Drills play
Drill: 5-on-4 Scramble
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 5 steps
About this play
Every turnover leaves the defense outnumbered for a few seconds, which is why I rehearse rotating and recovering down a man instead of hoping it sorts itself out. Setup: 5v5, one ball, full court or the half court drawn here. On the change of possession one defender stays home under the far basket as the cherry picker; the other four sprint back and form a diamond: one at the nail pressuring the ball, two at the elbows, one at the rim. Stop the ball first. On a wing pass the elbow closes out, the nail sinks, and the rim stays home. On a corner pass the diamond traps the baseline, never the middle, with the nail dropping to the ball-side block. On the skip the weak side closes out, the nail sprints to the rim, and the trappers recover, talking on every rotation. Shot or stop, the defense looks long for the cherry picker. Keep score for the period, losers run. Common mistakes: trapping in the middle, two defenders on one man with the rim open, standing after a rotation. Progression: Virginia's shell change, where the whistle flips the 4v4. High school. I learned it from Coach's Clipboard's 5-on-4 transition scramble drill and Greg McDermott's 5-on-3 transition clinic on Championship Productions; look them up for the full-court scoring.
