After 1 mounts of practicing our team start to look better, BH get better, and spacing start to look like something (5 out) :), we still have problem to get open and pass we do a lot of passing drills, v cuts, seal and pop out, but in game time its still a challenge, any ideas and tips?

Best advice I can give you on improving passing and getting open is make it harder in practice than it will be in a game.

1) No dribble scrimmages. Can't hold the ball for more than 3 seconds or it's a turnover. To kick it up a notch, add an extra player to one of the teams and let them double team.

2) 5 good passes (can be 6, 7, 8 whatever you want). This is played 1/2 court. Three teams of 3 players. A, B and C. A is on defense to start, B is on offense to start and C is on the sideline waiting to come in. On the whistle, team B is trying to complete 5 good passes, no dribbles allowed and there's a time limit on holding the ball (up to you, but I'd make it 4-5 seconds). Team A is in their face and even allow a bit of contact making the passes extremely hard to make. A good pass = their teammate caught the ball. If the teammate drops it, the pass goes by them, the pass is stolen, or the time limit to pass is up, those are all turnovers.

Immediately upon a turnover, Team B goes to the sideline, Team A becomes the offense and Team C comes in from the sideline to be on defense. This happens quickly, the team on the sideline should get in quickly and begin to make passes, the new defense should be on it also and in their face quickly.

The first Team to get 10 good passes completed, wins. Losing teams having consequences.

The more you can add some pressure in practice that is more than the game and always include consequences for the losers, you should see improvement. Those two drills force players to move and get open.


Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply coach! What I'm afraid is that they will start to run all over the place to get free, cus we working alot on spacing, and how to get open on the 3 point line , without come very close to each other, what you think?

One more rule on those two drills: No handoffs allowed, they must be good solid passes.

These aren't drills I would run every single practice for a majority of the practice, they just come in when you see your players not getting open and making solid passes. However, I'm still a big advocate of making practice more challenging than a game when working on different concepts (e.g. passing, getting open, dealing with aggressive defenses, pressure to make quick decisions).

You'll have to try these drills or a version of them to see how they really work in practice. Having a time limit on holding the ball should eliminate kids running all over the place. It puts pressure on the passer and the player receiving the pass to get on it, quickly. I actually start counting out loud when someone receives a pass "4,3,2,1..". There's no time to run all over the place. If you bunch up, you bring your defender with you who is allowed to play more aggressively in this drill. You'll have to blow the whistle and jump in with the teaching opportunities when you see both good/bad things in the beginning. Usually one group of kids begins to figure this out.

It should become crystal clear to your players that the way to be successful is to create some space and use sharper cuts. If they're being overplayed, they back cut, etc. Set an off ball screen.

I've found when you take away an element (dribbling) or add another one (limit the time you can hold the ball), those pop-outs and V cuts start to look a little sharper. ; )

I understand your concerns, that the kids will start to play sloppy in a real game thinking they have to run all over the place to "get open". In a real game, defenses wouldn't be playing chest to chest on defense. In these drills, you've taken away the dribbling (which wouldn't happen in a game) and allowed the defense to play more aggressively. If they can get through that, being in the game will be a lot easier.

Thanks! its make alot of sense, will do :)