Basketball Practice Structure: Segment Order and Time Budgets

Basketball practice structure from the opening drill to the last whistle: segment orders, time budgets, the daily core, rest and the week around it.

Basketball practice structure is the order and the minutes of the blocks inside one session, and this page sets out the known practice orders, then covers what goes early and late, time budgets, the daily core, offense and defense in layers, scrimmage and situations, rest and the practice week.

Basketball practice structure is the skeleton under every plan: which block comes first, how many minutes each one gets, what repeats every day and where the scrimmage and the situations sit. Coaches who write their orders down agree on a few things, such as new material early and a fixed set of daily blocks, and split on others, such as what opens practice and how big a share defense gets. This page sets out those orders.

How to run the session once it starts (the plan, the clock, scoring and pace) is on how to run an effective basketball practice, and printable templates and sample plans by age are on basketball practice plan. It sits in the practice plans section.

Pick an order, give every block its minutes, keep a small set of blocks every day, and put new and hard work early while players are fresh.

Basketball Practice Structure: Full Practice Orders

These are full practice orders as their owners wrote them, each from start to finish.

Teach first (Jeff Van Gundy). Teaching (review, film, situations), stretch, warm-up (shooting, transition, pressure, rebounding), defense, 5 on 5 and dummy offense, conditioning, peer pressure drills, free throws, post stretch.
Individual first (John Wooden). Individual attention and free throws, fundamentals with the stretch inside them, defensive drills, shooting by position, fast break, team defense, five free throws each to finish.
Halftime in the middle (Phil Martelli). Team drill 6 to 10 minutes, foul shooting 6 to 8, defensive breakdown 15, fast break 8 to 12, team defense 10 to 12, a halftime, then competitive shooting 6 to 8.
Long individual block (NBA summer league). A 45-minute individual block, then 13 timed segments adding up to 135 minutes, then a staff meeting and video.
Same blocks every day. Form run and flexibility, warm-up at three per basket, ballhandling and footwork, transition, a timed toughness block, offensive organization 1/0 to 4/0, shooting, defensive organization 1 on 1 to 5 on 5, rebounding, passing, press break, zone offense, out-of-bounds plays, special situations.
Dummy, then live. Dynamic lines, a tip drill and a passing menu, a shooting block, 3-on-0 breakdowns, competitive 3 on 3, new offense 5 on 0, then against a dummy defense, then live, with sets and specials last.
Two hours by the clock. Warm-up 20, fast break 15, shooting 15, rebounding 10, rest 10, special situations 20, defense and offense 25, free throws 10.
Six blocks from skill to recovery. Footwork and finishing, ball-handling, shooting technique, 1 on 1, 2 on 0 up to 4 on 4, then 5 on 0 and 5 on 5, then conditioning and recovery.
Five parts for youth. Intro, warm-up, a teaching progression, games, debrief.

In the same-blocks order the order never changes. The coach checks which blocks run that day and writes the minutes beside them, and the master plan stays close to the same from year to year because the drills have held up over time. The two-hour order adds up to a little over two hours as written. Templates built from these orders are on basketball practice plan.

Pick one order and write the minutes beside every block.

What Opens Practice

Coaches split on the first block.

Teaching first. Jeff Van Gundy teaches, shows film and walks situations before the stretch, and Stan Van Gundy also taught before stretching.
Individual work first. John Wooden's schedule opens with individual attention and free throws.
Reads first. Mike Brey runs 2 on 0 up to 5 on 0 reads for five minutes before the stretch.
Warm-up first. Jay Wright opens with a warm-up, and in the dummy-then-live order the same sideline dynamic lines start every day.
A sprint first. Start almost every day with a sprint to the ball, as a college head coach does.

On the stretch itself:

Dynamic first. Do dynamic work first and keep static stretching for the cool-down.
No stretch. Replace stretching time with warm-up drills.

Warm-up options are on basketball warm up drills.

Choose what opens practice and open it the same way every day.

New and Hard Work Early

Where a block sits inside the session matters as much as its length. The orders that state a rule put new material near the top.

Hard drills first. New and hard drills go at the top of practice when concentration is highest, hard drills are followed by ones players enjoy, and practice never ends on anything that feels like punishment.
John Wooden's plan rules. Alternate the offense and defense emphasis, follow hard drills with easier ones, put new material early and close on a happy note.
Five-minute hard blocks. The hard parts of practice last no more than five minutes at a time.
Youth order by freshness. New skills and coordination early while players are fresh, speed and endurance in the middle, consolidation late.

