That Basketball Life

  To turn competition into an institutional habit, you have to stop running drills where players can hide, coast, or stand in lines. Every drill needs a winner, a loser, a tangible consequence, and a constraint that forces instant decision-making. Instead of relying on scripted, traditional 5-on-0 work, elite coaches use Small-Sided Games (SSGs) . These micro-games force players to touch the ball more often, read defense in high-stress situations, and compete instinctively. Here are four of the best competitive games and constraints to build directly into your daily practice layout: 1. The "Continuous 3-on-3" Transition Game This game completely eliminates "dead time" and stops players from taking possessions off. It forces immediate transition communication and rewards aggressive, fast-paced play. How it Works: Three players start on offense, three on defense. The offense attacks. On a shot (make or miss) or a turnover, the defense must secure the ball and immedia...

  If you walked into a high-level basketball practice twenty years ago, you would likely see a familiar sight: twelve players standing in a single, stagnant line waiting to shoot a solitary layup, or a complex 5v0 "weaving" drill run entirely against empty air. For decades, this block-style, zero-resistance training was the gold standard. It looked organized, it was easy to manage, and players looked spectacular doing it. There was just one massive problem: it didn’t actually translate to winning basketball games. Modern sports science and contemporary basketball minds—from youth development experts to NBA trainers—have realized that traditional practices are highly inefficient. Today’s premier methodology revolves around a simple realization: basketball is a fluid game of rapid decision-making, reading, and reacting. To train your players effectively, your practice must mirror that reality. To completely revolutionize your team's development, your practice blueprint need...

 A great preseason isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing things faster, clearer, and with constant competition . When practices are structured well, players don’t just learn systems; they learn how to play under pressure, communicate, and compete every possession. This 10-day practice model is built around one idea: No wasted time, no empty reps, and no low-intensity moments. Each 90-minute practice follows the same structure so players build rhythm, while the content changes daily to install your team identity, systems, and habits. The Daily Practice Structure (90 Minutes) 0:00–5:00 — Shootaround (Free Flow) The goal here is simple: get players comfortable and engaged. Players shoot from their spots, move freely, and get a feel for the gym. There’s no heavy coaching unless effort drops. Coach reminder if needed: “Game speed feet even in warmup.” 5:00–15:00 — Dynamic Warm-Up + Ball Handling This segment builds athleticism and control. Players go through movement war...

 A great practice isn’t just busy—it’s purposeful, fast, and demanding in all the right ways . The goal isn’t to wear players out for the sake of it. The goal is to create an environment where they have to think quickly, compete constantly, and execute under pressure . When practices are done right, they feel intense—but never chaotic. Here’s how to build that kind of environment. Start with Structure, Not Chaos Fast practices don’t happen by accident. They start before anyone steps on the court. Have a clear practice plan Know your time blocks ahead of time Eliminate long transitions or guessing If you’re figuring things out during practice, players will feel it immediately—and the pace drops. Eliminate Standing Around Nothing kills intensity faster than players watching instead of working. To keep things moving: Shorten lines or eliminate them entirely Use multiple baskets or stations when possible Always have the next group ready to go A simple rule: ...

Scrimmaging is one of the most popular parts of practice for players.  They love the idea of forgoing drills and just playing.  This drill makes a coach very popular with the players but is it beneficial in preparing your team for games?  The answer to that question is yes if used correctly.  There are different ways to run a scrimmage and all of the ways that will be described below are designed to help your team become more of a team. Types of Scrimmaging: Let them run - I like to use this type of scrimmage at the beginning of the season.  With let them run the whole idea is to split the team up and let them go up and down the court.  There are no fouls called, and the ball is pushed up the floor even after makes.  What I'm looking for with this drill is how the participants play with each other.  Do they play well together or is there a lot of "I'm getting mine" out there. The up and down action also allows for conditioning to take place in an ...

We have included an expansive list of posts focusing on the finer elements of man to man defense in the past.  Those blog entries are always good to refer to as a reminder of what good basic fundamentals of man to man defense are and how you should coach them.  The one issue that you run into as a coach however is how do you teach this concept in a way that is effective yet not overwhelming. Over the next few weeks we will be going over practice plans which will show you our way of coaching man to man principles in a way that is not overwhelming. As a preview, our approach is one of showing them the whole thing via 5v5 and then begin to break things down and then build them up again.  We will do this by using various combinations including: 5 man shells 1v1 2v2 3v3 3v2 4v3 5v4 5v5 As one might guess by looking at the above list, we do believe in having the kids go at each other.  The best way to have them learn how to play defense is to play defense against a p...

The most important thing that a coach needs to do in order to avoid boredom and as a consequence your kids from being disruptive is to keep them engaged.  During practice kids should always be busy during drills.  Don't have them wasting too much time in line waiting for their turns to run a drill.  Choose drills which minimize the amount of time that kids spend waiting.  Keep them engaged.

