Coaches are always looking for effective drills to start practice. Drills at the beginning of practice should get the players loose and prepare them for the mental and physical grind of a typical practice. The start of practice is also a great time to work on fundamentals such as dribbling, passing, footwork, and shooting.

I have been lucky enough to work for some great coaches that have made the most out of the early part of practice to drill the fundamentals that he wanted to focus on for the day, week, month, season, etc.

NOTE: Click on any drill to open FastModel Sports Playbank and add the drill to your FastDraw now!

3 Line Lay-Ups

This drill was used at Texas Lutheran when I was there and was a great drill to encourage focus, timing, and teamwork. The goal was to make as many shots as possible and to move the ball quickly and efficiently. To start out the season, the goal for makes was 50 in 3 minutes on the right side and 50 in 3 minutes on the left. This would increase as the season went on.

3 Man Weave Scoring Drill

This drill was used at the NBA combine over the summer. It incorporates the classic 3 man weave drill with additional scoring options. Two coaches are needed to pass to shooters.

4 Corner Shooting

This is a drill we used at Texas Lutheran and is similar to a drill we do now at Colorado College. The drill gets the players used to calling out cuts and making game-speed cuts for a shot. We had the players practice curling, popping, and flaring on the screen.

4 Man Transition Drill

This drill is great for building habits in transition offense. It encourages speed and precision. The 5 and 4’s in your program need to be able to keep up in this drill for your team to run consistently.

5 Minute Full-Court Shooting

This is another great drill to get your players running the length of the floor and shooting a bunch of shots at the beginning of practice.

Post Drop Drill

This drill was used in a USA basketball camp and is great for building chemistry between point guards and bigs.

Team Shooting Drill

This drill is a good drill for getting up a lot of shots and working on scoring moves. This drill can also easily be used in pre-game warm-ups.

Fast Break- Transition Offense Drill

This is a drill used by Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State. The drill develops quick instincts for offensive players to find the open man while in a numbers advantage.

3 Line Pick

This drill is from Coach Don Showalter, head coach of the USA U16 team. This drill puts players in game-like pick & roll situations and gets shots for 3 players on each repetition.

Below you will find the PDF link to download the Drills to Start Practice Playbook. I have also included a description of each drill.

To download the PDF, click here!

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Wes Kosel

Wes Kosel is an assistant coach for men’s basketball under Head Coach Tom Billeter at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Kosel joined the staff at Augustana after serving two seasons as an assistant coach at Colorado College and before that spent time at Texas Lutheran University and Haskell Indian Nations University. Kosel has an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science from the University of Kansas and a Master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Houston. He has coached summer AAU programs, volunteered with elementary and middle school basketball teams, and has worked basketball camps for various programs including the Houston Rockets, USA Basketball, University of Colorado, University of New Mexico, Air Force, University of Houston, Texas State, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. He also founded his own coaching website, HoopsChalkTalk.com, where he shares plays, drills, and coaching notes.

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