Five-on-five basketball can get crowded quickly when you’re coaching younger players. One or two confident players may handle the ball most of the time while everyone else spends long stretches standing in the corner, setting screens they don’t fully understand or following the action without being directly involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, when you take two players off each team, the game completely changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 3-on-3, there are fewer places to hide. Every player has to handle the ball, defend, move without it and make decisions. There is enough space for players to see what’s happening, but enough traffic that they still have to solve real basketball problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s one reason small-sided games have become a bigger part of youth basketball development. The Jr. NBA’s current instructional curriculum<\/a> specifically includes more 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 competition so players can learn through play, rather than spending an entire practice moving through drills with predetermined answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good 3-on-3 drill doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, the simpler the setup, the easier it is for a coach to change one rule and immediately work on a different part of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a basic 3-on-3 drill, use one basket and divide players into teams of three. Start the offense outside the three-point line and match each player with a defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can begin each possession with a check at the top of the key, a pass from the coach or a pass from a defender to an offensive player. Once the ball is caught, play is live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the defense gets a rebound or steal, decide ahead of time whether the possession ends or whether the defense immediately becomes offense. For younger or less experienced groups, stopping and resetting can make it easier to coach. Once players understand the game, letting possession continue creates a better transition from defense to offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you keep the ball live after a change of possession, have the new offensive team clear the ball beyond the three-point line before attacking. Jr. NBA practice plans use a similar approach in half-court 3-on-3 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t worry too much about creating perfectly matched teams every possession. Competitive games are useful, but players can also learn from guarding someone different in size, strength or style. Rotate teams often enough that the same matchup doesn’t dominate the entire drill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You also don’t need to play for 10 or 15 minutes straight. Games to three or five baskets work well, as do short timed rounds. The goal is to keep the possessions meaningful and get the next group on the floor before the game starts dragging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best things about 3-on-3 is that poor spacing becomes obvious very quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put three offensive players within a few feet of one another and the defense can guard all of them without working very hard. Spread them across the floor and suddenly there are driving lanes, passing angles and decisions to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than constantly stopping the drill to move players to specific spots, give them a few simple ideas. If a teammate drives toward you, don’t stand in their path. If two offensive players are occupying the same area, somebody needs to move. After you pass, don’t automatically stay where you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then let them play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Jr. NBA uses small-sided spacing games where players begin deliberately bunched together and have to create useful spacing once play starts. Coaches can then change the challenge by limiting dribbles, taking the dribble away completely or restricting the playing area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those kinds of constraints are often more effective than repeatedly yelling \u201cspace out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If players aren’t passing enough, allow only two dribbles after each catch. If everyone is standing still, play a round where the passer has to cut or relocate after moving the ball. If players aren’t looking to attack, award an extra point when the offense gets into the paint before scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Change one thing at a time. You want players thinking about basketball, not trying to remember seven special rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s tempting to use 3-on-3 as a way to rehearse an offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can certainly work on screening actions, cuts or other team concepts, but one of the biggest benefits of the format is giving players opportunities to make their own choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are the decisions players eventually have to make in a real game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A coach can guide them without giving them the answer before every possession. Sometimes it’s more useful to let a possession finish and then ask a player what they saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jr. NBA practice plans even include small-sided games where players talk through what they saw and did after the possession. Its newer curriculum also places an explicit emphasis on decision-making instead of having every drill begin from a predictable stationary setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more often players have to read a defender and choose between driving, passing and shooting, the more comfortable those decisions can become when five players are eventually on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don’t need 12 different 3-on-3 drills. Start with one live game and adjust the rules based on what you’re trying to teach that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want more passing and cutting, play no-dribble 3-on-3<\/strong>. Taking the dribble away forces players to get open, create passing angles and move after giving up the ball. It can look ugly at first, which is usually a sign that the players need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If players are dribbling too much but eliminating the dribble completely is too difficult, give them one or two dribbles per catch. The Jr. NBA uses dribble restrictions in its small-sided games specifically to encourage quicker decisions and better spacing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a group working on screens, require one ball screen or off-ball screen before a shot. Don’t script what has to happen afterward. Let the players read how the defense handles it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also create an advantage before the possession even begins. Start 3-on-2 and let a third defender recover into the play after a short delay. The offense now has to recognize that it has an advantage and use it before the defense gets organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Jr. NBA uses this type of advantage game throughout its practice curriculum. In one version, three offensive players attack two defenders and are encouraged to make quick decisions before the defense recovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s much closer to what players see in games than running through a memorized passing pattern against no defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small-sided basketball is just as useful on the defensive end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In five-on-five, a young defender can lose their player and sometimes get away with it because another teammate happens to be nearby. With only three defenders, mistakes are easier to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Players have to guard the ball, see the person they’re responsible for and understand when help is needed. Screens force them to communicate. Drives force off-ball defenders to decide whether to help. A pass to the perimeter creates a closeout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Jr. NBA specifically recommends 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 for teaching younger players defense because every defender has a clear responsibility and is involved in the possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of scoring every game only by baskets, change the scoring once in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give the defense a point for a stop. Give another point for a defensive rebound. Play five possessions and see which team gets more stops instead of which team makes more shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, defending becomes the way to win the drill instead of something players tolerate while they’re waiting to get the ball back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three-on-three gives coaches plenty to teach, which can create another problem: talking too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you stop every possession because somebody missed a cut, made a bad pass or stood in the wrong place, the game stops being a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let players make mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the spacing is consistently poor, stop once and address it. If one player repeatedly misses the same defensive rotation, pull them aside between possessions. But give the group enough uninterrupted basketball to recognize problems and start solving some of them on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That fits well with the direction of the Jr. NBA’s current curriculum, which places greater emphasis on games, small-sided competition and player decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coaches can still teach. The difference is that you’re coaching what actually happened rather than explaining every possible situation before it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 9-year-old learning where to stand doesn’t need the same 3-on-3 game as a varsity player learning how to attack a switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For beginners, you may simply want players to spread out, look at the basket when they catch the ball and learn to pass or drive when there’s an opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As players improve, you can add screening actions, dribble limits, advantage situations, shot clocks or defensive rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s one of the best parts of 3-on-3: the basic structure doesn’t have to change as players get older. The decisions just become harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStart With a Simple Half-Court Game<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let the Game Teach Spacing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Use 3-on-3 to Teach Decisions, Not Plays<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A Few Rule Changes Can Completely Change the Drill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Defense Gets Harder to Ignore in 3-on-3<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Don’t Stop Every Possession<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Match the Rules to the Players<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n