Guard Workout: Handles, Reads and Finishing You Can Print

A guard workout you can print: a full session with its standards, plus handle work, jab, closeout and ball-screen reads, finishing and shooting off the dribble.

A guard workout built from coaches' own sessions, with a printable order and the standards each block uses, the handle work and where coaches disagree on it, the reads a guard trains with a coach, a finishing repertoire, shooting off the dribble, trap escapes and how to track it.

A good guard workout trains the handle, the read and the finish in the same session, at game speed, from game spots, and it runs on a written plan with a standard for each block.

This page gives a full session you can print, with the order and the make counts its owner uses, then breaks out each part: the handle work and where coaches disagree on it, the reads a guard trains against a coach, a finishing repertoire, shooting off the dribble, trap escapes and how to track it all. How to build any player's plan block by block is on basketball workout plan, and the wider guard skill set is on guard skill development drills.

Start every rep in balance and finish it in balance. Learn a new skill slowly, then set a make count once it is yours, and end the workout with game shots on tired legs.

Rules for Every Guard Workout

The rules coaches put over every guard session:

Balance. Every rep starts in balance and returns to balance, eyes up, with the same distance between the feet on recovery.
Technique first, then a number. When a skill is new, focus on the attempt, not the make. Once the skill is owned, switch to make counts and standards.
Game shots, game spots, game speeds. Mark Few's standard for skill work.
Twice as long on the weak hand. Spend twice as long on the weak hand as the strong one.
No sloppy reps. Jay Wright says every sloppy rep builds a bad habit.

Five mistakes ruin a workout: no plan, no game speed, no tracking, no goals and working on one skill only. A workout at half effort reinforces bad habits, and one built on a single skill makes a one-dimensional guard who is easy to defend. On time, Thad Matta gives 45 minutes of skill work a day on the clock and Tom Crean 30 to 45.

Write the plan before the gym opens. A workout without one is just shooting around.

A Guard Workout You Can Print

This session is John Calipari's Memphis guard workout. It gives no time for each step, so set the pace for your players. It opens with four goals for every drive:

Create space from the defender.
Go north and south, not bellying out.
Body on body on the start step.
Attack the defender with the dribble move, right at him, to get him on his heels.

Order	Block	How it runs
1	Two-ball warm-up	Stationary with eyes up: control (both balls below the knees), speed (both balls high) and a high-low mix. Then the same down the floor with a change of hands.
2	X-out layups	Start on the right elbow, one control dribble to a layup, rebound, sprint to the left elbow and finish left-handed. Continue until 10 are made.
3	Seven moves to the rim	Speed dribble, hesitation, in and out, stutter step, stutter crossover, between the legs, and a pull-back crossover off a ball screen at the three-point line. Each one from the right side, then the left, finished at the basket, with a press-break dribble to half court between reps.
4	Seven moves to a pull-up	The same seven moves, ending in a pull-up jump shot. Land low and on balance, straight up and straight down, no floating.
5	32-point shooting	Five spots. At each, a three for 3 points, a shot fake and one dribble to the middle for a jumper for 2, and a shot fake and one dribble to the middle for a layup for 1. Five spots at 6 points plus two free throws is 32.
6	Game spots	The 32-point game again off a spun pass, catching low in triple threat and rebounding your own shot, 20 shots from game spots.

Shoot two free throws after every block, six times in all, so the shooter keeps going to the line tired.

Guard workout diagram: X-out layups from the right elbow with one dribble to the rim and a sprint to the left elbow

X-out layups. 1 starts on the right elbow, takes one control dribble to a right-handed layup, rebounds and sprints to the left elbow to go again with the left hand. He keeps going until 10 are made.

The coaching points for the moves: do them at game speed, chin the ball on layups, circle tight on direct and crossover drives, start and finish from a low, balanced base, and build a go-to move and a counter. From the three-point line, use one dribble to the rim, unless a hesitation is needed to take the help out, and use the right hand going right and the left hand going left.

