Five Minute Basketball Drills

One way to keep your players motivated during a basketball practice is to constantly be doing something new. Running five-minute basketball drills will allow you to change-up the activity several times within an hour. Each five-minute drill can focus on different disciplines of the game including offense, defense, conditioning and full-game play. Map out the course of practice before you arrive, and have the assistant coaches set up the next drill as you and your team are completing the current drill.

  1. Game Simulation

    • Instruct your players that you will be playing a scrimmage game. Break your team into two teams. They can play "shirts and skins" or reverse their reversible practice jerseys to demonstrate who is on what team. Next, play five-minute quarters where the clock continuously runs. You can pit your starting line-up against your subs, or decide to mix up the teams for the day. Work in other bench players during the course of the 20-minute game. This conditions the players to hustle. In this game there are no foul shots, but only a change in possession if a foul occurs. Both the offense and defense can work on executing plays properly during this shortened game.

    Make Five Shots

    • Break your team into groups of three. One person is placed just outside the three-point line. The other two players are placed on the block and at the top of the key, respectively, on the same side of the court. The player beyond the three-point line takes a shot. The shooter immediately goes after his rebound, while the player at the top of the key takes the shooter's former position, and the person on the block takes the top of the key position. Whether the shot is made or missed, the shooter immediately rebounds the ball, passes it to the player who is now at the top of the key, who passes the basketball to the player who is now in the shooting position. That player immediately takes a shot. The focus of the drill combines rebounding and the speed of accurate passing and shooting. The drill continues until five shots are made, or five minutes are up. You can move the shooter to different parts of the floor to practice different shots.

    Spin Move and Shoot

    • Instruct the players to make a line at half court. Place a cone just inside the sideline directly to their right or left. Then place another cone on the elbow of the key on the same side of the court. On your whistle, the first player in line dribbles toward the sideline; when he reaches the cone, he does a spin move and breaks toward the second cone. When he reaches the second cone he jumps and shoots. The player should get his own rebound and return to the line. This activity focuses on ball handling, speed and accurate shooting. These are valuable skills when your team is trying to break a press by the opposing team and hit a last shot. Also, when the player reaches the first cone, the second player can then begin his move. Continue this drill for five minutes with players repeating the drill as many times as possible.

    Heads Up

    • It is imperative that a basketball player be able to look down the court, rather than at the floor, when he is dribbling. This drill focuses on getting the player to keep his head up, while working on his dribbling skills. Split the players into pairs. Give each player a basketball, and each pair of players a ping pong ball. Space the players about 5 feet apart. On the sound of your whistle, players must dribble with one hand, and pass the ping pong ball back and forth with the other. At the 2.5-minute mark, blow the whistle again and instruct the players to dribble with their other hand. Continue until five minutes are up. Passing and receiving the ping pong ball will force each player to keep his head up while dribbling.