Above is a practice plan that was a "defensive grind session" with both half-court and full-court defense.
Above is a practice plan that was a half-court defensive practice.
Above is a practice plan that was focused on half-court defensive fundamentals and transition offense.
Above is a practice plan that was focused on new offensive installs, tweaking our close-outs and help-side rotations, and our transition offensive pace.
Practice Planning
Above is the Pacing Guide that I have used for the past few years. Obviously it needs to be adjusted according to your team's strengths and weaknesses, style of play, etc.
10 Points To Consider When Planning Practice
John Wooden spent 2-3 hours every day planning practice. I spend at least two hours planning for every practice. Do not fall into the habit of scribbling drills down on your practice script because it's what you did the day before. Have a Day 1 mindset with every practice. Plan like it's the first day of practice every day.
I think it's important to have a routine to start and end every practice. We always start practice with dynamic stretching and plyometric ladder work. It's important to note that if time permits, players should use the time before practice starts to practice form-shooting. We always end practice with a group huddle. During the 21-22 season, we ended practice acting like we were taking a team picture after winning the Regional Championship - we visualized it every day to end practice.
I always liked to get up & down the floor early in practice. Oftentimes, we started with a 28 in 2:00 transition lay-up drill and then go straight into dummy press offense after dynamic stretching.
Defensively, practice drills to get game-like stops. Learning technique is important, but applying those techniques to stop a team from scoring is more important. "Every group is in until two consecutive stops." This will also prevent players from sand-bagging in a drill. We will have 2-stop and 3-stop days, where 2 or 3 consecutive stops is required to rotate in a drill. This can drag practice longer, so I would plan on not getting to all planned drills later in practice on these days.
Offensively, practice your actions until you can't get them wrong. Screening angles and timing is very important, as is the timing on cutting. Ballscreen actions require tons of repetition. Screening angles and dribble attack angles change almost every time based on the defense. In order to have all 5 players "violently cutting" full speed, I would put :45 seconds on the clock and make them run 4 different plays per my vocal call perfectly within that time frame. I almost always practice dummy full-court, with four trips (down-back, down-back). Spacing is different flowing out of transition than it is when you just dummy in half-court. Don't accept anything less than perfect execution of details, especially during dummy offense.
I liked to practice OBU's, SOB's, and FT actions with a 1:00 transition scrimmage attached. I think it's important to view dead ball actions as the first part of either a transition offense or defense situation.
I usually try to shoot 3FG's for at least 18:00 or more each practice. Even in shorter duration practices, I made time to shoot. I am a fan of spot-shooting (3-man-2-ball). Muscle memory for a shooter is important. I practice FT's as a team - the team has to make 80 before they miss 20.
Take time to focus on player development in practice. I don't do this everyday, but I do at least 3-4 times per week. Our player development during practices were heavier in October and November, lighter in December and January, and picked back up in February and March. We focus hard on player development in the off-season, so it somewhat balances out.
Rarely do I call a foul or out-of-bounds in practice. Whether this is smart or not remains to be seen, but I think it helps the intensity of practice. It can frustrate the defense at times, but it builds toughness and resiliency.
End when you say you'll end. Your players will respect your practice organization, as will your parents (high school coaches). I send my players the practice schedule an hour or two before practice so they can prepare themselves for what lies ahead.
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