Hey Guys!

I need some help finding passing drills that will help our primary ball handlers get off passes so we can run the offense. So far they haven't been able to create the space and angles needed to get off good passes to our cutters and such.

These are 8th grade boys and we draft by name only (coaches don't get to see the players before the draft) and unfortunately we are lacking in the ball handling area.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey Lance!

Would help to get more specifics on what you mean by "get off good passes". Assume the passes are either being stolen or the technique isn't there with passes that are too high or too low. Passing is a two way street, the recipient also needs to do their part also (e.g. making good cuts, creating space to receive the pass, and coming to meet the ball). One of the most common mistakes I see is the recipient “waiting” for the pass instead of being aggressive and coming towards the ball.

We use this drill as a warm-up at the beginning of practices and also pregame warm-ups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsd8L4zyDSQ

We also use this one in practice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7_IlPMvILs

We will run full court scrimmages with no dribbling allowed. This forces our players to REALLY get open, come back to help, pass and move.

Half court, we’ll run teams of 3 and play cutthroat with passing only, no dribbling allowed. Basically it’s 3 on 3 on 3. Team C is off, Team A and Team B compete. Team A has to complete 10 good passes and they stay on as the offense. If Team B gets a steal or causes the ball to go out of bounds, they are the new offensive team. Team A goes off, Team C comes in off sidelines. Reward for winner, push-ups for losers. We allow the defense to be pretty aggressive here.

Lance -

To develop ballhandlers that can dribble under pressure and take care of the ball until they can get a good outlet pass, we use these drills...

1on1 Back Up Read
30 Sec Guard War
30 Sec Guard Way with Outlet
1on2 with outlet
1on1 Off Hand
Side Step / Control Dribble with Pressure
1on1 Crowded

These are all drills in our DVD called 30 Competitive Skill Development Drills. I looked an unfortunately I don't see any of those drills diagrammed on our website. So if you're in the market for a dvd you may want to consider that one.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/30-competitive-drills.html

Actually, here's a diagram of one drill. Pretty simple. Now just add a defended and wing players ready at the other end. Once the dribbler passes half court it's live and he/she can try to get an outlet without a turnover.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/playcreator/view.asp?id=106&type=drill

Beyond that, try simulating a competitive situations in practice allowing players improve the skill you want them to improve. Using small sided simulations helps keep things moving and get more players touches on the ball.

Thanks Jeff...

I've got the DVD and we did do the 30 Second Guard War last week in practice ending with a drive to the basket. This week I will switch it up and have then pass out of it. We will also use the backup dribble with a pass instead of a drive.

Yea, it doesn't show using an outlet in the DVD but works pretty good. We did that last week. We just put a post player on the block with a defender. Then after 30 seconds it's live and the guard needs to keep the dribble alive until the can get a good outlet. The defender should deny (no lob passes allowed). It's challenging -- players have to be tough and disciplined. I think the first time we ran it we had 75% turn over rate (lazy passes, bad angles, etc). Allowed for good teaching opportunities.

We ran something we called the Man Maker Drill -

This is a NO DRIBBLE game

3 offensive players on the baseline.
3 defensive players on the free throw line extended.
(player in the middle passes the ball to an offensive player and the war begins.)

Each player must stay in their own lane (1/3 rd of the court)

The goal of the drill is for the offense to advance the ball past half court without a dribble and to stay in their own lane. This is pretty much a two fold drill.... helps your defense to play tough and it helps your offensive players to become strong with the ball and NOT turn it over. This also helps to teach the offensive players to get open.

There is no time limit on this drill - it stops once the ball gets across half court.

Our kids loved this drill and wanted to stay on defense so we added that rule... so to get on defense you had to advance the ball past half court.

I hope this helps.