PASSING ESSENTIALSThe Key5 passing course will help coaches become better teachers of passing and create better passing teams. In this course coaches will learn a variety of passes that apply to various offensive systems and situations in the game of basketball. Points of Emphasis (POEs) are provided to fully equip you with teaching points for use with your teams. This PDF was created as a supplement to the teachings within each video. Please refer to the videos for the primary descriptions of each drill.

1 - Individual Passing

Becoming a better passer is fundamental to becoming a great basketball player and requires hours of individual training and team practice to develop.

POEs:

• It’s important coaches encourage their players to use their imagination so they can make each passing drill contextual, realistic, and game-like.• Aim small – Miss small. When passing against the wall rather than into the hands of a teammate, players can be precise by finding a small target or spot on the wall to aim for. Having a standard and focus for each rep will allow them to track their progress and ensure they improve their accuracy.

2 - Partner Passing

Getting volume “on-air” passing reps will help players improve and perfect their passing skills. When coaching younger levels, these drills are even more valuable for helping build a base and foundation. These drills and pro-gressions can also be used for more experienced players as “maintenance” drills to emphasize the fundamentals that all great passers possess.

POEs:

Face series:• Teach players the importance of putting the right touch on their passes with crispness and pace behind the ball. Lazy, soft passes are unacceptable.• Watch the video to hear Sam explain how this drill is also an opportunity to develop communication skills.

Across body: • Used mostly off the dribble when attacking the basket and delivering quick, on-time passes to teammates.

• Teach players to develop the habit of using their eyes to manipulate the defense.• Aim small with a specific target. Be creative and make it a competition that builds in accountability and drives performance.

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High Post Feed

3 - Post Passing Series

POEs:

• Quick transitions are essential for maximizing reps and time at practice. Teach players the importance of hustling between reps.• Post-ups should be game-like, and players should be conscious of not telegraphing passes. Feel free to add a guided post defender to help with this.• Passers need to use a ball fake and grimmace (BFG) by faking low or high and passing opposite.

20 Post Feed Series

Low Post Feed

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High Post Handoff

20 & 21 Post Drive Series

POEs

• Drivers must attack aggressively and keep a straight line to the rim. Remind your players to make game-like drives rather than go through the motions.• Post players must react in a legitimate manner to their teammate’s drive and space quickly.• Shooters need to get their feet set and be shot ready.• Passers can practice avoiding charges by coming to a stop and being on balance when they pass, remembering that in games they would be passing because a defender has stopped them.

• 21 Post Drive: Add an additional defender on the post player and have them help on the drive. • The rotation then becomes defender to post player, post player to wing player and wing player to end of line.

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33 Post Series

This is a 3v3 same-sided game working on two types of passes, feeding the post and passing out of the post. A secondary outcome of this drill/game is players are learning how to have proper spacing and read defenders in ‘split’ or ‘x cut’ action.

POEs:

• The post defender allows the ball to enter the post. Once the ball enters the post it’s live.• The guard that is in the slot must be patient and wait for the screen from the wing to come.

4 - Pressure Passing Series

Against good teams you will have to execute passes versus pressure defenses. This drill will help your players develop confidence and passing skills in these situations. The ability to pass and catch versus pressure will determine whether your team will take advantage of the opponent’s pressure and get easy looks, or turn the ball over and give up easy baskets on the other end.

POEs:

• Teach the receiver how to be an available target and meet the ball.• Focus on the passer’s readiness (ball in loaded passing power position), to deliver the pass to a teammate when they are open.

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5 - Perimeter Attack Series

An essential element in any offense is making on-time and on-target passes off penetration. Basketball is heavy with dribble penetration, and it’s more important than ever to drill and train players to pass accurately off the dribble. This series focuses on developing different types of passes off the dribble.

POEs:

• It’s key to coach defenders into giving the offense a game-like read.• In the 22 and 33 series, the game is the teacher. If they are not able to get off open shots when starting with the advantage, it exposes an opportuntiy for players to improve their decision making.• Executing an accurate pass and teaching players to be shot ready is key. Poor passing will get an open shooter covered up quickly. • During the live 22 & 33 series, coach the ball handlers to attack to score first and pass second. By being a scorer first, it will force help-side defenders to commit, opening up passing lanes and shots for teammates.• Observe what types of passes players are making in live situations and determine if it was the correct type or if a different kind of pass would have been more effective.