Guard workout diagram: the five spots of the 32-point shooting game from baseline to baseline

32-point shooting. Five spots: right baseline, right wing, top of the key, left wing and left baseline. 1 starts at the right baseline: a three, then a shot fake and one dribble to the middle for a jumper, then a shot fake and one dribble to the middle for a layup.

The 32-point game is easy to score alone. Keep the number and try to beat it next time.

Handles

Handle work exists to free the mind for the read. The more dribbling a guard practices, the less he uses it in games. The principles behind the handle block:

Pass first, dribble last. Dribble only to create an advantage.
Dribble to score. You dribble to score, not to explore.
End it. End every dribble with a pass or a shot, and give the handle 15 minutes a day.
Game speed. All drills at game speed.

Coaches disagree on two-ball dribbling:

The weak-hand builder. Sean Miller calls two-ball dribbling the best way to work the weak hand.
Not game relevant. Two-ball pounders build confidence but are not game relevant, so run them at the end of practice when players are tired.
A short burst. Run each two-ball drill for 30 to 60 seconds so the one-ball game version feels easier.
On a clock. John Beilein times the handle: circle ball at 120 a minute for guards.

They also split on how low to dribble:

High dribble, low move. Dribble high and make the move low, because crouched dribblers cannot see the floor.
Stay low. Play low with bent knees throughout.

Pick one rule for your guards and hold it. More handle drills are on ball handling drills and 50 basketball dribbling drills.

Reads

A move without a read is a guess. Train the read with a coach playing passive defense, then make the player decide.

The jab read. Hold the jab for a one-count and read the defender. If he does not drop back, attack his forward foot with a drive or a crossover without bringing the jab foot back. If he drops, pull the jab back and shoot.
The closeout read. Kevin O'Neill and Larry Brown read the coach's closeout: close on one side, drive the other way, and close short and low, shoot.
The help read. The coach passes into triple threat and the guard reads the coach's front foot as a help defender, attacks off it and finishes at a cone, then adds a one-dribble pull-up jump shot.

The ball screen has its own menu. A read order for the handler:

Defender goes under. Turn the corner.
Defender trails, or the hedge retreats. Pull up.
The defense collapses. Pocket pass to the roller.
Several defenders rotate. Skip it.

Guard workout diagram: ball-screen reads on a chair, the guard coming off the chair at the right slot toward the elbow

Ball-screen reads on a chair. A chair stands in for the screener at the right slot. 1 dribbles off it from the top of the key toward the right elbow and plays the read the coach calls.

With a chair as the screen, a guard can run a full menu of answers alone: against a soft hedge, a hard hedge, split the screen, against ice, shoot behind the screen, reject the screen, the elbow bounce-out, put the defender "in jail" and attack the switch. More ball-screen work for guards is on pick and roll drills for guards.

Say the read out loud before the move.

Finishing

Guard finishing is a repertoire, and the defender picks which finish the guard needs. Start with the base. Seek contact once the angle is won, use the glass, shot fake a defender who leaves his feet, and use the rim as a screen. The finishes by situation:

Floater. Aimed at the gap between the on-ball defender and the late helper, with a near straight-up jump. Drifting forward closes the space to the rim defender and risks an offensive foul.
Euro step. The gather comes about one long stride from the defender. The decelerated Euro answers a shot-blocker running the guard down in transition.
A chaser on the hip. The Rondo fake, the pound pivot and the Steve Nash back-leg finish, planted 5 to 8 feet out. Dragging the pivot foot on the Rondo fake or the decelerated Euro is a travel.
Reverse layup. Uses the rim to protect the shot.

Two finishing drills with standards:

Two-step floater series. Catch, take two steps and shoot a floater from four angles: down the middle, down the lane line, off the glass from the wing and from the baseline. Aim for 20 makes with the last 5 in a row. Taking the dribble away isolates the footwork and the release.
Elbow attack series. Off a pass, make 10 floaters, 10 one-dribble jump shots and 10 catch-and-shoot threes, then repeat on the other side of the court.

