N.B.A. No Babies Allowed Toughness Drill

I think a lot of you coaches out there run some kind of rebounding drill where the coach tosses it up and you let 2 or 3 players go at it. I was thinking lately of how to combine a bunch of things together into one single drill to achieve the following:

1. Competitiveness.
2. Minimize standing around.
3. Work on multiple skills at the same time.

I'm stealing the name of this drill, the N.B.A. drill (No Babies Allowed), from a similar drill I got from a set of Kansas Jayhawks coaches notebook (not sure how old though) but tweaked it to accomplish the above 3 objectives. I'm sure this drill will really get the ire of your players, good to use if they're slacking.

N.B.A. Drill:



Objective: Emphasize toughness, rebounding, finishing at the rim, and conditioning

Setup: Coach at the free-throw line with ball, 3 players below mid-lane facing the coach.

Time Limit: Until someone scores, or 4 tries.

Description: Coach shoots to miss to make a rebound. All 3 players turn around and compete to gain possession of the ball. The ball must not touch the floor. The player who gains possession attempts to shoot the ball without dribbling. If the ball is scored, replace the other 2 players with 2 new players. If the ball is missed, all 3 players should once again secure the rebound and repeat until someone scores. If nobody scores after 4 tries, replace all 3 players.

Addition: To add the conditioning, have all the other players on the team run laps around the gym in a line. As players get replaced in the drill, take new players from the front of the line, replaced players go to the back of the line. Have another coach with a ball around midcourt fire chest passes to players running laps, to keep them sharp, and fire chest passes back. If the player drops the pass, or his own chest pass hits the ground before reaching the coach, that player goes to the back of the line.

If you have 1 or 2 players that have an unfair height advantage, you can have them start above the free-throw line in the rebounding portion.

You may not always agree with some of the things he says or does, but no doubt Bob Knight knows how to coach. If you want more practice drills on toughness, take a look at Bob Knight's new DVD on Practice Planning and Mental Toughness. Coach Knight currently serves as a guest analyst for ESPN college basketball.