I've often sat back and wondered about basketball.  I really love the game and during most days I find myself thinking about various elements of the sport.  Today I was wondering about what a coach can do in order to make players work hard in practice.  It is a belief of mine that the harder a player works, the greater the chances are that the player will improve and this is what you want as a coach. Your goal at the start of every year (especially when coaching at the youth levels) is that each player you coach is better at the end of the season than they were at the start.  How do you do this?  The answer to this question deals with competition.  You need to make sure that every practice is competitive and that the players on the team have the opportunity to leave everything they have on the floor at practice as well as in games.

A while back I wrote a post about my general philosophy on coaching kids under the age of 10.  As a coach you shouldn't spend too much time exposing your players to exotic defenses or offenses.  What you should be doing is exposing them to the fundamentals of the game along with various coordination and athletic development drills (covered in another post soon). However, if you are going to expose them to games you do need to prepare them by introducing some basic ideas which will keep them competitive.  In today's post I will discuss some of the basic team offensive concepts you should expose your kids to.  I will break these down into 2 groups: 7-8 year olds 9-10 year olds Today we will be discussing the 7-8 year old group.

This is a nice drill from Danny Miles.  This drill helps you run your offensive sets and helps with your team conditioning at the same time.

This is a nice drill which helps a coach cover a lot of fundamentals using one drill.  When you have the option of using one drill to cover multiple facets of the game that is a true blessing for a coach.  Especially for a coach who may have limited practice time. This drill covers passing, dribbling, receiving the ball, rip moves, layups, and conditioning.

One of our mottoes here at That Basket Life is take nothing for granted.  This is why we spend a lot of time covering topics like pivots, and close-outs and all sorts of topics related to footwork and screening.  They may be boring on the surface but if you master the details you will become a better more efficient basketball player.  In this post's discussion we are covering another one of these boring yet important topics.  Specifically, we will be discussing some of the more popular cuts involved in basketball.  Cuts are very important in basketball.  So important that in order to stand a chance to challenge a defense, any offense should have at least some sort of cutting action in it. Some of the cuts we'll be covering below are: Basic Cut V-Cut L-Cut Flash Cut Backdoor Cut Curl Cut Loop Cut UCLA Cut Flare Cut Laker Cut

Here is another post on one of the most important but often neglected parts of the game.  As I've mentioned before, footwork is so important yet so often neglected by coaches.  It should be a part of every practice especially early in the season and often reinforced during the year. In an effort to cover all of the important elements of footwork, I am prepared to discuss another of the essentials.  Closeouts are a very important part of the game.  Closeouts are the moves a defender tries to make to cover a man who generally has the ball.  The quicker you close out the better off you will be.  There are different steps to a good closeout: Dig deep and sprint to the man you are closing out on as quickly as possible. Once you are about 2/3 of the way there begin chopping your feet.  This serves 2 purposes: It helps you slow down and prevents you from over running the offensive player. It keeps you in balance and your feet close to the ground in an...

As a coach you wear many hats.  It is your job to be able to manage the team, prepare the team, get the team up from lows, and keep them from getting overconfident.  It's your job to make them understand what the goals of the team are, teach them how the team is going to get there, and then keep them focused on the task during the long hard grind of a season.  It's like a tight rope that you need to carefully manage.  One false move and you will fall off.  The price you pay when you do fall off is that you lose your team.  From the outside looking in, some may think that coaching a team of players is easy but it's not.  In many ways you are like a good symphony conductor who is able to bring all of the wonderful talent that surrounds him into harmony. So how do you get started on this task of bringing a group of players and form a team?

There are many different metrics which are used by coaches to gage why a result of a game may have turned out the way it did.  Some like to use turnovers, others like to use rebounding differential, others like to use field goal percentage, and the list goes on and on.  The one metric that I like to use takes many of the stats other coaches use and combines them into one figure and it is called Quality Possessions Percentage (QP%).

Coaching young kids under the age of 10 is a huge responsibility and one that should be taken seriously.  There are a lot of decisions that need to be made.  You need to teach them fundamentals at that age but how do you go about doing it?  How fast should you go?  How do you keep them interested?  Do you toss in coordination drills as well?  How often do you have them play a game?  Should those games be played 5 a side or with less players.  How about defense?  Do you teach them man to man principles from a young age and have them build on that or do you teach them a zone? Finally what about offense?  Do you teach them a structured offense or do you teach them about floor balance and pass and move basketball?  This post is aimed to addressing all of these questions.

As a coach, I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to push players to improve . Whether it is ball handling, shooting, passing, defense, rebounding, or footwork, there is a natural tendency for a player to stay in their comfort level . I call this the comfort threshold —the point where a trigger occurs in a player’s mind warning them that going beyond this point increases the odds of failure . This threshold applies to all of us. While it keeps us safe in daily life, it often keeps athletes too conservative, inhibiting their development . How We Raise the Threshold The answer is twofold, involving both the physical and the mental: Physical: Repetition is the only way to sync the body with the mind and make skills easier . Mental: Practice is worthless if the mind is not convinced the player is better . By consistently making shots in practice, the mind eventually gathers the proof it needs to believe in the improvement . Reframing Failure: We must explicitly teach pla...