Fast-Break, Two-Line Full-Court Passing Drills

From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
"Helping coaches coach better..."

These full-court drills emphasize passing and receiving on the move and finishing the break with a lay-up, or finishing in a 2-on-1 or 2-on-2 situation.

Run through all the sets of drills below, starting with the 2-on-0 drills, and then progressing to the 2-on-1 and finally the 2-on-2 drills. We run all these drills in about 10 minutes, and do them almost every practice.

2-on-0 Passing Drills

See the diagram below. Players pair up and run (not shuffle sideways) up the floor passing back and forth to each other. The last pass is a bounce pass and results in a lay-up.

That pair gets off the court and lines up on the far baseline now, getting ready to come back down the court after all the other pairs have finished. After all pairs have moved up the floor, we then start back down the court to complete the trip both ways.

We run several trips, starting with crisp two-handed chest passes up and back. Then we do bounce passes up and back. Next, we do two-handed overhead passes and finally around-the-back passes up and back.

Pointers:
(1) Make sure your players are talking and the passer is yelling the receiver's name, while the receiver is yelling "ball".
(2) The last pass that sets up the lay-up is always a bounce pass.
(3) No dribbling is allowed, except if needed to finish the lay-up.
(4) Make sure everyone is running hard, not jogging.

2-on-1 Drill

See the middle diagram below. Now we add a defender who sprints ahead of the two passers to the paint and tries to defend in a 2-on-1 situation.

However, the defender may try to jump between the passers anywhere on the floor to steal the pass. If the ball is stolen or there is a turnover or a missed pass, the three players just move into line at the far end of the floor. When the last three-some has finished, we come back down the court to complete the trip.

Pointers: (also apply to the 2-on-2 drill below)
(1) Make sure the offensive players are talking as above.
(2) Keep dribbling to a minimum - only when necessary to beat the defense.
(3) When finishing the 2-on-1 break, we teach the player who has the ball at about the level of the free-throw line to make a power dribble, or "take", to the hoop, looking for either the lay-up or the foul. If the defender comes up high on him/her, then he/she passes off to the teammate cutting to the hoop.

2-on-2 Drill (2-on-1 with a chaser)

Finally, we finish by adding a second defender who trails the break and may not leave the end-line until the offense has cleared the top of the key or 3-point arc. The first defender sprints up the floor and tries to stop, or delay, the 2-on-1 break, while the second defender is sprinting up the floor to provide defensive help at the end.

The offense must move quickly and make quick decisions, otherwise they lose their 2-on-1 advantage. Both offensive and defensive players should be "talking", communicating.

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