The "Shooting Matrix" Drill

Фото: University of Washington

Raphael Chillious is the assistant coach at the University of Washington. He started his coaching career in 1997 at Victoria University, Canada. He then coached Nottingham Academy in Colorado, and the South Kent High School in Connecticut. Three of his former players are now in the NBA. He has been an instructor at many NIKE Camps and manager of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball.

The Target

The aim of the drill is to make 640 shots at game speed within a hour, making at least 65% of the shots taken. Progress is made when progress is recorded. Therefore, it is important to keep records of shooting percentages and player improvement during a four-week period. This specific shooting practice should be run three times a week. You need:

• Two balls.
• A rebounder.
• A passer.
• A teammate or a coach to record the number of the shots and determine shooting percentage.

We apply the rule that after each three-point shot the player must make a jump shot from 15 feet, or vice versa. I created this "Shooting Matrix" drill to help players make the maximum number of shots in a short time period at game speed. The other aim of the drill is to help players adapt in a few seconds to shooting from different distances. After each set of shots (I will later show how the drill is run), the player shoots 5 free-throws, for a total of 80 free-throws for the entire drill. We also record this percentage. A note: Naturally, the coach can decide which spots on the court that the players will shoot from, as well as how many shots will be taken. This will be based to the players' technical and physical skills, and the type of offense that the team runs.

Set 1-4

The player with the ball is set at the three-point line at position 1 (diagr. 1). He shoots and then sprints to position 2, receives the second ball from the passer, and using the correct footwork (the inside foot touches the ground first), he shoots from the corner of the free-throw lane.

Then he backpedals to position 3, directly behind him, gets the ball, and shoots a three-point shot. He sprints to the position 4, shoots from the corner of the free-throw lane, backpedals to position 5 where he started the drill, and shoots a three-point shot. This continues until he shoots a total of 40 shots to complete the first set. He then shoots 5 free-throws. The same pattern is then run three more times (total of 160 jump shots and 20 free-throws).

Set 5-8

The player with the ball is now set at position 1 (diagr. 2). He shoots, back-pedals to position 2, receives the second ball from the passer, and shoots outside the three-point line. Then he sprints to position 3 (from where he first started), receives the ball, and shoots. Then he backpedals diagonally to position 4, receives the ball, shoots, and then sprints to position 5, receives the ball, shoots, and backpedals to position 6, where he again gets the ball and shoots. Then it's off to position 7 for another shot, and backpedaling back to position 8 to get the ball and shoot. This all continues until he has taken 40 shots. The then shoots 5 free-throws and runs the same pattern three more times (total of 160 jump shots and 20 free-throws).

Set 9-12

The pattern is the same as set 1-4 (di-agr. 3), with the exception that from positions 2 and 4 the player receives the ball, makes a dribble, and then shoots (after he has taken three-point shots from position 1 and 3). Once he has taken 40 jump shots, followed by 5 free-throws, he repeats this pattern three more times (for a total of 160 jump shots and 20 free-throws).

Set 13-16

The pattern is the same as set 5-8, but now (diagr. 4) the player makes a dribble before all shots taken at positions 1, 3, and 7 outside of the three-point line. For these sets, position 2 is at the free-throw line and position 1 is at the three-point range in the middle lane of the court.

The player shoots 40 jump shots followed by 5 free-throws. He repeats this pattern three more times (for a total of 160 jump shots and 20 free-throws).