Pick n roll 3 outside 2 inside

Most of the pick n roll that we have used to watch are with the screener (usually) cutting inside the paint, and the other big man outside the 3-point line, so we had 4 players standing outside the 3 point line and one inside. But as you'll watch from the video, it's very effective as well the option with the other big man standing at the middle post asking for the ball, so with 3 outside players and 2 inside. Very crusial for these kind of pick n rolls is the player with the ball to know and read the defense and be very good passer.

JUMPBALL ACTION

Just few times I have heard coaches talking about that issue, even when in Europe according some older rules jumpball was taking place more often. But if you think better, a quick basket from jumpball can give to your team the follow advantages:
-the feeling to your players, to the team, that team work is excellent from the very first second, something that increase their confidence and their energy.
-the chance to your scorer to “warm up” early in the game, something that also increase his confidence.
-the chance to your team to be up from the very first seconds and set a press defense after the quick basket even with your centers.
-you put your opponent in a situation to afraid you from the beginning of the game, especially if you have more than one or two jumpball actions.

Generally speaking, of course we don't talk about something that can play a huge role in the game, but for something that you can build a very small base for the future of the game.

At the following video, you can watch two of my jumpball actions, both of them very successful.

THE ZIG ZAG STEP (EUROSTEP)

The biggest asset of a basketball player is his ability to find solutions on difficult moments through his technique and the combination technique-intelligence. The zig zag step (also called as eurostep) is a very simple move and will often need to have it in our coaching program, as also some other various kinds of movements and finishes. Very simple but very effective and quite usefull!!

EXPLOSIVENESS AND FOOTWORK

I believe that the combination footwork and explosiveness is something that helps extremely the basketball player, so I posted 3 videos with some of these exercises.

In the first video, when coach says "left" the player must make a quick 45 degrees turn to the left and back to the inicial position. With the call "half left" the players must make a 90 degrees turn and back. When the call is "full left" the players must make a 180 degrees turn.
Of course, the calls are also for the right side.
This is an Excellant exercise, which I stole from Coach Missas.


The second video is just a small part of training with band resistance. Of course in the internet you can find milions of drills like these.


The third video is also a small part of training with agility ladder. Believe me youtube is the perfect place for finding tons of drills like these.

VALENCIA

The team that I loved to watch during the last two years from the Spanish ACB league, was Valencia of coach Fotis Katsikaris. His team was playing very discipline and it was obvious that everything was done by coach's plan. Usually, most of the teams use common plays with some little differences, rarely we see something special. But Valencia presented very succesfully a new play with many different options for the final shot.

AEROBIC-INTERVAL TRAINING WITH BASKETBALLS

Both during the preparation and in the regular season , it’s necessary to increase or maintain the aerobic capacity. One way is interval training. The athletic works for a given time period and then is given a certain time for recovery. The time given to the athlete to work depends on what we want them to achieve that day. In the following video you will see an example of interval trainings in basketball. These exercises can vary with or without the ball as well as running exercises. The task at hand is to work 6 exercises for a period of 3 minutes work, and 3 minutes rest, matching a one to one ratio. During each exercise, there may be several changes(change of direction, etc), this is done without any interruption to the drill. The athletes enjoy the exercise more if music is applied into the workout. One idea of adding music to the work out, is insert certain sounds. When an athlete hears the sounds it indicates them to change stations or exercises. By adding this addition to the work out, it helps with time and organization with the drills, so the coach doesn’t have to look at his watch or blow the whistle for change. By having the music as the source of time and change, the coach is able to help set up the next drill, without having to worry about interruptions during the drill.

We divide the players into 2 groups of 6 and perform exercises of 3 minutes. The first group does the exercise while the second group waits for their turn.
Exercise 1: Every minute each couple switches stations so that every station is used in the exercise.
Exercise 2: Every 30 seconds players move from one position to the next.
Exercise 3: The players are in groups of three along the line. Each one shoots, gets the rebound, and pass to their teammate who is coming across to shoot. After 90 seconds the players switch sides of the court.
Exercise 4: The players in a straight line, the run and close out at the 3 point line, sprint to half court, back peddle to the foul line, defense slide from one slide line to the other where they receive the ball and go for lay up at the other basket, and after the lay up they get their rebound bring the ball back and repeat the drill. After 90 seconds they change the direction of the first slide which changes the side of the lay up.
Exercise 5: One player underneath the goal passes to the player standing in the corner of half court. The passer goes to half court. After 90 seconds the direction changes.
Exercise 6:.The players slide from left to right depending on what direction the coach shows. After he shots and the players in groups of 5 or 3 run five fast breaks. After the 5 fast breaks they repeat the same exercise for 3 minutes.

SPECIAL SITUATION

When few seconds are remaining in the game, and one team must score to win or send it to overtime, a special play or strategy must be set. We used to call these situations as “special situations”. We saw such as one during the game of Serbia vs Turkey at the European championships of 2009. 3.4 seconds were left on the shot clock when Serbia scored and tied the game. Immediately, the coach of Turkey, Tanjevic, called a timeout for two reasons. First according to the rules, Turkey, after the timeout, had the right to inbound the ball from the middle line, and second because he wanted to set a “special situation” play. Unfortunately for him, his players didn’t manage to score, but the play that he drew was very nice.