Finishing School — Thoughts on How To Improve Your Team’s Finishing at the Rim

Regardless of level of play, finishing (or lack of finishing) is important to your team’s optimal performance.

It doesn’t matter what you run, how much space you get your scorers, or how well your players even read the defense if…they can’t finish at the rim.

It’s tempting to get pretty and work on 17 different types of finishes.

It’s also tempting to feel like that is what your players need.

They probably don’t.

In all reality, your best players are going to work on their game on their own, play older competition, hoop in different settings (1v1, 2v2, 3v3) without you around, and get better just by playing a lot. That’s why they are your best players — they play all the time.

However, most of your roster probably isn’t doing that.

That means it is on you, as the coach, to decide the following:

How much time should we spend on finishing during practice and workouts?

What are the main finishes that happen the most in games AND within our offense?

• For example, if you run Princeton — you better be running drills that focus on finishing after backcuts, scoring quickly before the defense recovers, etc.
• If you run Dribble Drive, you better have solutions for finishing when your drivers are cut off
• If you run Flex, you better be running drills that emphasize finishes off flex cuts
• If your team is a transition team, your players better be able to catch a deep pass at full speed and make the appropriate finish
• Whatever you run, whatever concepts you try to flow with in your offense, whatever types of finishes you observe on film that you get the most…REP THOSE

What can my players actually handle and use in games?

• Most of your players don’t need to know how to euro step or shoot floaters…they probably aren’t good enough…and that’s fine
• Don’t. Work. On. It. Unless. Your. Players. Will. Need. It. In. Games.

When teaching how to finish, I’d recommend having a “curriculum” or list of what you expect from your players finish-wise. And whatever is on this list needs to be worked on consistently during practice.

For example, you can’t get upset with a player who can’t seem to finish a reverse layup if you have never worked on them in practice, drilled them (with and without defense), or modeled the finish yourself.

Here are a few basic finishes that should probably be covered consistently in your skill work:

• basic regular layup off 1 foot
• layup off two feet (stride stops)
• reverse layups with both hands
• weak hand layups
• Rondo type combination
• floater/runner
• inside hand finish
• Barkley/Dribble Post Up
• Post moves
• Euro steps/avoiding charges

Once your players can do these with the proper footwork and speed, it’s time to start adding extra barriers.

You can start with token defense — just put an extra body down there who isn’t going to block the shot (or a coach) and have them get in the way.

You might just tell them to stand there straight up or you might allow them to jump in the path of a dribbler/finisher.

Eventually, you can let them defend live.

Next, adding a 1v1 element creates another layer of growth.

This is the goal anyways, right? Not to make layups in the layup line during warmups, but to be able to finish with defense.

Playing variations of 1v1 and telling players the options they have finish-wise is a great way to work on finishing.

Yes, there’s value in your players having a skillset that includes various finishes.

Yes, you need to teach them how to finish so their game can grow as they face better competition.

Yes, it’s okay to work on challenging finishes and footwork in order to push your players out of their comfort zones and stretch them.

However, don’t lose the forest for the trees. Choose the most effective finishes and the most common game finishes and rep those out until they are automatic…then maybe you can start adding the other stuff.

If you want to have a humbling experience, watch 2–3 games from last season and chart the types of finishes your players made in games. This will give you an idea of the types of shots you get (and the types of shots you should be drilling) and it will show you how much of a waste of time some of your work on finishing has been.

I remember working on “Rondo” type moves with my teams for about 2 summers…I don’t know if I ever saw one in the game.

Did I waste my time?

You could argue that no…working on those finishes helped improve footwork, added something to their game, could still be pulled out somewhere.

But you could also argue yes.

How much time did I spend on something that garnered my team ZERO POINTS that season?

Woof.

With all of this being said, here is what I would consider the best ways to improve finishing in your players:

• play a TON of 1v1 and 2v2
• add as much defense to every drill as possible…even your “walk-through” stuff
• have them play against older and better competition in the offseason
• keep it simple, master the basics, and then expand
• work on the stuff that actually comes up in YOUR TEAM’S GAMES

What about you guys?

What are your favorite finishing drills?

What are your thoughts on teaching finishing in general?

Until next time!

P.S. — Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can help you as a coach!

1. Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 500 pages of plays and drills
2. 2023 NCAA Tournament Playbook — 3 sets/actions/concepts from each of the 68 NCAA Tournament teams (204 total) — in video AND diagram form!
3. Create Your Coaching Portfolio Course to help you organize your coaching, develop a portfolio, and focus your philosophy (self-paced course)
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