The triple threat PASSING

By Mario Blasone

Passing is fundamental and absolutely compulsory skill to master if you want to put together a team of players on the court. We use many types of passing: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Chest pass. Bounce pass. Baseball pass. Flip or hand-off pass. Overhead pass. Pass off the dribble.

CATCHING
Ten fingers rule: this mute communication between the passer and receiver is compulsory to teach. All passes must be delivered in straight line from the chest to the hip. We insist on that in order to enable players to get into the triple-threat position immediately. We will combine the three key fundamentals with a series of drills.

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By Mario Blasone

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QUARTER COURT

By Mario Blasone

Players pass the ball to their team mate in front, use a change of direction, get a return pass, score a basket, rebound the ball, pass it back to their team mate and go to a new line. The receiver joins the line at the three point line after receiving the pass back from the shooter.(Diagram 20, 20a, 20b)

(Diagram 20)

(Diagram 20a)

(Diagram 20b)

I repeat: the receiver must show TEN FINGERS.

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HALF COURT

By Mario Blasone

Three lines are at the half court line as shown in Diagram 21. Start by dribbling, then stop (attention on balance), pass to the player on baseline, receive and shoot. Rotate as shown above.

(Diagram 21)

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THREE QUARTER / Full COURT

By Mario Blasone

Players start dribbling forward and using three changes of dribbling hand (crossover in front, between the legs, behind the back). Then they stop, pass and continue as in the previous drill. For three quarters see Diagram 22/ 23. Develop the same drill full court.

(Diagram 22)

(Diagram 23)

It is good to add a couple of reverse dribbles in order to cover the full length of court. Players facing the dribblers must show one, two, three, four or five fingers as they choose. Each dribbler must READ and SHOUT the number of fingers he can see. We continue to work to develop their peripheral vision.

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Side Pass

By Mario Blasone

We develop the passing technique of our players as shown in Diagram 24. This drill is very important, because 80% of all passes are side passes.

CIRCLE
Players form two circles with one ball in each circle. There are 6, 7 or 8 players in each circle.

(Diagram 24) When coach blows his whistle, players must pass the ball around the circle as fast as they can and count loud the number of passes. The circle reaching 50 passes first is the winner of the drill. Develop the drill: when coach blows the whistle players must change the direction of passing (clockwise and anticlockwise).

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By Mario Blasone

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TWO TEAMS

By Mario Blasone

Players are split into two teams. Each team has one ball behind the baseline. We run three different competitions with players passing and running as fast as they can.

(Diagram 25)

(Diagram 25a)

1st COMPETITION: At the sound of the whistle the pairs must run full court, touching the opposite baseline and then come back (Diagram 25/ 25a). The inside player must score a basket. The next pair takes the ball from the net and continues the drill. 2nd COMPETITION: Same rules as above but the pair scores on both ends. After the first basket they must exchange lanes before coming back. 3rd COMPETITION: Both pairs come back on the opposite side of the court after scoring the first basket..

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PASS AND SLIDE

By Mario Blasone

Players are in pairs, with one ball per pair. They pass to each other whilst SLIDING towards the opposite basket. When they reach the basket, the closest player to it scores, then they both come back in the opposite direction. Note: The pass should be 5-6m long and forward.

(Diagram 26)

TRAC
This drill is set up with the players lined up in three lines along the baseline. The ball is in the right hand corner. Players pass and sprint to a new spot as shown in the diagram 27/ 28.

(Diagram 27)

(Diagram 28)

Rotation is anticlockwise. We use this drill to obtain good passing form and movement plus develop attention.

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FULL COURT TRAC

By Mario Blasone

Same rotation and same organisation as before but this time we use the full court (Diagram 29/ 29a). The next group starts when the previous group is around the half court line.

(Diagram 29)

(Diagram 29a)

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By Mario Blasone

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TAKE POSSESSION

By Mario Blasone

Players are organised in three lines at half court. two balls in the middle line (Diagram 30).

(Diagram 30) Players have to score a basket after two passes only. The middle man will rebound the ball and pass to one of his team mates. The second passer goes opposite asking for an outlet pass. As soon as he receives it, he hits the man without a ball at the half court line (Diagram 31). The third man from the first group scores the basket and continues his run. Clockwise rotation if the first pass is on the left side of the court; if the drill is performed on the right hand side, the rotation will be anticlockwise.

(Diagram 31) Coach is based close to the half court line of players dictating the speed of the drill. Minimum six players have to be involved in the drill at the same time to achieve the desired effect.

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THREE PASSES

By Mario Blasone

We use this drill to teach and improve the quality of three basic passes: baseball, chest and bounce pass. As shown in Diagram 32, the first pass is a baseball pass, the second one is a bounce pass, and after rebounding the ball we use a chest pass to the player in the corner.

(Diagram 32)

STAR
The players are set up as in Diagram 33. The rebounder has the ball and starts with an outlet pass to O2, then replacing O2. O2 passes to O3 and replaces O3, and so on. O5 penetrates, scores the basket and replaces O6. O6 will replace O1 as soon as O1 has outleted the ball. The main rule is: Pass and replace the receiver.

(Diagram 33)

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FOUR PASSES

By Mario Blasone

We start with one ball per group of four players as shown in Diagram 34/ 34a/ 34b. In sequence we have a baseball pass, then the passer runs towards the receiver to get the ball back. The receiver passes the ball back to him with a chest pass and cuts close to him for a return hand-off pass. He passes in front of him to the next player in line with a bounce pass, and goes to the back of that line.

