A systematic series of moves off the post.

A daily drill that will build your post players' confidence and scoring potential

Every basketball coach must have a philosophy that defines his (or her) approach to the many elements of the game.

At Barberton, for example, we send our post and perimeter people to opposite ends of the floor for a series of drills designed to enhance each player's strength, concentration, execution, mental toughness, and all-around conditioning.

We work on our pivot moves every day. The beauty of our Block Series is that it can be: (1) adapted to boys, girls, middle school, high school, and college players, (2) made as easy or as challenging as you choose, and (3) tailor-made to fit any kind of system.

The Series is made up of basic post moves designed to eliminate mistakes caused by trying to do too much with the basketball.

The first thing we do is establish guidelines:

First, we try to closely simulate game situations.

Second, we try to have our players execute simply but effectively.

Third, we try to instill confidence and a belief in one's ability by allowing each player to achieve success in a series of daily tasks.

Diag. 1 starts with the coach and one player setting up in the front court (as shown) with the rest of the players in single file behind the baseline. The waiting line can be working on ball-handling drills, doing push-ups or sit-ups, or simply watching, listening, and learning.

The post man passes to the coach, fakes his (imaginary) man low, and then busts across the lane high and then down into a post position straddling the first line above the block.

His other option (as shown in [ILLUSTRATION FOR DIAGRAM 1 OMITTED]) is to fake his imaginary man high and then bust across the lane low and come up to his post position above the block (as before).

We commonly refer to this movement (busting across the lane and then moving into the post position above the block) as "walking your man up or down the lane to the set-up position."

Once the post man reaches this position, we want him to "sit down" in the post - squat on the balls of the feet with elbows and hands up and out away from the body. In short, we want him to make himself big on the post, present a clear, aggressive target, and then call for the ball. ("Ball! Ball! Ball!)

Soon as the coach feels that the player has set a solid post and is aggressively calling for the ball, he hits the post with an entry bounce pass.

Upon receiving the ball from the coach, the post must "chin the basketball" - place it up underneath his chin, with his elbows out, count "one thousand and one," and then drop-step toward the near baseline and put up a power layup.

He finishes by grabbing his own layup, sending it to the coach, and going to the end of the waiting line.

The next player then enters the court and goes through the same routine. Each of the players executes the following post moves twice from each side of the court:

1. Drop-step to the baseline.

2. Drop-step toward the middle.

3. Reverse pivot, and jump-shot off the backboard.

4. Reverse pivot, fake a shot, and drive, or fake a skip pass and then drive.

After the drive has been completed, the coach and players will switch sides and go through the whole series again, thus learning to do the basic moves from both sides of the floor. Next, we add a manager holding a football pad to the drill. He sets up behind the post and bangs him as he executes his move. This clearly simulates an actual game situation.

The post player works on getting open, receiving the ball, passing, making his post move, and shooting-while being vigorously defended.

We now substitute a Toss-Back (#) for the coach, allowing the coach to concentrate on his teaching.

The Toss-Back also keeps the players focused on passing as well as receiving different kind of "passes" (rebounds off the Toss-Back)good, bad, high, and low passes. All the regular moves in the block series can be done with aid of the Toss-Back.

Diag. 2 illustrates the use of the Toss-Back for offensive rebounding and put-backs. The post man (0) whips the basketball against the backboard (1) and follows-up (2) catching the ball with both hands while still in the air and slapping it against the backboard.

He then lands on the floor with his feet at least shoulder-width apart to ensure balance, catches the ball and goes up with a power or reverse-Mikan layup.

The post man then retrieves the ball and comes up the lane with a bust-out dribble (3). Upon reaching the post-up area, he comes to a jump stop, pivots and passes the ball to the Toss-Back (4). He then slides down to the post-up position (while the ball is in the air), grabs the ball coming off the Toss-Back (5), and goes into his Block Series move.

Each player goes through the line four times, using a drop-step to the baseline, a drop-step to the middle, a reverse-pivot jump shot, and a reverse pivot, fake of a shot, and drive, as shown in the diagram.

A defender (X) may be added to the drill to provide competition against the put-back layups and other facets of the Block Series.

The workout can also be enhanced by adding other baskets to the drill.

As shown in Diag. 3, once the player scores after receiving the ball back from the Toss-Back, he can drive to the next basket, make a power layup, recover the ball and bust out (dribble up the lane) and pass out to the coach (C) at mid-court.

The player then drives up the court to the opposite post position for the return pass from the C.

After our players have developed a good feel for the Block Series and all of its movements, we like to take the basic fundamentals to the transition level, where a lot of our post moves will occur, as our program is built on pressure defense and an up-tempo fast-breaking style of play.

As mentioned before, we like to start our offense with a defensive rebound, a bust-out dribble, and a quick, effective outlet pass. We like to put a lot of pressure on the defense by having our players run the floor hard and beat the defenders to the golden post area.

Diag. 4 shows how we capitalize on our post man's strength, confidence, and conditioning with an extension of the Block Series designed to fit our transition philosophy.

We align 1, 2, and 3 on the defensive side of the mid-court line with two defenders (X's) out front and the coach (C) off to the side.

Player 1 passes to C, puts a move on the first defender and drives to the hoop for the return pass from C (give and go).

He drives in for the layup while being attacked by the manager (M) holding the football pad. Player 1 then recovers the ball, passes it down the sideline to the second manager, and then drives for the basket for the return pass from M.

We do not believe that our ideas represent the final word in post development. But we do feel they will work for you or at least get you to examine your own post philosophy.