The triple threat By Mario Blasone

PASSING
Passing is fundamental and absolutely compulsory skill to master if you want to put together a team of players on
the court. We use many types of passing:

1. Chest pass.
2. Bounce pass.
3. Baseball pass.
4. Flip or hand-off pass.
5. Overhead pass.
6. Pass off the dribble.

CATCHING
Ten fingers rule: this mute communication between the passer and receiver is compulsory to teach. All passes
must be delivered in straight line from the chest to the hip. We insist on that in order to enable players to get
into the triple-threat position immediately. We will combine the three key fundamentals with a series of drills.

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QUARTER COURT
Players pass the ball to their team mate in front, use a change of direction, get a return pass, score a basket,
rebound the ball, pass it back to their team mate and go to a new line. The receiver joins the line at the three
point line after receiving the pass back from the shooter.(Diagram 20, 20a, 20b)

(Diagram 20) (Diagram 20a)

(Diagram 20b)

I repeat: the receiver must show TEN FINGERS.

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HALF COURT
Three lines are at the half court line as shown in Diagram 21. Start by dribbling, then stop (attention on balance),
pass to the player on baseline, receive and shoot. Rotate as shown above.

(Diagram 21)

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THREE QUARTER / Full COURT

Players start dribbling forward and using three changes of dribbling hand (crossover in front, between the legs,
behind the back). Then they stop, pass and continue as in the previous drill. For three quarters see Diagram 22/
23. Develop the same drill full court.

(Diagram 22) (Diagram 23)

It is good to add a couple of reverse dribbles in order to cover the full length of court. Players facing the dribblers
must show one, two, three, four or five fingers as they choose. Each dribbler must READ and SHOUT the number
of fingers he can see. We continue to work to develop their peripheral vision.

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Side Pass
We develop the passing technique of our players as shown in Diagram 24. This drill is very important, because
80% of all passes are side passes.

CIRCLE
Players form two circles with one ball in each circle. There are 6, 7 or 8 players in each circle.

(Diagram 24)

When coach blows his whistle, players must pass the ball around the circle as fast as they can and count loud the
number of passes. The circle reaching 50 passes first is the winner of the drill. Develop the drill: when coach
blows the whistle players must change the direction of passing (clockwise and anticlockwise).

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TWO TEAMS
Players are split into two teams. Each team has one ball behind the baseline. We run three different
competitions with players passing and running as fast as they can.

(Diagram 25) (Diagram 25a)

1st COMPETITION: At the sound of the whistle the pairs must run full court, touching the opposite baseline and
then come back (Diagram 25/ 25a). The inside player must score a basket. The next pair takes the ball from the
net and continues the drill.

2nd COMPETITION: Same rules as above but the pair scores on both ends. After the first basket they must
exchange lanes before coming back.

3rd COMPETITION: Both pairs come back on the opposite side of the court after scoring the first basket..

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PASS AND SLIDE

Players are in pairs, with one ball per pair. They pass to
each other whilst SLIDING towards the opposite basket.
When they reach the basket, the closest player to it
scores, then they both come back in the opposite
direction.

Note: The pass should be 5-6m long and forward.

(Diagram 26)

TRAC
This drill is set up with the players lined up in three lines along the baseline. The ball is in the right hand corner.
Players pass and sprint to a new spot as shown in the diagram 27/ 28.

(Diagram 27) (Diagram 28)

Rotation is anticlockwise. We use this drill to obtain good passing form and movement plus develop attention.

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FULL COURT TRAC

Same rotation and same organisation as before but this time we use the full court (Diagram 29/ 29a). The next
group starts when the previous group is around the half court line.

(Diagram 29)

(Diagram 29a)

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TAKE POSSESSION
Players are organised in three lines at half court. two balls in the middle line (Diagram 30).

(Diagram 30)

Players have to score a basket after two passes only. The middle man will rebound the ball and pass to one of his
team mates. The second passer goes opposite asking for an outlet pass. As soon as he receives it, he hits the
man without a ball at the half court line (Diagram 31). The third man from the first group scores the basket and
continues his run. Clockwise rotation if the first pass is on the left side of the court; if the drill is performed on
the right hand side, the rotation will be anticlockwise.

(Diagram 31)

Coach is based close to the half court line of players dictating the speed of the drill. Minimum six players have to
be involved in the drill at the same time to achieve the desired effect.

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THREE PASSES
We use this drill to teach and improve the quality of three basic passes: baseball, chest and bounce pass. As
shown in Diagram 32, the first pass is a baseball pass, the second one is a bounce pass, and after rebounding the
ball we use a chest pass to the player in the corner.

(Diagram 32)

STAR
The players are set up as in Diagram 33. The rebounder has the ball and starts with an outlet pass to O2, then
replacing O2. O2 passes to O3 and replaces O3, and so on. O5 penetrates, scores the basket and replaces O6. O6
will replace O1 as soon as O1 has outleted the ball. The main rule is: Pass and replace the receiver.

(Diagram 33)

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FOUR PASSES
We start with one ball per group of four players as shown in Diagram 34/ 34a/ 34b. In sequence we have a
baseball pass, then the passer runs towards the receiver to get the ball back. The receiver passes the ball back to
him with a chest pass and cuts close to him for a return hand-off pass. He passes in front of him to the next
player in line with a bounce pass, and goes to the back of that line.

