Basketball Drills

Basketball Passing Drills - Two Great Ones to Know

Basketball drills and practices should be designed to help your players develop into fast thinkers, a quick runners, great shots and team players.  When the ball is moving around rapidly and everyone is passing to each other and getting involved in the play, the team markedly increases their scoring chances.  

Passing is also the best way to conserve the team’s energy, since moving the ball around a lot expends far less energy than running with it.  Plus, passing allows more players to take open shots and facilitates fewer turnovers than a shooting game.  The following basketball drills will help your team improve their passing skills, which in turn will improve their scoring chances in games to come.  

Basketball Passing Drills

When selecting basketball drills to improve your team’s passing skills, look for drills that incorporate a large number of players so that everyone can gauge each other’s passing strengths and weakness.  This drill, called the Pass and Go Circle, is ideal for that since it involves everyone on the team.  

To begin the drill, have all the players form a circle with a diameter of 15 feet.  Select one player to stand in the middle of the circle.  The drill begins as one of the players in the circle chest passes the ball to the player in the middle, then runs in towards the pass.  The middle player quickly passes the ball to the next player in the circle, and moves to the empty spot in the circle.  The player who passed the ball initially has now become the middle person, and gets ready to receive the next pass.  Play continues in this manner along the circle.  

To make this drill a little more competitive, try seeing how many passes your team can successfully make without the ball dropping to the ground.  Players can count aloud, and the count starts over if the ball hits the floor.  If players can make it to 100, then try the drill again with overhead passes in lieu of chest passes.  

Monkey in the Middle 

The next of the basketball drills to improve your team’s passing skills has its roots in the children’s schoolyard game Monkey in the Middle.  This drill is for 3 players.  Players 1 and 2 stand 10-15 feet apart with player 3 standing in the middle between them.  At the beginning of the drill, player 1 has the ball, and is attempting to pass the ball to player 2 while player 3 guards player 1, acting as the defensive player.

Player 1 must employ ball fakes and quick steps to pass the ball to player 2.  When player 2 receives the pass, player 3 darts over to block player 2’s passing efforts.  Player 2 must wait until player 3 arrives to the defensive position before attempting the pass.  If player 3 can successfully block a pass, they replace the player that threw the pass, who now becomes the new defensive player.  

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