Basketball: Mikan Drill

Do the spin back on the post. Drop to the middle, lift fake, drop the foot in the direction come from and shoot and jump hook. Do not cover commit to the second drop step and open up too much to the basket. When doing this drill be very conscious of keeping your back to the hoop. Take twenty shots on both side.

Set up: 2 balls, 2 lines of players behind hoop on baseline. Player drives around and out to recieve a pass from the opposite line and puts a shot up.  Ball gets passed to line on opposite side driven from.  Progression: Drive wider and shoot or lay up. 

The group of players based on the halfway line start by running towards the elbow of the three point line. On receiving the ball the player should then shoot. The practice is then repeated on the other side of the arc.

Begin this move with a fake to the middle. Move off the lane about 5 meters to face the other sideline. Toss the ball into the middle of the lane and jab step and cut to the ball and catch chin and shoot a 2 meter jump hook. Take twenty shots on both sides.

Split into groups of 4 and put them at different baskets. They will take 1 shot with correct form get the rebound and then pass it back to the next person in line.

An example of a free throw shot

A close up example of a free throw shot A free throw game you can play is to ask your players to line up 5 feet away from the front of the rim. The coach will be under the basket. Each player will shoot a shot 1 at a time. Every shot will get evaluated by the coach and given a score out of 5. 5 being a perfect score.

In between shooting drills when changing from one to the other, shoot 10 free throws. Try to shoot at least 50 a day. Free throws should be unique to each individual and be very regimented. The same routine should be used every shoot. Bounce the ball once, twice or three times or not at all before taking the shot but make sure it the same way each time. Hands should be placed on the ball in exactly the same place and keep the movement to the starting point to a bear minimum. Get a good knee bend and power the shot with the legs. Co-ordinate the movement of the legs with the movement of the arms and have good consistent wrist action. Come up onto your toes and hold the follow through until the ball is through the net. Take your time concentrate and take every shot.

Split the group in two at opposite corners of the court. Setup as show. Players run to the half way line, make a turn and then receive the ball from the opposite corner before having a shot from roughly the free throw line. Once the player has had a shot they collect their ball and run to join the queue.

Finish every session with ghost play. The best place to do this is a side court in a sports hall where you have a wall or access to a throw bag. If there are no walls or sports bags then use a spin back. Imagine being in a game situation making passes, moving off picks, posting up and rebounding. Make all the plays imaginable. Always be an offensive player doing all the scoring and controlling the game completely. Pass off the walls, rebound off the wall and through outlet passes, bring the ball up to court and even take foul shots. Do all the things you would do in a real game. Cutting off pick to catch and shoot. Keep the score close playing to 20. If one team gets to close tip in some miss shots to bring the game back close. Have the game ties at 18-18, count down from 10 seconds or tip in the miss to win.

Player 1 makes a pass to player 2 before sprinting to receive the pass back from player 2. Player 1 then has a shot.

Player 1 dribbles diagonally while player 2 cuts behind them. Player 1 gives a hand off pass and player 2 dribbles away, change the direction and then go for another hand off pass and continue all the way down the floor and finish with a lay up shot.

Shooters will line up with a basketball each. The player with the ball will dribble away from the screen at first and also to get level to have a better angle to use the screen. The players will dribble off the screen to get seperation when they are 1 or 2 dribbles away from the screen the player will stop and shoot a jump shot.

The player will flash up to the high post. From the high post the player will square up to the basket, sweep the ball to the left side and attack 1 bounce to finish with a left hand lay-up.

This is another drill that can be used for lay-ups or shooting. The players line up in two lines under the basket (one to the left and one to the right). One lane has a ball at the front and the other line has a ball with the second person. The first person (without the ball) curves around to the opposite line to receive a pass and make a lay-up, they then get their own rebound and pass back to the queue from which they received the ball. As soon as the passer has passed, they curve round and get a pass from the other side they take a shot and get their own rebound and pass back to the queue they received it from.

Move off the lane about 5 meters to face the sideline. Toss the ball into the middle, jab step and cut, catch, chin and do a lift fake, drop step back to the original position, bounce once, hop and shoot a fully extended jump shot off the board.

Start at the three-point line extended. Toss the ball on a spin back into the middle of the circle 2 meters above the free throw line. Jab stab and cut to catch and shoot. Work on the quick stop or the two-count stop into the shot. Shoot 50 shots.

A line at the free-throw line. The 1st 2 players will have a basketball. The player in front always gets to shoot 1st. As soon as the player in front shoots the player behind can shoot. If the shot is missed, you get your rebound and can shoot as close as you like. The 1st shot must be taken from the free-throw line. A player gets knocked out if the player behind scores before they do.

Players start in two lines: either at the half way line or behind the 3 point line. For a right hand lay up: The 1st two players in the right hand line start with basketballs. The first player dribbles to the basket and makes a lay up and leaves their shot and joins the back of the left hand queue. The 1st person in the left hand queue moves to collect the rebound and passes to the next person without a ball in the right hand queue and joins the back of the right hand queue.

Two lines of players 1 ball. Player 1 passes the ball to player 1 whom moves onto the ball catches the ball and does a two step lay up, rebounds their own ball and passes it to the next player 1 and goes to the back of the player 2 line of players.