(Diagram 34)

(Diagram 34a)

(Diagram 34b)

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By Mario Blasone

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TOUCH

By Mario Blasone

Two groups of players placed at each baseline; every player has a ball (Diagram 35). The first player in line passes to the coach and sprints to touch the ball. He turns running back toward the basket and the coach passes back to him; player catches the ball and scores a basket. Develop the drill: Coach instructs the player to score the basket using a variety of shots: a layup or a jump shot or a slam dunk etc. When the players learn the drill well the coaches will be replaced by players.

(Diagram 35)

TRIOS
The team is divided into groups of three: two passers and one defender in the middle (Diagram 36). The two passers pass the ball to each other continuously, if the defender touches the ball, the passer exchanges places with the defender. We use this drill to teach our players to read the weaknesses of the defensive player. We emphasise to make the pass as follows: over their head, over their shoulders and under their arms close to their legs. To develop the drill, the passers can use a single dribble to beat the defensive player. (Diagram 36)

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SPACING

By Mario Blasone

Same drill as before but now the passers try to maintain a certain distance (Diagram 37). Apply the same rules as before. We use the three circles for easier definition of the distance between the passers. Offensive players are located a couple of metres outside the circles with the defender placed inside...

(Diagram 37)

FULL COURT WEAVE

It is the most common and useful drill in basketball. The principle is PASS AND GO BEHIND (Diagram 38). You can adjust the speed of your players as you prefer. We use one ball only placed in the middle lane at the start of the drill. NOTE: If players miss a lay-up, they must repeat the drill from the beginning.

(Diagram 38)

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ONE ON TWO

By Mario Blasone

Three men weave but when the coach blows his whistle the player with the ball is on offence and his other two team mates become opponents (Diagram 39). The man with the ball can choose the basket he attacks: they play until a basket is made.

(Diagram 39)

FOUR CORNERS
We use this drill when we play on the road because we want to test the condition of the floor, the lights and the arena background (Diagram 40). The team is divided in the four corners with two players with a ball each under the two opposite baskets to start the drill. A baseball pass is made to the runner on the sideline, and then the passer follows to the same corner line. The receiver dribbles a couple of times and passes to the first player in the opposite corner; then gets a return pass and scores a basket; he then goes on to the line of the same corner. We start the drill with two balls only but as soon as they have learned the rotation, we include a third ball and maybe a fourth one later on. The main goal of this drill is accurate passing but we like to also use different shots too e.g. lay-ups, jump shots, reverse layups etc. We use our imagination. Development of the drill: when we blow the whistle players must change from clockwise to anticlockwise and vice versa. (Diagram 40)
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By Mario Blasone

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ONE ON ONE FULL COURT FESTINA

By Mario Blasone

The target of this drill is the development of passing and dribbling under pressure (Diagram 41). Two coaches start on the half court line and two players under the basket. The ball handler has ten seconds to beat the defensive player. If one of the coaches shows ten fingers the ball handler must pass to him immediately. When this happens he will receive the ball back from the coach and they will play one on one until a basket is made. It is an important drill to develop peripheral vision useful against a full court press. We suggest to the ball handler to use change of pace, change of dribbling hand and read the situation on court constantly.

(Diagram 41)

ONE ON TWO LENTE

Same rules as before but the ball handler must beat two opponents. Second defensive player starts on the free throw line (Diagram 42). We suggest to the ball handler a new weapon: the backup dribble in order to have a better peripheral vision and try to beat the defence when they recover. If a steal occurs in the back court, the opponents score and play defence again. If we have a steal in the front court, whoever gets the ball becomes the offensive player trying to score a basket.

(Diagram 42)

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FOX IN THE RING

By Mario Blasone

It is a fun drill. The fox (player in the middle of the ring) tries to avoid being hit by a pass between the other players forming the ring for as long as he can. (Diagram 43)

(Diagram 43)

Develop the drill: six on six with two teams (Diagram 44). One team builds a wide circle around the players of the second team. The outside players try to hit the inside players using two handed passes. Players hit by the ball are out. The team resisting in the middle for the longest time wins the contest.

(Diagram 44)

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GAP

By Mario Blasone

Groups of three: with two players on the free throw line with a ball between them and a player on the baseline (Diagram 45). At the sound of the whistle the two team mates must sprint full court passing to each other. The third player from the baseline tries to make up the gap and steal the ball. Position the defender closer to the passers in order to raise the pressure on the passers.

(Diagram 45)

FOUR ON FIVE
In order to develop the passing ability of our players we put four offensive players as shown in Diagram 46. We put five defensive players on the court. Their job is to double team the man with the ball. At the beginning the offensive players are standing but after a couple of rotations offence to defence, they are allowed to move around the court using dribble. When we give the instruction score, the offence tries to score a basket.

(Diagram 46)
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TEN PASSES

By Mario Blasone

Five on five full court but without shooting the ball. A team gets one point when they pass the ball between each other ten times in a row (Diagram 47).

(Diagram 47)

RULES: dribbling is not allowed. When the ball is deflected there is a change of possession. If a team is fouled, they inbound the ball and their count goes on. Develop the drill: run this drill in the half court with double teaming.

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