Larry Krystkowiak (1)

Basketball Practice with Larry Krystkowiak Larry Krystkowiak has NBA pedigree and it shows on this all access look into how he runs basketball practice. The two practices that you will see take place early in the season as Krystkowiak is still laying the foundation for his team. You will see how he teaches and drills his half court offense, ball screen defense, and how he runs his skill development sessions. Krystkowiak does a great job at keeping the practice pace quick and efficient. There is very little wasted time between drills and yet Krystkowiak and his staff still find time to coach up their players constantly. Basketball Practice 1 The focus of the first practice is mostly defense. Coach Krystkowiak lays the foundation of his man defense by teaching the principles of their transition defense, pick and roll coverage, rebounding, and closeout fundamentals. Many of the drills he uses to get repetitions over these aspects can be used by you at your own program. The intensity and organization of each drill will bring drastic improvements for your players. Krystkowiak also spends some time installing Utah's basic 46, 49, and Elbow series on offense. He uses a combination of full court, breakdown, 5-0, and skeleton drills to teach his players the offense. His whole-part-whole method of teaching is highly efficient and you can see how quickly the players pick it up. In addition to the basics, he teaches his players some of the counters to the defense when their first option is taken away. Krystkowiak does a wonderful job of isolating certain skills and actions he wants to see within the framework of the offense to help players know what to do and when. While the coaching staff is constantly coaching skill development within the offensive and defensive segments, they still carve out some devoted time to work on specific skills. They also show a great way to end practice with competition and energy with the Michigan State passing drill. Coach Krystkowiak wraps up the practice with a Q&A session with the attending coaches. Some of the topics discussed in greater detail include offensive philosophy and principles, guarding the pick and roll, and drilling toughness into players. Basketball Practice 2 Practice number two places a high emphasis on skill development and defense. Coach Krystkowiak breaks down the skill development between guards and posts in order to work on skills and aspects of the teams offense. He also focus on developing some skills in transition and moving without the basketball. Often times when coaches say they are working skill development all they are doing is having players shoot set, wide-open shots. Krystkowiak shows how you can take that to the next level by having players read help defense and kick out the ball to a player moving to an open shot. It makes every shot more game like and continues to drill in the offensive principles. The team also demonstrates how you can work both with guards and post players at the same time with a variety of development drills. To develop the guards, Krystkowiak focuses on attacking the basket, pivot foots, jump shots, and attacking the paint out of the Horns set. When working the posts, the focus are high and low post skills, setting screens, finishing, and moving to an open spot as a player drives. There is so much teaching and detail in all of the basketball drills that is easy to see why Utah's players improve so much as the year goes on. Rent this basketball practice DVD today.