Making Lemonade

I was first introduced to the "bad shot drill" by Kevin Nunley from Networks Basketball (one of my mentors in my early years of coaching).

He described it after learning it from an NBA player he had worked with - but I can't remember the player's name!

The player would stand under the basket facing the baseline, and standing on 1 foot, use either hand to spin the ball off the backboard any way he could to finish.

Then he would change feet and repeat.

Then he would face the Free Throw line, and again repeat on each leg, using both hands.

If you're counting, this creates a minimum of 32 spin options - 4 with each hand, on each leg, facing each direction...

This provides your player with opportunities for what I like to call the "Lemonade play" (for, you know, when life hands you lemons).

When the play is broken, they're under the rim, in the air, and no teammates are open - your player can "make lemonade" by pulling out a creative spin finish under seemingly impossible circumstances!

Similar to our simplified Finishing Quadrant with only 3 combinations - there are only 2 ways to spin the ball:

1. Thumb to glass, or
2. Pinky to glass

So, taking our earlier framework of 3 footwork combinations, with 2 spin options, we now have:

3 footwork options x 2 spin options x 5 angles x 2 hands = 60 finishes

The best part?

Your player only needs to master 5 things - 3 footwork combinations, and 2 spin directions to create exponential options!

If your player needs more ways to make "lemonade", sign up now for our Layup Maker 2.0 Launch coming October 1st!

See you on the court,

Coach BJ


P.S. In my next post I will explain what you will get when you sign up for our Layup Maker 2.0 package... Stay tuned!