach) and cuts backdoor for a pass and layup opportunity.

The screener goes to the line closest to where they screened, the initial pass receiver goes to the shooter’s line, and the shooter goes to the top of the key line.