In addition to the Skills and Drills Clinics, Elite Basketball Training will be expanding on its successful Half Day Hoops Series from last fall.  In its preliminary year, the Half Day Hoops Fest was run over the course of two days with great success as many parents liked the opportunity for their son or daughter to work on their basketball skills on their days off from school.  This year, we are giving them even more opportunities to do so as the Half Day Hoops Series has been expanded from two sessions last fall to include five sessions this fall.  Each session runs for three hours and if you sign up for all five sessions you can get in at the low cost of $150.  That’s only $10 per hour!  To register please click here ==> HALF DAY HOOPS SERIES.

Last but certainly not least, Elite Basketball Training is running its first ever fall session of the widely popular Elite Basketball Bootcamp.  Basketball training is not always about skill development and the Elite Basketball Bootcamp is a great way to increase your strength, speed, agility, vertical jump, and conditioning on the basketball court.  As parents and players have become more aware of this, this summer’s Elite Basketball Bootcamp saw its enrollment increase to four times the amount it was last year.  These workouts are intense, use alternative training methods, and are geared toward basketball players that are serious about taking their game to a whole new level.  Equally as exciting, this fall the Elite Basketball Bootcamp will run for an extra week and will be held indoors at The Sports Zone Fitness Center in Edison.  For more information and a registration form click here ==> Elite Basketball Bootcamp. 

As always, I keep the number of players attending my clinics low to ensure that those attending receive as much individualized attention as possible.  So don’t miss the opportunity to work on your basketball skills, strength, and speed this fall.  SIGN UP NOW so that you can become an ELITE BASKETBALL PLAYER. 

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Three on three basketball can and should be used to develop your team’s offense because the games can be altered in many ways in order to fit your offensively philosophy.  At yesterday’s practice, we worked on multiple variations of three on three basketball in order to help develop our team offense and defense (which will be covered in the next post).  Each game was to one point and the loser would rotate off while the winner stayed and played the next team.  We used both sides of the court so that teams would not be standing for a long period of time.  Each block of games which usually lasted for 10 minutes had certain variables that needed to be followed and worked on based on our team’s offensive principles.   Offensively we run the dribble drive but with more movement off the ball and some added pick and roll sets. Consequently, we worked on all of these concepts during our three on three play.   

The first concept that we worked on was moving without the ball.  In order to do so effectively, the players were not allowed to dribble at all during this time period.   Too many players get caught dribbling too much and the other players tend to stand around and watch.  By eliminating the player’s dribbles it forces them to rely on cutting and screening in order to get an open look at the basket. 

During the second block of games, the players were all given one dribble per touch.  Once again, this forces them to really move without the basketball in order to get open looks but at the same time, they were now working on using their dribble for a purpose.  Players can do more than they think with one dribble provided they use their dribble to attack a gap and force a teammate’s defender to help or attack the basket and score.  By limiting the number of dribbles a player has, they are forced to use their dribble properly or they will waste an opportunity to score. 

As we progressed into the next block of games, we allowed each player three dribbles on each touch.  Now we were getting into more of the dribble drive offense’s concepts.  Once again because of the limited number of dribbles, the players had to learn to attack properly with their dribble in order to be productive, but at the same time they were still forced to rely on moving without the basketball and setting screens in order to keep their spacing and create driving lanes for the man with the ball. 

The final variable that we added was that the score had to come off the pick and roll.  Each player still only had three dribbles per touch because we wanted to work on attacking off the pick and roll effectively and not with an excessive number of dribbles.  My players are drilled to go by screener tight with their shoulder low enough that they actually hit the screener’s hip.  It is preferable that they use two dribbles while coming off the pick and roll with the second dribble being the one to clear them from the pick and attack the space that is being created by the action.  It is preferred that the player with the ball attack coming off the pick and should not go sideways.  Attacking while coming off the pick will put the defenders at a disadvantage when trying to help and recover and should lead to better scoring opportunities.  On the other hand, cominf of the pick and attacking laterally creates an easy help and recover opportunity for the defenders. 

