Basketball Drill - 4-on-4 Transition Drill

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

This drill emphasizes both transition offense and transition defense (see Transition Offense, Transition Defense).

Setup: (red is offense, blue is defense, yellow is the coach with the ball). The offensive players line-up on the endline, while the defenders line across the free-throw line extended. Both teams face each other.

Running the drill:
The coach has the ball and simultaneously yells the names of two of the defensive players (in this diagram, 2 and 4) and throws the ball to the offense.

4-on-4 transition drill

The offense immediately gets the fast break going. The defense tries to stop the break. In order to give the offense a head start, the two defensive players whose names the coach called out, have to first go touch the end line, and then sprint back to help on defense.

The offense tries to score. If the defense steals the ball or gets the rebound, or gets possession after a made basket, they quickly push the ball back up the floor for their own fast break and score. Once they score, or are stopped, the ball goes back to the coach, the players line up again, and it starts all over again, but this time with the blue team on the end line, and the red team defending.

Keep score and play to a set number. Losers run or do pushups.