Basketball Drills: The Two-Man Getaway

Looking to create better defensive slides and more active hands? Basketball camp director and college coach Donnie Arey has a great drill for you: the Two-Man Getaway. Before you dive into it, however, Arey wants you to work on a few basics.

The first practice within this drill is called the “shovel slide.” Get in a proper athletic stance with your knees bent, back straight and head up. Shuffle to the left and wait for your coach to pass you the ball. Once you receive the ball, return it to your coach with a shovel pass and shuffle to the other side. Keep moving until your coach passes it back again.

You can also do this drill with a medicine ball to make it more challenging. Remember, you want to make sure you’re perfecting your lateral and defensive sliding moves.

Next, perform the same shuffling footwork, but receive the pass with one hand instead of two. This is called “active hands,” and it can help improve your awareness. As you move left, catch the ball with your left hand and catch it with your right as you move right.

The third exercise from Arey is the loose ball drill. As you shuffle to either side, your coach will throw it to you high, forcing you to jump to get it. This drill can help train you in the rebounding department. Make sure to snag the ball out of the air with both hands and come down on both feet to maximize your ball control. You can also do this drill by picking up loose balls on the ground.

For the next practice within the drill, work on your backpedal. Start by backpedaling a few steps and wait for the coach to pass you the ball. Once you receive it, pivot back the other way, toss the ball back and repeat. This can help you with your forward and backward movements during a game.

The final practice drill that you can perform before you begin the Two-Man Getaway will have you sprinting back and forth after each catch. Make sure to flip your hips after each change of direction.

Since basketball is a change-of-direction kind of game, you and your teammates need to know how to move forward, backward, up, down and side to side.

For the main Get-Away drill, you and your teammate should be on opposite sides of the key with your hips facing forward, not toward one another. Once the drill starts, shuffle away from your teammate who has control of the ball. They will attempt to close in on you as they toss the ball your way. Once you receive it, your teammate will retreat as you shuffle toward them. The goal is to not to lose any ground between each other even though both players are moving.

For the next progression, you’ll be creating a little more space, but you’re going to use a dribble to cover more ground. The player who starts with the ball will dribble the ball once before they pass the ball to the retreating player and vice versa after the pass is complete.

This is a drill that forces you and your teammates to work together. It can help create symmetry, all the while helping you get in good shape and master changing directions.