(Rental)-25 Practice Drills For Defense

BasketballCoach.com Presents: 25 Practice Drills for Defense

It is no secret that defense wins championships. In this video chock full of individual and team drills, learn from some of basketball’s very best how to develop dominant defenders and suffocating team defenses.

The video features 25 different practice drills from the likes of Hall of Famers Geno Auriemma, the women’s basketball coach at Connecticut, and Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of the men’s team at basketball blueblood Duke. Learn how to effectively apply on-the-ball pressure, eliminate penetration, how to help and recover, and limit defensive breakdowns.

Individual Drills

The video contains 13 drills for individuals to help develop the skills necessary to play outstanding defense. Help defense, close-outs, stunting, and boxing out are all skills that are needed in winning basketball programs. Championship defense starts with the individual player and some of the game’s best help you implement the drills necessary.

One of the more important skills in playing defense at any level is learning the closeout. Ben Jacbson, who took Northern Iowa to the 2010 Sweet Sixteen, shows you his Clipper Drill to teach effective closeouts. Gonzaga’s Mark Few offers his 3-ball Closeout drill and Kansas head coach Bill Self teaches the 2-on-1 Closeout. Iowa State head coach teaches a number of Closeout drills – 1-0 Closeouts, 2-0 Help Side Closeouts – with an emphasis on high hands and denial of back door cuts.

Modern defenses must also be skilled at defeating screens. Self will illustrate his Guarding Cross Screen/Down Screen drill where he shows you how to teach players to defeat the most common screen and screen-the-screener offenses in existence today. Prohm also shows you his Pick-and-Roll training that teaches players how to fight through screens and communicate.

Legendary Connecticut men’s coach Jim Calhoun and Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg discuss drills for improving rebounding skills. Calhoun teaches a 2-on-2 rebound drill that will help your players develop the technique necessary to block out effectively. Hoiberg uses his Rebound vs. Pad Drill to get players ready for the physicality involved in rebounding situations.

Team Drills

The remaining 12 drills in the video are team drills that help defensive players learn to work in unison. The team drills teach spacing, defending screens, defending cutters, and help side responsibilities. Auriemma’s 4-on-4 Drill shows you how to place players in the right spots on the floor to eliminate dribble penetration and also deny passes and apply pressure to the ball. There are a number of 2-, 3-, and 4-man shell drills all designed for the sole purpose of helping coaches teach both the basics and the intricasies of championship defense.