Basketball Practice Drills:
5 on 4 Shell Drill

Most basketball practice drills that focus on defense tend to work on man to man defensive skills, which is important - the base of any defensive play will always be man to man defensive fundamentals. But you also need your team to work together, and if you are running a zone defense, this becomes an even more important basketball skill.

Basketball is a team game - no matter how polished the individual skills of your players - offensive or defensive - they will mean little if the team as a whole can't come together.

So the following shell drill is designed to strengthen that aspect of team defense, to help players work with each other to stop penetration into the key. Players still require the individual defensive skills like proper stance, quick foot movement, and so on. But they also need to work with the player next to them to essentially double team the driving offensive player and stop him cold.

This basketball practice drill will be particularly useful if you are running the Box and 1 or Box and None defenses, as it sets up the defense in a 4 man box to defense against 5 offensive players (statistically, 4 defensive players should be as capable of defending as 5 defensive players would be).

Instructions to Players

Here's what players need to focus on:

Defenders cannot be flat-footed - they must be low, hands out, on the balls of their feet, so that they can quickly react to whatever happens
Defensive players must focus on stopping the penetration - not intercepting passes
Defensive players must keep their hands up to crowd out passing lanes and obstruct the vision of offensive players
In this drill, offensive players cannot cut into the key unless they are driving to the hoop

Basketball Practice Drill: The 5 on 4 Defensive Shell Drill

Players are set up as in the diagram - 5 offense and 4 defense, with the defense set up in a square and the offensive players spread across the court
Offensive players pass the ball around and attempt to score by driving to the hoop
The defensive players step in to stop the drive, forcing the ball handler to pick up the ball and pass off
The offensive player that receives the pass then attempts to drive through the defense, and the defensive players in that area must adjust to stop the drive
Continue this for a set amount of time or until the offense scores, then switch in players

Basketball Practice Drills - 5 on 4 Defensive Shell Drill

Run the drill for as long as 15 minutes, and continue to focus defensive play on stopping the drive.

This is a good basketball practice drill for developing the teamwork aspect of defensive play that is so important in zone defenses; it also has additional value in that it has the offense constantly on the lookout for opportunities to drive to the hoop. A good drill for offense and defense, that will help your team play better basketball.