Finishing moves are on basketball finishing moves, floater basketball and Euro step. Finish with both hands from both sides, every session.

Shooting Off the Dribble

Shooting off the dribble is its own skill line. Billy Donovan runs 25 shots each off the catch, one dribble, two dribbles and three dribbles, with each hand. Coaches split on the last dribble:

Hard and high. Donovan makes the last dribble hard and high.
Lowest and hardest. Make the last dribble the lowest and hardest and drive the inside heel into the floor the instant it hits, so the shooter rises and lands in the same spot.

Donovan's Florida guard series builds the pull-up into game moves:

Sprint and catch. Start behind half court, push the ball out, make a dribble move at the coach above the arc, one push dribble and a layup. The next player goes as soon as the one ahead shoots.
Rip-thrus. Catch on the wing under pressure and rip the ball through to make a driving angle.
Pull-up change. A hesitation or an inside-out, then the pull-up three.
The second defender. Run the same sequences with no defender, then with a closeout and then a live defender, in the same session.

Guard workout diagram: sprint and catch with a push from behind half court, a dribble move at the coach above the arc and a layup

Sprint and catch. 1 starts behind half court, pushes the ball up the middle, makes a dribble move at the coach (C) above the arc, then takes one push dribble to the layup.

A step-back is a base move, not a trick:

Second dribble. Step back on the second dribble of a wing attack.
Off the jab. Step back off a sold jab and shot fake when the defender retreats, with an exaggerated forward follow-through to stop the lean.

Shooting drills are on basketball shooting drills and the scored ones on competitive shooting drills.

Add the defender the same day you teach the shot.

Trap Escape

Escaping a trap is a guard skill, not just a team drill. The 1-on-1 escapes off a killed dribble adapt to a double team:

Step-out. Attack the nearer trapper's outside foot.
Rip-through. Rip across to the second trapper.
Swing-around. Attack the gap.
Last resort. Chin the ball, elbows out, and step through the trap like a fullback taking a handoff.

Add a back-dribble out of a baseline dead end, a back-up crossover at the trapper's shoulder, a low triple threat with the ball on the hip, and splitting a trap whose defenders are not knee to knee. A soft dribble gets trapped. More is on how to protect the ball.

Rep the escapes against two live defenders, not cones.

Tired Legs and Tracking

End the workout with game shots on tired legs, because spot shooting on fresh legs gives a fake percentage. A circuit of 9 to 10 shots off real actions, such as an elbow catch and shoot, a fake into a handoff, an inside pass and a 1-2 step finish and a side pick-and-roll into the lane, ends with five-spot shooting. In the demonstration the target is nine shots, make seven, and the team version runs each station to "make 11."

Another finisher is four threes in a minute with a sprint between shots, and the shooter runs for each make below four. Track the totals. Weekly benchmarks of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 makes give a guard a number to chase. Record times and set goals. The plan, the clock and the record are what turn a list of drills into a workout. Workouts for other positions are on basketball workout plan, and every player development page is on the drills hub.

Write the number down every day.

Questions Coaches Ask

What should a guard workout include?

A handle block, reads against a coach, finishing with both hands, shooting off the catch and the dribble, free throws between blocks and game shots on tired legs to finish, each with a make count.

How long should a guard workout be?

Thad Matta gives 45 minutes of skill work a day and Tom Crean 30 to 45. Either way, run it on a plan with a standard for each block.

Are two-ball dribbling drills worth it?

Coaches split. Sean Miller calls them the best way to work the weak hand. The other view says they are not game relevant and runs them only at the end of practice. Short bursts of 30 to 60 seconds are the middle way.

What is the 32-point shooting drill?

Five spots, three shots at each: a three for 3, a shot fake and one-dribble jumper for 2, and a shot fake and one-dribble layup for 1. Thirty points from the spots plus two free throws makes 32.

How do you train a guard's decision making alone?

Use a coach as a passive defender for the jab, closeout and help reads, and a chair as the screener for the ball-screen menu, then go live with a defender the same day.

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