Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

Last week I wrote about a basketball drill framework that I use in my practices and highlighted how it is used to develop the skills necessary for a two man pick-n-roll play.  This post will continue to expand on that framework by showing how it can be used to practice rebounding and box-out skills. This rebounding drill can be used with teams 4th grad and above.

Player Positioning
Have two offensive players stand at the elbows and two defensive lines form at the baseline.

Drill
The coach hands the ball to one of the two players at the front of the defensive line located at the baseline.  The player makes a good bounce pass to either of the two offensive players at the elbows. 

The offensive players cannot dribble or pass.  The offensive player who receives the ball shoots and then the offense tries to get the rebound.  The offensive players cannot move toward the basket until after the ball is released from the shooters hand.

After the pass to the offense, the defensive players run out to box out the offense.  The offense should get the shot off before the defense has approached them to block the shot.  This means that the offensive players will get one or two steps before the defensive players can reach them, just like in a game situation.

Rewards

1. If the basket is made then the offensive players stay at the elbows for their next turn as the offense again
2. If the defense gets the rebound then the defense becomes the offense
3. If the offense gets the rebound or the defense fouls then the offensive players stay on the floor as the offense and the defensive players have to run one time around the court and go to the back of the defensive line
4. If the offense fouls, then the offensive players have to run one time around the court before going to the back of the defensive line

Key Fundamentals
This drill does provide shooting practice for the players, but this is just a side benefit.  The key fundamentals being developed are defensive close outs, positioning, box out, and rebounding and offensive rebounding.

Defense: When boxing out, the defensive player is typically between the offensive player and the basket.  Unfortunately, many times the defensive players will watch the shot as a spectator as oppose to find an opponent and "put a body on them."  By running the drill where the offensive player gets one or two steps as the defense approaches them, it teaches the defensive player to first to find an opponent to box out, and second to quickly turn and find the ball while maintaining contact with the opponent.

For the defense to successfully box out, they must do a few things correctly:

1. Close out at full speed and under control - if the defense closes to slowly, the offense will pin the defense under the basket where they are unable to get the rebound.  The must quickly move out to the offensive player and gently touch (not push) the opponent.
2. Make contact with the opponent and do a reverse pivot - As the defensive player reaches the opponent, they reach out and touch the opponent gently with a bent arm to make contact.  They can either do a forward or back reverse pivot while maintaining contact with the other player.  This allows them to feel the opponent without having to watch them.  By maintaining contact when the opponent moves, they are able to move left or right as the offensive player moves and stay between them and the basket.
3. Put your buttocks into the opponents thigh and gentle push backwards - After the reverse pivot, contact is now maintained by the defensive player with their backside.  In order to keep the offense away from the basket, they need to gently push backwards.  The key word here is "gently."  If the defensive player pushes to hard and moves the offensive player backward forcefully, then this is a displacement foul.
4. Find the ball - Only after the defensive player has secured his position between the opponent and the basket can they then look to find the ball.
5. Watch the trajectory of the rebound and go get the ball - The defensive players need to maintain the box out until they have determined where the rebound is going and then go get the ball.

Offense:  While the defensive players initially have position between offense and the basket, the offensive players have the advantage of watching the shot and anticipating where the rebound will go.  This gives the offense the advantage of knowing the spot on the floor where they need to be to secure the rebound.

For the offense to successfully rebound the ball, they must anticipate the highest probable location of the rebound.  These locations are:

1. Follow your shot - If you shoot the ball then the highest probably location for you to get the rebound is straight back at you.  This occurs when your shot hits the front or the back of the rim and bounce straight back at the shooter.
2. Shot from the wing or baseline then the non shooting offensive players gets to the weak side - When the ball is shot from the wing or baseline, the most probable miss is for the shot to hit the front or back of the rim and bounce over or for the shot to overshoot the basket.
3. Long shots generate long rebounds - The farther the ball is shot from the basket, the more energy the ball has when it hits the rim and the longer the rebound is going to be.  The offensive player should move from side to side slowly moving the defensive player toward the basket or attempting to get around them.
4. Slide and cross - When a defensive player effectively boxes out their opponent, the other offensive player can slide in front of them to get the rebound coming straight back to the shooter and now they have inside position.  Conversely, the shooter can cross behind their teammate and go for the weak side rebound.  When this works correctly, the offensive player that slides in front creates a "screen" on the defensive rebounder and peels free.  This should not be a real screen because that will take to long, but more like a football screen where several players create a congested area and then one player breaks free.

Advanced Options
There are a couple of variations to this drill that will keep the players challenged, develop additional skills, and keep the monotony out of the drill.

1. Move the starting location of the offense from the elbows to the wings or baseline
2. Change the rules so that the defense has to rebound the ball after it bounces on the floor (offense can get the rebound before the ball hits the floor)
3. Move the offensive players starting position to the three point line to give the offense more steps before the defense arrives and learn to box out on longer rebounds.

Try this drill in your practice and leave me a comment on how it turned out.

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