The hard-drills-first order and John Wooden both close on something players enjoy.

Time Budgets

A time budget gives each type of work its share of the session. These are the budgets on record.

A full day of about 2.5 hours. 30 minutes shooting, 30 defense, 20 offensive skill work, 15 dummy offense, 15 special situations, 30 scrimmage.
Mike Krzyzewski, never past 2 hours. 30 percent offense, 30 defense, 30 transition, 10 situations and conditioning.
Two hours by the clock. About 2 hours: warm-up 20, fast break 15, shooting 15, rebounding 10, rest 10, special situations 20, defense and offense 25, free throws 10.
NBA summer league, 45 plus 135 minutes. Individual block, then 13 timed team segments.
Ages 14 to 15 in preseason, 120 minutes. 15 warm-up, 20 basics, 50 team offense or defense, 25 conditioning, 10 cool-down.
Skill-heavy youth split. Length not stated. Half or more on skill development, no more than 8 percent on team offense.
Fundamentals by age. Length not stated. 80 to 90 percent fundamentals for youth, about 50 percent at high school.

Drill caps (Bob Knight's 5 minutes individual, 10 team) and pace are on how to run an effective basketball practice. Length itself changes across the season. The month-by-month lengths, from 2.5 hours in October down to 45 minutes in February, are on basketball practice length by month.

Write your budget down before you write your drills.

The Daily Core

Keep a short list of blocks every single day and rotate the drills inside them.

Sherri Coale keeps the same five focuses every day (shoot, handle, rebound, 5-on-0 offense, stretch) while the drills change, and calls that ritual focus, not mindless repetition.
Same four blocks every day. Shooting, pressure work, rebounding and shell every day, with a change in which buildup leads.
Jim Boeheim works the press 5 to 7 minutes every practice, even when the team is not using it in games.
Bob Knight runs zig-zag every day for 3 to 5 minutes as a toughness test.
Vance Walberg requires his 5-on-0 calls every day.
No-dribble drills. Run them 15 to 20 minutes daily, as a small-college staff does.
Stance every day. Stance work every day, a couple of minutes.

Basketball practice structure diagram of a daily v-cut drill where 4 v-cuts from the left block to the wing, passes back to 2 and 2 drives the lane for a layup

Daily core, v-cut. 4 v-cuts from the left block to the wing and catches 2's pass, 2 v-cuts and pops back out for the return pass, then drives the lane for the layup. 4 rebounds and the lines rotate.

A v-cut, pass and drive drill is marked to run every day. John Wooden's line fits it: one drill done well a hundred times beats a hundred drills done once.

Keep the list short and rep it daily.

Offense and Defense in Layers

Inside the session, offense and defense blocks build from small numbers to five.

Offense.

Ladder to 4 on 0. The same-blocks order runs an offensive organization block from 1 on 0 to 4 on 0, labeled to be done in all drills, before any team offense.
Six blocks. The six-block order moves from 1 on 1 to 2 on 0 up to 4 on 4, then 5 on 0 and 5 on 5.
Dummy, then live. New offense goes in 5 on 0, then against a dummy defense, then live.

The full ladders, stage by stage, are on breakdown drills: part to whole.

Defense. The same-blocks order builds defense 1 on 1 to 5 on 5 every day: stance, footwork, 1-on-1 containment that keeps the ball outside the elbows, closeouts, screens, then shell. Its 4-on-4 shell needs three stops to get out and allows no offensive rebounds.

Basketball practice structure diagram of a 4 on 4 shell block with all four defenders moving as the ball is passed to the wing

4-on-4 shell, stops to get out. The ball goes from 1 in the right slot to 3 on the right wing, and all four defenders move on the pass, not the catch. The defense needs three stops to get out.

How much of the session goes to defense is a real split. Jerry Tarkanian spends three weeks of a preseason that runs five or six weeks on individual defense without a ball, and a defense-first plan installs defense in preseason and adds offense later. Del Harris argues the other way: offense needs more practice time because of ball skills and timing. Shell stages are on shell drill basketball, and the defensive ladders on man to man defense drills.

Build every block up from small numbers to five.

Scrimmage and Situations

Live 5 on 5 and situations usually sit in the back half of the order, and the orders that state a rule give them structure.

