Warm-upTag the ball6 min
- Pairs spread out, an arm and a half apart. The dribbler's feet stay glued to the floor and they can only use a front crossover, changing hands every dribble.
- What they can change: the height (hip to shoulder), the distance (tucked in the pocket or pushed out wide) and the speed (quick bounces, slow ones, a pause).
- The defender's feet are glued too. They reach to tag the ball, a point every tag. 45 seconds, then swap roles. Swap partners after two rounds.
- Theme link: every time the ball goes somewhere the defender didn't expect, their hand ends up in the wrong place. That's misdirection before anyone moves their feet.
Block 1Bite on three6 min
- Adds: a defender who bites, so there's a side to read.
- The defender holds their hands behind their back (handcuffed) for the whole rep. The attacker starts at the arc and fakes: the ball moved hard to one side, or a step with the body.
- On the third fake the defender bites: one step with the ball, or one step with the body, their choice. The attacker goes past the side they left, 3 dribbles to finish inside the smile. The defender chases, still handcuffed.
- Swap roles every rep; the next pair goes when the attacker reaches the elbow. Rotate the start between the top and both slots.
- Progress when: attackers go on the bite, not a beat after it, and they go both ways across the round.
- Regress if: attackers go the same way whatever the defender does. The defender makes the bite bigger: two steps.
- Cues (questions): "Did they go with the ball or with your body?" "Did you go the moment they moved, or after?"
Block 2Up to five8 min
- Adds: the defender chooses when, so the attacker has to watch, not count.
- Same handcuffed defender. The attacker gets up to five fakes. The defender can bite on any of them, or not bite at all. If there's no bite by the fifth, the attacker has to beat them straight.
- Vary the start: the ball low by the ankle, high by the shoulder, out wide, between the legs. Wherever the ball is when the defender bites, that's where the go starts from.
- Scoring: attacker 1 for a finish inside the smile that went past the side the defender left; defender 1 for getting in front. First to 5, then new partners.
- Progress when: attackers win more than half the bites, and the first step is as fast from an awkward ball position as from a good one.
- Regress if: defenders guess early every rep. They must wait for at least two fakes before biting.
- Cues (questions): "What did the defender show you just before they moved?" "Where was the ball when you went, and did that slow you down?"
Water2 min
Block 3Push and pull on the arc9 min
- Adds: the defender's hands, and a defender who keeps moving with you.
- Attacker and defender start in the corner, both outside the arc. The attacker dribbles up and down the arc, changing hands every dribble; every step the attacker takes, the defender takes too, keeping the same distance.
- Anywhere between the corner and the wing, the attacker fakes to make the defender move and breaks the arc the other way. From the break they have 3 dribbles to finish inside the smile. The defender is fully live from the break, hands included.
- Scoring: attacker 1 for the finish; defender 1 for getting in front and making the attacker change hands, or a stop. Alternate corners every rep.
- Progress when: the break comes off something the defender did, not at a random moment. The defender is allowed to use hands from the start.
- Regress if: the defender wins every rep. They stay handcuffed until the attacker's first dribble after the break.
- Cues (questions): "What made you break when you did?" "Where were the defender's feet at the break?"
Finisher3v3: misdirection counts double11 min
- 3v3 live on the half court, everyone playing. After a score the other team takes it from the top.
- Scoring:
- 2 pts: a make, or a pass to a make, from a drive that started off a fake the defender bit on (the coach calls "two!").
- 1 pt: any other make.
- Defence, 1 pt: a stop.
- First to 9, then change teams.
- Progress when: drives start from the defender's bite without the coach prompting.
- Regress if: nobody fakes, everyone just drives. First possession for each team: the ball handler must make one fake before they can drive.
Huddle3 min
- One question to the group: "What did your defender do that told you which way to go?"
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Going the same way the defender went is a decision error. Ask Block 1's question: "Did they go with the ball or with your body?"
- Reading it right but going slowly, because the ball was in an awkward spot, is execution. Back to Block 2's starts from odd ball positions.
- Common failure: fakes too small to move anybody. A fake the defender doesn't react to is just a dribble. Ask the defender: "What made you move?"
- Common failure: a pre-planned combo (crossover, behind the back, go) run whatever the defender does. The rule for the whole session: the move is whichever one goes away from where the defender went.
- Judge the read, not the make. A drive past the open side that misses the layup was still the right play. Say so.
- Running it for 60: put the extra 15 minutes at the live end. Block 3 goes to 14 min, with a second round where the defender uses hands from the start. The finisher goes to 19 min, with a second game where a stop also scores 2 for the defence if the attacker drove the way the defender went. Add a 2-min huddle question: "When didn't your first fake work, and what did you do next?" Never add to the Warm-up or Block 1.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Kerri Kuzbyt — Stationary Ball Handling Game | Warm-up |
| Transforming Basketball — How to Teach a Misdirection Move | Mechanism, Block 1, Block 2 |
| Kerri Kuzbyt — Dribbling and Finishing Games | Block 3 |
| junior.basketball (original) | Block 1 bite on three, Block 2 and Block 3 scoring, 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.