Drills play
Drill: Screen Shooting Off Chairs (Curl, Pop, Flare)
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 9 steps
About this play
Two chairs stand in for down screens at each elbow extended, and a line at the top of the key takes turns cutting off them: curl, pop, flare, or backdoor on the coach's call, with the next player in line making the pass. Why it works: shooting off movement is a different skill from spotting up, and a chair is a screen that never moves and never gets called for a foul, so the shooter can drill the footwork of each read a hundred times. Setup: a line at the top where everyone has a ball except the first player, two chairs (the designer's cube is the chair) just outside the lane where a down screen would be set, and the passer steps to the slot. The cutter walks his imaginary defender down under the basket, changes pace, and comes off the chair low with his shoulder brushing it and hands up early. Curl: tight around the chair to the elbow. Pop: straight up to the wing. Flare: plant the inside foot above the chair and push out to the wing for a skip pass. The passer becomes the next cutter on the other chair. Run a minute or two per read, then let the players choose. Mistakes: coming off the screen upright, rounding the curl wide, flaring before the defender commits, catching with the feet not set. Progression: a live defender who trails or shoots the gap, or Lindsay Whalen's version where the screener gets the second shot. High school level; youth run the curl only, closer in. I got this one from Basketball For Coaches' twenty shooting drills post and Lindsay Whalen's curl, pop, flare progression with Dr. Dish; give them a look for the screener's shots.
