10 Effective Attacking Football Drills to Improve Your Team's Offensive Skills

You know, I was watching the recent PBA games and something really caught my eye - how Arvin Tolentino and Troy Rosario completely dominated their matchups with what I'd call "stretch big" offense. Tolentino dropped 35 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists against Eastern, while Rosario put up 22 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 50% from three-point land against San Miguel. Watching them play reminded me why having versatile big men who can score from anywhere is such a game-changer in modern basketball.

I've always believed that traditional post-up drills aren't enough anymore. The game has evolved, and so should our training methods. That's why I want to share some attacking drills that focus on developing what I call "positionless offense" - where every player, regardless of height, can contribute to scoring. One of my favorite drills is what I call the "Stretch Big Shooting Series," where we have our big men practice catching and shooting from beyond the arc, then immediately driving closeouts. We run this drill for about 20 minutes every practice, and I've seen our team's three-point percentage jump from 32% to nearly 38% in just two months.

Another drill that's proven incredibly effective is the "Pick and Pop Continuity" where we work on multiple screen actions that create open looks for our shooters. I remember implementing this last season when we were struggling against zone defenses, and it completely transformed our offensive flow. We went from averaging 85 points per game to consistently putting up 95+ points. The key is repetition - we run these sequences until they become second nature, just like how Rosario instinctively knows when to spot up for those corner threes.

What really separates good offensive teams from great ones, in my opinion, is their ability to read defenses and make split-second decisions. That's why I'm such a big advocate for "Live Decision Making Drills" where we create game-like scenarios with defensive resistance. We'll have players work on driving closeouts, then making the right read - whether to take the layup, kick out to an open shooter, or make the extra pass. I've found that spending at least 30% of our practice time on these high-intensity, decision-focused drills pays huge dividends during actual games.

The beauty of modern basketball offense, as demonstrated by players like Tolentino and Rosario, is that it's no longer about set positions but about creating mismatches and exploiting them. That's why I always include "Mismatch Hunting" drills where we teach our players how to identify and attack favorable matchups. Whether it's a smaller defender on our post player or a slower defender on our perimeter players, we practice exactly how to capitalize on these situations. Last season alone, I counted at least 15 games where this specific focus directly led to crucial baskets in the fourth quarter.

Of course, none of this works without solid fundamentals. I still dedicate about 40% of our practice time to basic shooting, ball handling, and footwork drills. But what I've noticed is that when you combine these fundamentals with game-specific situational drills, players develop what I like to call "basketball IQ" - that instinctual understanding of when to shoot, when to pass, and how to create the best scoring opportunities. It's that combination of skill and smarts that turns good offensive players into truly dangerous scorers who can take over games, much like what we've seen from Tolentino this conference.