(Diagram 34) (Diagram 34a)

(Diagram 34b)

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TOUCH
Two groups of players placed at each baseline; every player has a ball (Diagram 35).

The first player in line passes to the coach and sprints to

touch the ball. He turns running back toward the basket
and the coach passes back to him; player catches the ball
and scores a basket. Develop the drill: Coach instructs the
player to score the basket using a variety of shots: a lay-
up or a jump shot or a slam dunk etc. When the players
learn the drill well the coaches will be replaced by
players.

(Diagram 35)

TRIOS
The team is divided into groups of three: two passers and one defender in the middle (Diagram 36).

The two passers pass the ball to each other continuously,

if the defender touches the ball, the passer exchanges
places with the defender. We use this drill to teach our
players to read the weaknesses of the defensive player.
We emphasise to make the pass as follows: over their
head, over their shoulders and under their arms close to
their legs.

To develop the drill, the passers can use a single dribble

to beat the defensive player.

(Diagram 36)

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SPACING
Same drill as before but now the passers try to maintain a
certain distance (Diagram 37). Apply the same rules as
before. We use the three circles for easier definition of
the distance between the passers. Offensive players are
located a couple of metres outside the circles with the
defender placed inside...

(Diagram 37)

FULL COURT WEAVE

It is the most common and useful drill in basketball. The
principle is PASS AND GO BEHIND (Diagram 38). You can
adjust the speed of your players as you prefer. We use
one ball only placed in the middle lane at the start of the
drill.

NOTE: If players miss a lay-up, they must repeat the drill

from the beginning.

(Diagram 38)

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ONE ON TWO
Three men weave but when the coach blows his whistle
the player with the ball is on offence and his other two
team mates become opponents (Diagram 39). The man
with the ball can choose the basket he attacks: they play
until a basket is made.

(Diagram 39)

FOUR CORNERS
We use this drill when we play on the road because we
want to test the condition of the floor, the lights and the
arena background (Diagram 40).

The team is divided in the four corners with two players

with a ball each under the two opposite baskets to start
the drill. A baseball pass is made to the runner on the
sideline, and then the passer follows to the same corner
line. The receiver dribbles a couple of times and passes to
the first player in the opposite corner; then gets a return
pass and scores a basket; he then goes on to the line of
the same corner. We start the drill with two balls only but
as soon as they have learned the rotation, we include a
third ball and maybe a fourth one later on. The main goal
of this drill is accurate passing but we like to also use
different shots too e.g. lay-ups, jump shots, reverse lay-
ups etc. We use our imagination. Development of the
drill: when we blow the whistle players must change from
clockwise to anticlockwise and vice versa.

(Diagram 40)

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ONE ON ONE FULL COURT – FESTINA

The target of this drill is the development of passing and
dribbling under pressure (Diagram 41). Two coaches start
on the half court line and two players under the basket.
The ball handler has ten seconds to beat the defensive
player. If one of the coaches shows “ten fingers” the ball
handler must pass to him immediately.

When this happens he will receive the ball back from the
coach and they will play one on one until a basket is
made. It is an important drill to develop peripheral vision
useful against a full court press. We suggest to the ball
handler to use change of pace, change of dribbling hand
and read the situation on court constantly.

(Diagram 41)

ONE ON TWO – LENTE

Same rules as before but the ball handler must beat two
opponents. Second defensive player starts on the free
throw line (Diagram 42).

We suggest to the ball handler a new weapon: the backup

dribble in order to have a better peripheral vision and try
to beat the defence when they recover. If a steal occurs in
the back court, the opponents score and play defence
again. If we have a steal in the front court, whoever gets
the ball becomes the offensive player trying to score a
basket.

(Diagram 42)

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FOX IN THE RING

It is a fun drill. The fox (player in the middle of the ring) tries to avoid being hit by a pass between the other
players forming the ring for as long as he can. (Diagram 43)

(Diagram 43)

Develop the drill: six on six with two teams (Diagram 44). One team builds a wide circle around the players of the
second team.

The outside players try to hit the inside players using two
handed passes. Players hit by the ball are out. The team
resisting in the middle for the longest time wins the
contest.

(Diagram 44)

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GAP
Groups of three: with two players on the free throw line
with a ball between them and a player on the baseline
(Diagram 45).

At the sound of the whistle the two team mates must

sprint full court passing to each other. The third player
from the baseline tries to make up the gap and steal the
ball. Position the defender closer to the passers in order to
raise the pressure on the passers.

(Diagram 45)

FOUR ON FIVE
In order to develop the passing ability of our players we
put four offensive players as shown in Diagram 46.

We put five defensive players on the court. Their job is to

double team the man with the ball. At the beginning the
offensive players are standing but after a couple of
rotations offence to defence, they are allowed to move
around the court using dribble. When we give the
instruction “score”, the offence tries to score a basket.

(Diagram 46)

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TEN PASSES

Five on five full court but without shooting the ball. A team gets one point when they pass the ball between each
other ten times in a row (Diagram 47).

(Diagram 47)

RULES: dribbling is not allowed. When the ball is deflected there is a change of possession. If a team is fouled,
they inbound the ball and their count goes on. Develop the drill: run this drill in the half court with double
teaming.

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