Three Dribble Drive Motion Drills to Teach Your Basketball Team

• By Grant Young

The dribble drive motion offense in basketball is effective for several reasons: 

1. It emphasizes aggressive dribble penetration, quick ball movement, and spacing on the floor. 

2. This constant attacking mindset puts a lot of pressure on the defense and creates scoring opportunities for the offensive team. 

3. It also allows players to use their individual skills and athleticism to beat their defenders off the dribble, leading to open shots or driving lanes to the basket. 

4. The ceaseless, unrelenting movement and spacing make it difficult for defenders to help and recover, often leading to defensive breakdowns and open looks for the offense.

Despite these clear advantages the dribble drive motion offense can present a team, some coaches are hesitant into their team because players need to make quick decisions based on the movements of their teammates and the defense, which can be challenging to grasp for younger or less experienced players. Additionally, teaching players to read and react to the defense within the flow of the offense can also be a complex task. 

In other words, the dribble drive motion offense often requires a significant amount of practice and repetition to develop the necessary chemistry and timing among the players. This is why having a set of drills that you can return to is crucial for making the dribble drive motion offense work for your team. 

Luckily, Joel Justus has drills that accomplish this exact task. 

Coach Justus joined the Ohio State men’s basketball program in April 2024 and will serve as the associate head coach. Justus spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at NC State, which included a magical run to the Final Four during the 2023-24 season. NC State also won the ACC Tournament in Justus’s last season. 

Prior to NC State, he spent one season on Bobby Hurley’s staff at Arizona State, and Justus spent seven seasons on Kentucky’s basketball staff before that. 

Coach Justus’ ‘Early Practice / Dribble Drive Motion / Basketball Drills’ course shows you the drills and discusses the key teaching points and emphasis to make the offense effective. 

22

Coach Justus’ ‘22’ Drill starts with a two-on-one transition look with a second defensive player as a chaser, who starts on the baseline behind the two players on offense, who will be positioned at around the elbow. 

The drill starts with a coach flipping a ball to one of the offensive players, which starts the transition break. The lone defender’s job is to make the two players make more than one pass, while the players on offense are trying to blow the ball up the floor and drive into the paint for an easy transition layup. 

Regardless of what happens, the next phase of the drill is to have the two players who were on defense turn to offense, with one inbounding the ball to the other. The players who were just in transition offense are trying to stop the inbound from happening. But if the inbound is made, the game becomes full-court two-on-two.

At that point, it’s up to the coach and players to prioritize what they want to work on. But practicing the pick and roll is always a great option; especially when trying to improve core dribble drive motion concepts. 

Another aspect of this drill that Coach Justus swears by is making it competitive by keeping score. This will keep your players locked in and looking to win, which is only going to make the drill more effective. 

Blood 22

A great addition to the initial ‘22’ drill is what Coach Justus calls ‘Blood 22’. 

This drill starts with a defender at half court with an offensive player getting the ball at the top of the key, simulating a fastbreak in the defender’s direction. As soon as the dribbler passes this defender, the defender begins trailing. The dribbler then attacks downhill, where a defender is waiting in the paint and another offensive player of waiting on one of the blocks. 

Coach Justus claims that this drill serves as the building blocks for dribble drive motion offense because the dribbler’s first read in this drill is to drive to the basket and score. 

A driving guard should always stay on the side of the floor that they enter the frontcourt at because this will tell their big to remain on the other side in case a kick-out is needed during the drive. 

The only read the attacker must have is whether the big defender steps out and tries to stop them. In this case, the pass should be made to the big on the post. But if that big doesn’t step out then the attacker should always be going for a layup.

Blood 44

As the name suggests, the ‘Blood 44’ drill includes four players on offense and four on defense.

It starts in the same way as the previous drills, with a defender at half-court who will begin trailing as the dribbler with the ball passes them in transition. The other three offensive players will be positioned in either corner and on the opposite block from whichever side the dribbling guard enters from. 

As with the previous drills, the goal for the guard is to get into the paint and ideally drive aggressively to the basket, either making a layup or drawing a foul. But they also have the opportunity to lop or ball to their big on the block or kick it out to one of the players on the corner, depending on what the defense is giving. 

This drill is great because it simulates the actual decision that a driving guard will need to make in a game.