In order to become a better basketball player you are going to have to put a lot of practice in. There are so many different aspects to practice in the game of basketball and it can be quite hard to practice everything if you don't have someone to practice with. In this article we have come up with some drills that you can do on your own in order to try and improve a variety of aspects in your game and be able to show off to your friends or to your teammates when all of your hard work starts to pay off during actual gameplay.
One thing that you can do in order to improve your basketball skills is to play a game called 21. In this game you have to set a line in front of the basketball net, usually the three point line. After choosing a line get all of the players who want to play to line up in behind the line. At this point the first player throws the ball and tries to get it in the net. If they miss they pass the ball onto the next player and they get a chance to shoot. Once someone manages to get a ball in they have "broken the ice" and they are now allowed to shoot and try and get points. You can play this game where you are allowed to try and take the ball from someone or you can play it where each person gets a chance at their shot. Generally speaking this game is played with a bounce rule meaning that if you are the next person up and the ball bounces off of the rim or the back of the basket you have to shoot the ball from wherever you can get it from, the faster you can get it and the closer you can get to the net the better. If you sink a throw from here you get one point and can move to the three point line and continue to shoot and rack up points until you miss. If at any point in time someone misses the net entirely it is called a free ball and the next person can dunk the ball or do whatever they wish; essentially they get a free shot instead of having to shoot from wherever the ball bounces to.
Another fun basketball drill that you can do is a game called bump. The game of bump is very simple to play but it does require that you have three people in order to have a good quality game. A game of bump is often better with even more people as it makes the competition more intense.in order to play bump you are going to need a basketball net as well as two different basketballs. In order to start the game, create a line from the location where you want people to shoot from. Have the first person shoot the ball and try and score on the net, this person will want to score the ball as fast as they possibly can. The second person in line has the second ball and is allowed to shoot right after the first person releases the ball from their hands. If the first person scores before the second person the ball gets passed to the third person in line and they attempt to score before the second person. Whenever the person behind you manages to score before you do this means that you are eliminated from the game. At this point the ball gets passed to the next person in line and the game continues. In order to win the game you have to be the last person left standing. It is important to make sure that each and every time you score you go back to the shooting line before releasing the ball so that it is fair for both players.
If you want to practice layups, this is a great drill that you can do. This is a very simple drill that only requires two people and a basketball hoop/net in order to work properly. Simply have one person throw the ball up in the air while the other person runs in and have them lay the ball up and put it into the net. This is a great way to improve your passing accuracy and it is a great way to practice your layup techniques as well. If you want to change things up a bit and make it more difficult you can switch positions with the other person or switch which side of the net you are coming from in order to try and use a different hand in order to put the ball up. The nice thing about this drill is that it can be very close to actual game circumstances and repeating this drill on a regular basis can really improve your overall gameplay and can translate to skills that you can incorporate in real games.
If you want to do a drill in order to practice your cuts as well as your ball handling skills then this drill may be a good one for you. Corner off an area on the floor that that is about 10-15 feet in length and have two people face off with one ball in order to try and keep the ball away from the other person for as long as possible. If the person who has the ball goes out of bounds the ball is given to the opposite person and the play continues. Not only does this simulate actual gameplay but it also gets you used to defending the ball and performing fast hand movements in order to get around other players when you don't have much room available to you. An alternative way to do this drill is to have the exact same rules but widen up the playing area to about 20-25 feet in length and have two other people play with you; a partner for each team. This is a great way to improve communication skills and it is also a good way to get your players to guard the other team's passes more successfully and over time you will surely notice that your team intercepts more balls than usual during regular gameplay.
This next drill is a great way to help improve passing around a defender. Essentially play a game of "monkey in the middle" with two other people. Have one person stand between the two people and attempt to pass the ball through them in order to get the ball to the other player on your team. If the defender stops the ball when you throw it, switch with the defender and try to defend their passes to the other player until you stop a ball and get to switch out. If you find this game a little bit too difficult to paly while standing still one thing that you can do either move closer to the defender or have two defenders and play it on the open court which makes the game much more challenging.
Another quick and easy drill that you can do is have someone stand on the 3 point line at the very corner of the line in the most difficult position. Have someone stand underneath the net in order to retrieve balls. With this drill all you have to do is pass the ball to the person on the three point line and have them shoot and try and sink it. One way to make this drill into a competition is to put a pylon directly in the center of the three point line in the place where you would be directly in front of the net. Have your competitor stand on the opposite side of you and have someone around that can pass the ball back to them if they miss their shot. When you sink a shot take a step closer to the center of the three point line and the first person that gets to the middle, wins.
Hopefully after reading this article you have found some of these basketball drill ideas to be helpful and hopefully you have gained a bit of the knowledge required to be able to improve your gameplay. You will have to work hard and put in a lot of practice in order to improve your game and you certainly may not see results overnight. Best of luck with all of your basketball practice and good luck in your basketball games!