5 Partner Shooting Drills - Beginner to Advanced Progressions for Basketball Players

Joe Haefner: Hey, this is coach Joe Haefner. In this next video, we're going to show you three moves to do when attacking the basket. The beauty of these moves is that they compliment everyone, so when the defender stops one move, you can instantly counter to another move, which will make you almost impossible to guard. In this video you'll also notice that most of these moves are built off attacking opposite of a pass, so if you receive a pass from the left, you attack right. If you received a pass from the right, you attack left.

Joe Haefner: Hey, this is Coach Joe Haefner. In this next video, you're going to learn some shooting progressions that will speed up the development of your shot and also correlate the better shooting during games. You can also use these progressions as a template for improving other skills as well. Also, if you want to gain instant access to free shooting workouts, drills, and shooting tips, click on the link below or in the description.

Joe Haefner: In the first drill progression, Breakthrough Camps instructor, Paris Davis, shows you how to isolate this skill and get a bunch of reps up in a short amount of time. This is important when first practicing a skill or learning a new skill. You will also see pro players do the same thing to develop rhythm and confidence prior to working out or playing a game. Paris Davis: This drill that we're going to talk about next is how to become a quicker shooter. One of the things to keep in mind, you have to have your feet aligned, legs loaded, hands ready, mind ready. We have [Domos 00:00:47] here at the free throw line. Right away, he should have shot mentality. Right now, I want you down into position. Show him where you want to target. You want to make sure that you have palms towards the basket, act as if you have the ball already in your hand.

Paris Davis: And right now, you can probably see that he has his feet aligned to the basket and his legs are loaded, so by the time he gets the ball, he shouldn't have to dip down and come back up. The only thing he's worried about is coming back up into his shot. Passer's going to give him a good pass, hit, and get into a shot.

Paris Davis: Now, that he's feeling comfortable, now we can get both players involved. They can go back and forth, have the shooter work on following his shot and the passer come into position, still getting ready to get prepared for his shot.

Paris Davis: Ready? Let's go. Down, quick, follow your shot. Have your feet set, feet set, feet set, feet set already ready. Feet set, catch and shoot. Quicker. Feet set. Good. Last one. Good. Good.

Paris Davis: This is a good drill to get ready before you get the ball, a good drill to get your shot off quicker, focusing on having your legs ready, feet ready, hands ready, and mind ready.

Joe Haefner: In the next progression, you add a little bit of variability to the drill by having the shooter move to a new spot after each shot. At first, this may cause you to shoot a lower percentage compared to when you're first just catching and shooting from the same spot. However, this does speed up the learning and the retainment of the new skill, which will lead to better shooting in the long run.

Paris Davis: BInside. Get ready, inside, feet set, feet set, inside, feet set. Good, shot, good, and bring it in. Feet set, feet set, feet set, good. Shot, good.

Paris Davis: Now in situations where you don't have a partner, you can also do this with just the ball. You can be in the gym by yourself and this is just simply throwing the ball to yourself, catching and shooting, ensure that you still have the alignment, legs loaded, and it looks something like this. I can start on the left side or I can start on the right side, simply throwing the ball to myself, catching and shoot, still holding my follow-through. After I get my rebound, I can move to another position. I can go here and get into it, still focusing on having my feet set, legs ready, mind ready. This is a good drill to work on catching and shooting.

Joe Haefner: The next progression gets you accustomed to shooting with a defender closing out. Many players don't practice with the defender closing out and this is vital if you want to be a better shooter during games.

Paris Davis: One thing you want to focus on for the defense is closing out hard or closing out soft. On a soft closeout, that's just the defense coming all the way out ... here, closing out, just contesting the shot. In a hard closeout is when you're going all the way out, and you're going past the defender. When you do a soft closeout, you want to work on catching and shooting, legs ready, hands ready, mind ready, and for a hard closeout, we're still attacking with the long step, attacking the basket. Defense is still adding that pressure, adding that contact for when they're attacking the basket.

Paris Davis: All right, let's work on the soft closeout right now. Good, soft hands ready, hands ready, shot, follow your shot, follow your shot, good. Feet ready, feet ready, hands ready, up, good. Follow your shot, up top, up top, up top, good, good. Last one, feet ready, feet ready, hands ready, down, down, down, shot. All right, hold ball.

Paris Davis: So they did soft closeout all the way to the top. You can continue this all the way to the other sideline.

Paris Davis: What we're going to do now, we're going to move into the hard closeout. Hard closeout, we're working on attacking the basket and finishing.

Paris Davis: Ready, one more time. Good. Defense, make sure that you're adding contact. Good. Make sure you're adding contact. Stay low, stay low, attack, read, good. Last one, last one, good.

Paris Davis: This is a good drill that you can work on, reading the closeout, a hard closeout or a soft closeout and this can be done with two people.

Joe Haefner: In the next progression, you have the defender mix up looks between a soft closeout and a hard closeout. The most important thing here is for the shooter to be assertive and aggressive. With time and repetition, your choices will get better and this will lead to more scoring.

Paris Davis: The last piece of this closeout read is when you can randomize the shots taken on the floor and you can also randomize the reads.

Paris Davis: Good. Good. Good, make sure you still get the contact, still get the contact, contact, good. Shot, follow your shot, follow your shot, good. All right.

Paris Davis: This is a great drill for getting ready for game situations, getting you used to be able to read on the go.

Joe Haefner: Actually that progression, you can have the players start at the one-on-one closeouts, but they play live. The defense tries to stop them and the offense tries to score every time, and you can play many games of two or three. Shooting against a live defender, adds a layer of random practice and also will lead to improved performance and shooting during games.

Joe Haefner: You can also take this exact same one-on-one drill and add two offensive players and two defensive players to the drill to make it a three-on-three game. That way players learn how to pass, shoot, and space within a game context as well.

Joe Haefner: Also, if you want to learn more about why these progressions will speed up skill development and lead to better game performance, you can look into the research on block practice, variable practice, and random practice.

Joe Haefner: If you want to get more free shooting workouts, tips, and drills, be sure to click on the link below or in the description where you can gain instant access.