Drills play
Drill: Mikan (and Reverse Mikan)
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 5 steps
About this play
George Mikan's drill: layup right-handed off the left foot, catch the ball out of the net before it drops, land on the other side of the rim, layup left-handed off the right foot, and keep going side to side for a set count. Why it works: it trains the finishing touch with both hands, the use of the glass, and the rebounding rhythm around the rim in one continuous rep, with the ball never dropping below the chest. Setup: one player, one ball, one basket; a line waits on the baseline and the player directly under the rim starts slightly inside the right block, facing the baseline, ball at the chin. Score it as twenty makes a set, or thirty seconds a variation with makes tracked. Common mistakes: the ball dropping to the waist between shots, two-foot shuffles instead of one explosive jump, shooting flat without the glass, going slow. Progression: the reverse Mikan with the back to the baseline, then weak hand only, then the eight foot-and-hand combinations. Every level. I learned the Mikan from Breakthrough Basketball's Mikan drill page and their Kyrie Irving Mikan video, and Basketball For Coaches wrote up the eight variations; give them a look.