In the first progression of this series, players are working on penetration and kick passes, specifically with the defense helping up and early. Players are making one-handed passes after one dribble to an open shooter in the same-side corner.

If you have more than 4-5 players you can work both sides of the floor at the same time.

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Corner Relocates

Continue with the same initial action, but this time with two dribbles on the drive instead of one. This simulates the defender guarding the corner coming over late to help and the driver deciding to stop and kick out to a teammate. The corner player will react and relocate, moving back towards the wing to create a better passing angle for their teammate to pass.

2 Drives

The final progression in the two player perimeter attack series is having the first pass lead to a second drive and a relocation of the passer.

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Baseline Drift

In the final progression, the two offensive players are on opposite wings simulating a baseline drive and backside movement to keep the pressure on the defense.

21, 22, & 33 Series

Whether adding a guided defender or playing live, you can begin to gamify these passing drills in a progression. Experiment with giving the offense an advantage on the drive to start.

6 - Ball Screen and DHO Series

Ball screens and DHOs (Dribble Hand-Off) are a large part of the game, now more than ever. Teaching players the various passes at the different angles is imperative and often overlooked in teaching ball screens. DHOs are important to rep out to gain comfortability, so you don’t have turnovers on the exchange.

POEs:

• Teaching players proper rotations will allow you to be more efficient in your reps.• Emphasize players using their eyes to create better passing openings.• The hook, pocket, and behind the back passes are all useful in ball screen action.• While emphasizing the passing reps, don’t overlook the necessity to teach the ball handler how to set up the ball screen and the screener how to set the screen in order to train proper habits.• In the 22 series, don’t allow the defense to switch to ensure that players are learning how to read the defense.• Understand that there will be many mistakes early in the learning development process.

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Using the Ball Screen to the Middle

Slipping the Ball Screen

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Rejecting the Ball Screen

For the ‘kick-back’ option, rather than 3 diving to the elbow, 3 would pop outside the 3 point line to receive the pass from 2 who just drove baseline. 2 then kicks it back out to 3 for the 3pt shot instead of the elbow jumper.

Pick & Pop

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20 Dribble Hand-Off (DHO)

Players need to know and work on proper exchanges and body position for DHOs. It’s commonplace for turnovers. DHOs are similar to ball screens because they force defenders to come together and communicate.

Variaton 1

Variaton 2 Variaton 3

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7 - Screen Away Series

Use progressions and add guided and live defenders to ensure you are practicing game-like passes. Against good teams and pressure defense your players will need to execute at a high level. Build in reads at an appropriate rate for your age and stage to ensure your players remain aggressive and able to take advantage of the defense. Timing and decision making are critical teaching points in passing versus pressure.

POEs:

• Teaching players proper load and ball position is key to delivering on-time passes while off-ball screens or cutting action is developing.• Players learn how to hit moving targets as their teammates are cutting in a variety of ways (back-door, curls, pops, fades, slips, screen and replace).• Screener/Cutter relationship: Go opposite. For example, if the cutter goes in, the screener goes out.

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Turning Down or Refusing the Screen

Use & Slip

In this variation coaches can have the player in the corner work on using the screen and having the screener dive to the basket after. You can also vary the drill and make it more focused on an early slip of the screen and hitting the screener with a clever back door pass. Both are about timing and emphasis and allow players to work on a variety of passes.

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8 - Inbounds & Transition Passing

Inbound and transition passes occur frequently in a game, and yet are not often practiced. Learn the nuances of teaching these types of passes to ensure efficient and effective transition to offense.

POEs:

• Peeking is an essential habit for becoming a great passer• Inbounders must develop the habit of loading it like a quarterback so they can pass short and long. Games are lost when off-balance passes are made or long passes are stolen because the passer telegraphs “loading up” instead of having the ball already loaded and ready to pass.• Getting players reps of traditional chest passes from back-court to front-court is critical for teams that want to push the tempo on offense.

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Post Entry & Outlet

Conclusion

Develop your offensive system and strategy and study it to understand which types of passes will be used most often. Continue to develop your ability to teach the nuances and become more efficient at using and creating drills to get the highest quality reps within your practices.