Once we had worked on all our offensive variables, there was an, “anything goes” session of three on three.  This is meant to work on all of the concepts we had worked on in the previous four sessions while allowing the players to use their own creativity within the offense.  This is an important concept because players are too often confined to what their coaches want them to do that it actually limits their capabilities as a player.  A player’s creativity can sometimes be the best part of their game and it should be cultivated to make your team better. 

Ultimately, making the team better is the goal of every practice and game and three on three basketball can go a long way towards accomplishing this goal.  Using three on three basketball can be a highly efficient way of developing your team offense.  The games can be short, competitive, and altered in a way that fits your team’s offensive concepts.  By adding rules to the games, the players are able to work on those concepts more effectively.  Since there are fewer players per team than in a regular game, each player will get more opportunities to work on the designated concept.  Also, because the games are short (only one point games) it forces the players to compete harder in order to win and stay on the court.  Consequently, they will try to execute the concepts better more often and more efficiently in their attempts to win.  Overall, three on three basketball is an excellent way to develop your basketball team’s offensive concepts and improve in a game like setting.

The Elite Basketball Bootcamp is in full swing and the athletes are really starting to see the benefits of the hardcore training. With the workouts being outdoors and no weights available, we are hitting it hard with body weight training, sand bags, kettlebells, speed and agility, and plyometrics. Not to mention the intense finishers and core training that we close each session off with. The Elite Basketball Bootcamp workouts are geared toward basketball players that are serious about taking their game to the next level. The kind of player that wants to be more explosive and get stronger. The type of player that wants to jump higher and react quicker. The type of player that is mentally focussed on pushing their body to the limit and then going even further.

Are you that type of player? If so, then The Elite Basketball Bootcamp is definitely for you! Check out the video below to find out what the Elite Basketball Bootcamp is all about. If you like it, contact me to schedule an appointment for your FREE Basketball Bootcamp workout, and take advantage of this before the fall session starts on September 7th. If you are already convinced, then you can register by clicking here: ELITE BASKETBALL BOOTCAMP and sending in the registration form. Hope to see you all there pushing your bodies to the limit and taking your game to the next level.

The 12 Cone Ballhandling Drill is usually done for a specific period of time (ex. 30 seconds) with each move.  The players can and should incorporate all their change of directions moves into the drill.  As the player gets more advanced, they should also use double change of directions moves in order to make the drill more challenging.  While doing this drill, it is important to make sure that the player is moving quickly fom cone to cone, staying low with their body and the dribble throughout the entire segment of the drill, and moving past each cone explosively as if to simulate beating a defender.  Ultimately, this is a great drill for guards to build up their guard skills, but it can and should be used by all players looking to develop better ballhandling skills.

Categories: Ballhandling / Dribbling  Offensive Moves  
Ages: All Ages  Youth  Middle School  High School+  

Purpose of the Drill:

The purpose of this drill is to allow players to work on creating space while using their back-dribble and then change directions.

Instructions

• The player will attack each chair off the dribble, one after the other, at full speed.
• As they approach the chair, they should use their back-dribble to create space for themselves as the chair represents a defender.
• They will then change directions with a change of direction move (crossover, between the legs, behind the back, etc.) and attack the rim for a finish.
• They then repeat the process at each chair.

Points of Emphasis:

• Attack at full speed. Not doing this, will defeat the purpose of using the back dribble.
• Push off the front leg in order to create more space for themselves.
• Work on attacking with both hands.
• Stay low in the backdribble and attack off the change of direction quickly.
• Work on finishing at the rim and shooting the jumper off the dribble.
• You can even incorporate a post player into this drill to allow the guard to drop off a pass to them.

Motivation/Teaching Tips:

• Use a prescribed number of made shots before moving on to the next chair.

Categories: Offensive Moves  Passing  Post Play  Rebounding  Shooting  
Ages: All Ages  Youth  Middle School  High School+  

Purpose of the Drill:

To teach your post players how to relocate from the block on dribble penetration from different angles and score from those new spots.

Instructions

• In this step, the players on the wing drives baseline and the post player relocates to the center of the lane just below the foul line.

• In this step the player from the wing in penetrating towards the middle of the floor while the post player relocates to the short corner.

