About This Play/Drill

This is a 3 line lay-up drill that we used as a warm-up for almost every practice and pre-game routine when I was an assistant at TLU. This was a staple for our basketball program, and we used it to get the players’ bodies ready for practices or games and also to get the players focused for the practice or game ahead. It starts aiming for 55 each side, and increases the number throughout the season. This drill is great at getting your players to move, talk, and to execute. Any missed lay-ups, dropped passes, or mistakes filling lines can result in not reaching the goal.

Emphasis:
• Move the ball without passing
• Sharp passes (do not float passes)
• Finishing lay-ups
• Communication (we require the players to say the name of the teammate that they are passing to or receiving a pass from)

Set-up:
• 3 Lines
• 2 basketballs
• Basketball in either the right or left line (this doesn’t matter, because the drill will switch sides half way through)

Rules:
• The ball should never hit the ground (no dropped passes and no dribbling)
• Don’t leave early from the lines (players will tend to leave early for passes to reach the goal in the allotted time)
• Always rotate to the LEFT, whether we are shooting from the right or left side
• 6:00 minutes on the clock
• Start with a goal of 55 on each side (players switch the drill once they reach 55, ideally close to 3:00 minutes left)

Execution:

Frame 1: The ball starts in the left line. 1 passes to 2. Once the pass is made to 2, both 1 and 3 can start cutting to the wings. This is where players will begin leaving early (usually the players in the far line opposite the ball). 2 passes to 3 at the wing, and then 2 runs straight up the floor into the lane.

Frame 2: 3 passes to 1 for a lay-up. 3 then cuts to the opposite side of the floor for an outlet pass. After shooting the lay-up, 1 clears out to the opposite side of the floor from which he started. 2 follows the shot for the rebound (the ball shouldn’t hit the floor!). At this time, the 2nd ball would have started (Player 4 passing to 5), but for the diagram I left this out.

Frame 3: 2 passes to 3, and then clears out the opposite side of the pass. Players will tend to want to follow the pass. 3 passes to the next player in the 1st line (left side of the floor), and the drill starts over again. Players 1, 2, and 3 should then rotate to the next line to the left of where they started.