Warm-upHandoff relay5 min
- Two teams of three, one each side. Dribble from the top to the slot, hand off to the wing teammate, and the receiver turns the corner and lays it up. Rebounder takes the next handoff.
- Count: clean handoffs only. A bobble or a toss resets that team to zero.
- Theme link: the handoff itself has to be automatic before anyone can read a defender.
Block 1Handoff mechanics5 min
- Adds: the footwork of the exchange, with no defender.
- Handler dribbles to the slot, turns their back to the middle and presents the ball with two hands. Receiver comes off the wing, lands inside foot first, takes the ball and turns the corner tight to the handler's hip.
- Both directions: half the reps from the left wing, half from the right.
- Progress when: the receiver turns the corner without drifting wide.
- Regress if: the ball is tossed rather than handed. Walk it.
- Cues (questions): "How much space was there between you and the handler's hip?" "Which foot landed first?"
Block 2Trail or jump8 min
- Adds: a defender and one read with two answers.
- The coach shows the receiver's defender a card behind the offence's backs: trail (follow over the top) or jump (step into the receiver's path). The defender plays at three-quarter speed.
- Trail → receiver takes the handoff and turns the corner. Jump → handler keeps it, turns and attacks the space the defender left.
- Progress when: 4 of 5 reps get the right answer. Then the defender chooses freely.
- Regress if: the receiver commits before seeing the defender. Freeze the defender in position until the handler arrives.
- Cues (questions): "Where were the defender's feet when the ball arrived?" "Who had the open lane?"
Block 32v2 live8 min
- Adds: a live handler's defender. Both defenders play any way they like.
- 2v2 from the top. The offence must run the handoff first. A basket counts only if it comes from the take or the keep read. Make-it-take-it for 2 possessions, then the next pair rotates in.
- Progress when: most possessions end in a shot inside the arc from the right read.
- Regress if: the handler's defender keeps blowing up the exchange. That defender starts from a step behind.
- Cues (questions): "Was it a take or a keep? How did you know?" "What did your defender do when the ball arrived?"
Water2 min
Block 43v3 with corner help9 min
- Adds: a help defender, and a second read after the first.
- 3v3. Third attacker in the opposite corner. After the take or keep, the driver reads the corner defender: help comes → kick to the corner; no help → finish.
- Play to 3 baskets, then rotate offence to defence.
- Progress when: drivers kick when help comes, rather than forcing the shot.
- Regress if: too many turnovers on the kick. The corner defender must stay in the corner until the driver's second dribble.
- Cues (questions): "Who stopped the ball?" "Where was the open player?"
FinisherHandoff before score8 min
- 3v3 live, any side. The offence must use at least one handoff before scoring.
- Scoring:
- 2 pts: basket after a handoff.
- 1 pt: the correct take or keep read, whatever the result (the coach calls it).
- Defence, 1 pt: a stop.
- First team to 7. Losers run the next handoff relay.
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Taking the handoff into a jumping defender is a decision error. Ask Block 2's question; don't fix the footwork.
- A tossed or fumbled exchange is an execution error. Send the pair back to Block 1 for three reps.
- Common failure: handoffs in the corner. There's no room to turn the corner there. Keep them at the slot.
- Common failure: the receiver drifts wide off the handoff, which lets the trailing defender recover. Ask how much space was between them and the handler's hip.
- Judge the read, not the shot. A correct keep that ends in a miss scores a point in the finisher for a reason.
- Running it for 60: add the 15 minutes to the live end, not the technique blocks. Block 4 goes to 14 min. The finisher goes to 16 min: a second game to 7 with a 12-second shot clock. Close with a 2-min huddle: "What did the defender show you that told you to keep it?"
- See it on a court. The trail-or-jump read from Block 2, step by step: DHO Reads playbook.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| James Janssen & Gayle Fulks — Coaching Clinic | Blocks 1–3 |
| Nico Loureiro — Multi-Optional Offence Clinic | Warm-up, Block 4 |
| Justin Schueller — Parents Coaching Clinic | Block 1 |
| M14 System of Development (Vilnius, on-court) | Warm-up, Block 3, finisher |
| Aaron Fearne — Early Transition Offense and Flow | Block 2 |
| Sam Gruggen — Skill Development for Junior Athletes 1 | Block 4 |
| junior.basketball (original) | Finisher scoring |
Unofficial resource. Drills are adapted from recorded coaching clinics and credited to the coaches named in Sources above; anything marked junior.basketball (original) was written for this plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by those coaches or the organisations that ran the clinics. Full credit to every presenter.