1 on 1 Placement

This is a fairly simple drill that always seems to be early on the practice plan when we have our best energetic practices.  It may be coincidence, but its quickly becoming my go to drill when we have a letdown energy wise with the previous practice.  Here is the drill:


1 on 1 Placement
                2 lines out of bounds at lane line.  Defense starts with the ball and runs out to place the ball anywhere he wants inside the arc.  Defender tries to stand over the ball and "box out" the offense from picking the ball for as long as possible (If a player can't hold for at least 3 seconds start it over).  Once the offense is able to pick up the ball play live 1 on 1 with the offense getting 2 dribbles.  Can also play it out until someone scores.


It seems to get our competitive juices going better than our other 1 on 1 drills and inserts a lot of energy into the practice.  Before this year I thought our Auburn 1 on 1 drill (we got from Lebo while he was at Auburn) was the best energy kickstarter....

Auburn 1 on 1
                2 Cones or chairs are set up just shy of half court on one side of the floor.  2 players start on the baseline with the player on the outside holding a basketball (may need to make this players chair different distance).  On command the players race to half court with the offensive player dribbling the basketball.  Once they get around the cone, the two players are playing 1 on 1, but must stay on one side of the court.  Divide players into teams and give each player a chance to play defense and offense once to add a team element. 

My favorite part of this drill was it had a team component to it so the players on the baseline were engaged and cheering on their teammate. 

What are your go to drills to insert energy into your practice?