Passing the basketball is a fundamental concept prevalent in all winning teams. With that in mind, here are a few basketball passing drills you can mix in to your practice plans to help your team improve their passing.
Pressure passing is one of my favorite passing drills. The entire team goes to center court and creates a rather tight circle. Two defenders are chosen to go in the middle. Essentially the drill is keep away from the two defenders. Passers are not allowed to pass to the person directly next them. When one of the defenders steals the ball the passer is now in the middle and the defender can move to the circle. The drill works on passing through pressure, defensive anticipation and decision making.
Another good basketball passing drill is Find the Open Man. Players line up in three rows forming columns of three players in each. The goal is to pass the ball from column to column until it gets across the width of the court. The ball starts with one of the players on the end. He has to get the ball to the next column so he can pass it to either the player next to him or the player diagonally across from him. The players in the middle row are defenders, and they each try to keep the ball from entering their column. The purpose of this drill is to move the ball quickly across the court without committing any turnovers or holding the ball for more than two seconds. Players can pivot, fake, and vary their passing to beat defenders, but the passing has to be quick and accurate.
Here are a few more basketball passing drills created by members on Hoop Coach Basketball Playbook. If any other coaches have drills we can add to the list please let us know!
More Basketball Passing Drills
- Full Court Passing – passing on the move and layups
- 3 Man Weave – passing and thinking
- Full court passing – shooting version – passing on the move with shooting component
- Circle Drill – good warm up passing drill
- Another Full Court Passing Drill – this version passer follows ball
Another post with a few drills to help with passing.