Hammer Action
Punish help defence with a baseline drive and a cross-court skip to a corner three off a back-screen.
What this drill teaches
Making help defence pay. The baseline drive drags the low defender in while a weak-side back-screen frees the corner shooter — so drivers learn their job is often to collapse the defence and throw the skip, not to score.
In games: Cures the head-down driver on game day — when the defence collapses on a baseline drive, your team has a rehearsed answer: the cross-court pass to the open corner.
- Driver getting two feet into the paint before deciding
- Back-screen timed with the drive, not after it
- Skip pass thrown flat and on target across the court
U14: the skip pass will sail or arrive late — rehearse with no defence first. U16: expect the driver to read a live low defender and choose dump-off or skip.
Equipment
1 ball, half court
Setup
A driver on the wing, a shooter in the weak-side corner, a screener on the weak-side block.
Steps
- 1The driver attacks baseline to draw the low defender.
- 2On the weak side, the screener sets a back-screen for the corner shooter.
- 3The shooter lifts off the screen to the corner.
- 4The driver throws the cross-court 'hammer' pass for the corner three.
Coaching points
- Driver: get two feet in the paint to force help.
- Time the back-screen with the drive.
- Throw the skip pass on time and on target.
Why kids love it
Teaches the read that great teams live on — drive, collapse the defence, and skip it to the open corner.
Variations
No defence — rehearse the timing of the drive and the skip pass.
Add a low help defender who must choose between the drive and the corner.
Put a cutter in the dunker spot so the driver has to choose between the dump-off and the skip.