Points of Emphasis:

• At each relocation work on shooting off the catch, then shooting off the dribble, and finally, finishing at the rim.
• Work on both sides of the floor.
• Rebound and finish your misses.
• Vary your finishing moves. (ie. jump stop and finish, head fake and finish, straight finish, step throughs, etc.)
• Finish with contact using a blocking pad.

Motivation/Teaching Tips:

• Have a specific number of shots that you need to make before you move on the the next move.

Because we were training for basketball, we kep moving throughout the entire workout and limited our breaks to a minute at the most.  We started out with an excellent dynamic warmup and then got into our acceleration and agility drills.  Acceleration and agility are such an important part of the game of basketball that I would be remiss if I did not include them in every workout.  The drills we used were what I call, “find it and get it drills.”  These are partner drills where one player stands on the sideline facing the court and their partner stands behind them with a basketball.  The partner with the ball tosses the ball over their partner’s head and they have to chase it down before it bounces twice.  When they catch the ball, they must pivot properly and pass the ball back to their partner.  The next step was to add two basketballs and throw the second one in a different direction than the first and have the player defensive slide to it and get it.  Finally, the last portion of this is what I call “Two Ball Dance.”  This has the same premise as the second phase of the “Find it and Get it” drill but the player continuously moves side to side, backwards, and forwards, chasing after basketballs and passing them back to their partner for 30 seconds.

Having completed the agility and acceleration drills, we moved on to our strength drills which consisted of overhead med ball walking lunges supersetted with pushups on the basketball.  Then we got into some plyometric work which included lateral hurdle hops supersetted with 30 seconds of jumping rope. Then the last of these drills was a combination agility and plyometric drill.  The players had to slide to one end of the lane to pick up a medicine ball, slide back to the other side to put it down and then slide back to the other side where their partner would bounce a basketball up high for the player to jump up, grab it, and finish at the rim.  The process was then repeated two more times and then the players switched.  During this drill, we worked on going after the basketball and finishing in different ways (straight up or with a head fake or a step through).   

The final portion of the workout was dedicated to core development and a finisher.  The core training consisted of planks with our hands on the basketball, planks with our feet on the ball, toe touches with the basketball, Russian Twists with the basketball, and finally, figure eights with the basketball.  We completed two rounds of this and then moved on to our finisher. 

Yes, after all of that, we still needed a finisher.  Remember, this is Elite Basketball Training where the workouts are not only meant to be functional, but designed to be harder than the game itself.  So our finisher consisted of a four line suicide with three squat jumps at each line.  This was a great way to end an excellend strength and conditioning workout, but these girls were not done.   As I was leaving, they began to work on their skill development and team concepts.  That is dedication!  That is what is going to make these girls Elite Basketball Players.

• Never give a scholarship to a person who you wouldn’t want to come to your house.
• Everything starts with personal integrity.
• The guys around your team; teammates, have to be good for your team to have the success they are capable of achieving.
• Coaches need to let players be part owners of that team so they feel how important the outcome is; like a coach feels in the outcome of a big game or a great practice. 
• Coaches will do as much as they can get away with, just like players.
• John Wooden rarely talked about winning and losing.  He talked about doing everything the right way.
• Red understood leadership and how to get the most out of his guys.  He was a teacher first and foremost.
• Bill Russell feels that if you break the opponents game down too much, you can over analyze.  Don’t over analyze.
• The best players play with their heart and mind.
• The problems with players have always been out there.  It just depends on which type of players you want to coach. 

1. Hard dribble.  If we know you have a soft dribble, we will trap you and force turnovers.  (Add pound dribbles to your drills)
2. Get your shoulders to their hips on dribble penetration.  “It’s a shoulders game.”
3. Play low to high.
4. Be ready on the catch.  After the catch is too late.
5. Moves to master:

Guards: Catch and shoot, Catch and shoot off the dribble, and Catch and quick penetration.

Bigs: Jump hook, drop step and dribble drop step, up and under, quick spin, perpendicular post (turn and face).

It is highly important that when developing basketball skills, players and coaches include these must haves in their workouts.  These are fundamental skills but as always, it is the mastery of the fundamentals that make great players.