All Access Florida Basketball Practice with Billy Donovan

with Billy Donovan,
Chicago Bulls (NBA) Head Coach from 2020 to 2026;
2025 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee;
Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) Head Coach (2015 - 2020);
2020 NBCA (National Basketball Coaches Association) Coach of the Year;
former University of Florida Head Coach;
2007 & 2006 NCAA Champions;
2010 John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award;
10x SEC Champions (4x SEC Tournament and 6x SEC Regular Season);
4x NCAA Regional Champions - Final Four ('00, '06, '07, '14);
2006 Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award:
3x SEC Coach of the Year;
1995 SoCon Coach of the Year;
One of only two people ever to serve as a head coach, assistant coach, and player in a Final Four

Two-time NCAA Championship Coach Billy Donovan invites you to sit in on the Gators' first three-days of practice of the 2011-12 season, a season which saw the Gators advance to the NCAA Tournament's Elite 8.

As his team prepares for the season, Coach Donovan focuses on building up their offensive and defensive styles of play. Watch as he breaks down the Spread Pick and Roll Offense along with his Motion High Offense, builds his offense and defense using a shell drill, improves his post players, and much more.

Practice 1

• Includes drills that work on closing out and on one-on-one perimeter defense from a variety of locations
• Set plays to initiate the Spread Pick and Roll that will create motion in the defense and take away help, putting the defense in disadvantage situations early in the possession
• Drills for converting defensive rebounds into transition offense

As Coach Donovan prepares his players for their first exhibition game, he does a lot of teaching and building up their style of play. He demonstrates the various offensive actions that lead into their motion high offense along with their spread pick and roll action.

He starts off with five man offensive drills (actions). This 5-on-0 situation has the team running through various action for each player starting with the big men in the post all the way through a pick and roll followed with a double screen. After going through their set plays and motion offense, Donovan starts to build his defensive style of play with a driving line drill that has his defense continuously working on closeouts and squaring up on the ball to contain dribble penetration. Donovan moves to transition drills that combines getting back in transition and disrupting the fast break.

The second half of practice focuses on the offensive end. He uses Circle the Wagon Drill to train his players to get the ball into the post to score. He wants to take advantage of his post players scoring opportunities and to establish an inside presence that will lead to open shots on the perimeter.

The practice ends with a full court press attack. Donovan emphasizes the importance of getting into the press right after a bucket is scored and to sprint back when the press is broken.

Practice 2

• Learn transition drills to improve passing and scoring in advantage situations
• Use the Gator Scramble Drills to train your team to recover on defense in a scramble situation
• Learn how to use scrimmages to determine how well players are translating practice skills into game situations

Coach Donovan spends a lot of time during the second practice going 4-on-4 or 5-on-5. He runs a 4-on-4 shell defense to create competition, run offensive plays and sets, and teach his players hot to defend the screening actions they will see.

He builds his players help-side defense using a Scramble Drill that teaches his defenders to protect the basket when a defender gambles for a steal or is beat off of the dribble from the wing. Players will learn how to stunt and get back to their man while also learning how to read the offense and take a charge.

In 5-on-5 situations, Donovan uses end of game transition posting to teach his players how to get the ball into the post off of a transition set or a secondary break opportunity. In this setting, the focus is on the post, but he still wants his players to understand they need to create without forcing off of the spread pick and roll offense.

Coach Donovan finishes his second practice by working on the defensive end of the floor. He practices falling back into several different defensive alignments including a 2-3 zone defense and an aggressive pressuring man-to-man defense.

Practice 3

• Learn to use a shell defense to work on different actions from different types of offenses
• See game-like drills to develop your post players
• Beat defensive overplays by running the "floppy action" set and counters

Donovan continues to emphasize defensive principles. He teaches his players how to defend various offensive actions, such as the UCLA Offense and Flex Offense, and teaches them how to defend different screening actions from every angle of the floor.

Coach Donovan finishes with a great set of post player/guard break down drills that fit right into his offensive tactics. You will have your guards and post players working together and on the same page with these great break down options. He ends the practice with "Circle The Wagons Live," which takes the transitions lessons and puts them in game context in a controlled scrimmage.

349 minutes (3 full practices). 2012.

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