3 Basketball Drills to Simulate Dribble Drive Offenses

With the off-season here, small group workouts become even more important to the development of your players’ individual skills. Instead of exclusively practicing stand-still shooting or random off-the-dribble shooting, why not use the summer months to improve both your team shooting and your offensive system as a whole?

Our team runs an offense resembling Dribble Drive actions. So not only do we want them driving to score, we also want them developing the skills of stopping, pivoting, passing, and relocating. Here are three drills that incorporate those skills along with the player movement required to effectively run our offensive system. Check out 3 great drills to incorporate into your off-season training below!

1. Attack the triple gap

One of the fundamental actions within DDM is the drive off the slot-to-slot pass. Creating space after the pass then attacking the “triple gap” forces corner defenders to decide whether to give help or stay home on shooters. If the help comes, it’s a quick pitch for a shot. Check out the full video below for a breakdown!

Drill Breakdown:

• The Dish will pass out to Player 1.
• Player 1 immediately passes to Player 2 then makes a cut towards the opposite corner.
• Player 2 drives the triple gap left by Player 1’s cut.
• Player 2 kicks to Player 3 for the shot.

2. Escape the Drive

On the initial “triple gap” drive, it’s possible that the on-ball defender cuts off the drive and the corner defender takes away the pitch to the shooter. If those two things happen, the ball-handler must be able to stop on the drive, pivot, and pass behind. We tell players to sprint to the “kickback spot” (i.e., the same-side slot) in order to receive a clean pass from the driver. Check out the full video below for a breakdown!

Drill Breakdown:

• Player 1 receives a pass from the Dish.
• On the drive, Player 2 escapes the opposite direction from Player 1.
• Player 1 passes back to Player 2 for the shot.

3. Kick Back to the Shooter

On the initial “triple gap” drive, it’s possible that the on-ball defender cuts off the drive and the corner defender takes away the pitch to the shooter. If those two things happen, the ball-handler must be able to stop on the drive, pivot, and pass behind. We tell players to sprint to the “kickback spot” (i.e., the same-side slot) in order to receive a clean pass from the driver. Check out the video below for a full breakdown!

Drill Breakdown:

• Player 1 receives a pass from the Dish at the top of the key and immediately drives into the lane 
• Player 1 then kicks back to player 2 at the top of the key for a 3-pointer
• Player 2 receives another pass from the Dish and repeats 
• To add variation players can kick out to different spots on the court

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While each of these three drills fit great for our adapted Dribble Drive Motion (DDM), they’re really teaching good spacing and movement for any offense. With a slight change, you can fit these drills to work within your team’s specific offensive system.

Want more from Tony Miller? Check out his podcast, A Quick Timeout as well as his twitter/social media @tonywmiller. We're so grateful to have him on our Dr. Dish team! Check out his other Dr. Dish Basketball Drills here.