Rotating-coverage scrimmage. The defense runs one coverage at a time (switching, extreme pressure, sagging, half-court traps, run-and-jump, zone, a triangle or box) so the offense has faced every look before its first game. A plus-and-minus scrimmage runs 20 to 30 minutes daily.
Possession plus-minus. Rick Pitino's manager marks a plus for every possession gained and a minus for every one lost.
Short 5 on 5. Mike Krzyzewski avoids 5-on-5 drills longer than 10 minutes and videos all 4 on 4 and 5 on 5.
Sets and specials last. The dummy-then-live order puts sets and special plays at the end of the session.
One situation a day. Phil Martelli writes one situation on an index card each day, has different teams try it, then coaches it together.
Rated scrimmage. In the rotating-coverage scrimmage every possession is rated: made two +2, missed two -2, made three +3, missed three -3, made free throw +1, missed free throw -2, offensive rebound +2, defensive rebound +1, assist +3, turnover -2, steal +1, charge +3, foul -2, loose-ball dive +2.

Basketball practice diagram of a 5 on 5 scrimmage where the defense runs a half-court trap on the wing as the coverage of the day

Rotating-coverage scrimmage. The coach gives the defense one coverage at a time so the offense sees every look before the first game. Here the call is a half-court trap: X1 leaves 1 to trap 2 on the left wing with X2.

Scoring systems for these blocks are on competitive basketball drills, scrimmage formats on basketball scrimmages, and situation blocks on game situations in practice.

Put live play late and give it a score.

Rest, Water and Halftime

Rest is part of the structure too, and the orders place it on purpose.

Free-throw rest. In hard, continuous practice, 1 hour 45 minutes is enough, and 3 to 4 minutes of free throws every 30 to 40 minutes is the only rest.
A halftime. Phil Martelli puts time on the clock, players grab water and sit, and the coach points out two or three things before the second half of practice.
Timed water. Dean Smith's water breaks lasted exactly 2 minutes. Rick Pitino's 1997 Celtics practice took its first two-minute water break at 1 hour 45 minutes.
Pressure free throws between drills. Shoot free throws between drills, and a miss costs two sprints.

Basketball practice structure diagram of a free throw break with a shooter on the line, a rebounder on the block and the next shooter waiting

Free throws as the rest: 3 to 4 minutes every 30 to 40 minutes in hard, continuous practice. 1 shoots from the free-throw line, 2 rebounds from the block and passes out to 3, who shoots next.

Free throw formats that fit a rest block are on free throw drills, and conditioning inside the plan is on basketball conditioning drills.

Plan the rest like you plan the drills.

The Week Around the Practice

A single practice also sits inside a week.

Day by day. The same-blocks week runs Monday defense and rebounding (the toughest day), Tuesday offense (lighter), Wednesday defense, Thursday offense, Friday defense and rebounding, and Saturday scrimmage.
A situation practice. Hold one special situation practice every two weeks, about an hour and a half covering about 20 situations.
A balance card. Eric Musselman keeps a balance card of offense and defense time for each day and each week.
Plan ahead. Mike Krzyzewski plans the week two weeks ahead and finishes each day's plan the night before.

The written plan behind the week gets rewritten. Set goals, then pick drills, write the emphasis for each drill on the sheet, plan teams, rotations and water, then rewrite the plan the way a student rewrites an essay. In-season weeks are on basketball in-season practice structure and the first weeks of the year on basketball early season practice plan.

Plan the week, then rewrite the plan.

Questions Coaches Ask

What is a good basketball practice structure?

Most of the orders on this page share an opening block, skill and breakdown work, team offense and defense, live play and situations, then a close. The orders differ on what opens practice, how many minutes each block gets and how much goes to defense.

What should be first in a basketball practice?

Orders differ: teaching and film first, individual work and free throws first, short 2-on-0 to 5-on-0 reads first, a warm-up first, or a sprint to the ball first.

How should practice time be divided?

A 2.5-hour day gives 30 minutes each to shooting, defense and scrimmage, 20 to offensive skill work and 15 each to dummy offense and special situations. Mike Krzyzewski splits a practice of no more than 2 hours 30 percent offense, 30 defense, 30 transition and 10 situations and conditioning.

Where do new drills go in practice?

The orders that state a rule put new and hard material early, when concentration is highest, and end on something players enjoy.

Should practice structure change during the season?

The order often stays fixed while the minutes change. Coaches shorten practice as the season goes, covered on the practice length page.

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