The Mikan Drill is one of the best basketball drills to do to practice close shots and layups. It was created by George Mikan and Ray Meyer.
I hadn’t touched a basketball in a couple of weeks but I was asked to sub for my friend’s rec league team.
I’ve played in this league before and knew I wouldn’t have enough time to warm up before hand.
But it was just for fun and I thought I would be fine with the minimal shoot-around time. So, I didn’t go through my full warm-up routine.
I practiced maybe 6 or 7 shots before the game started.
First opportunity I got to score was a pretty open reverse layup. I caught a clean bounce pass as I was cutting, went up, and clank.
The ball hit the bottom of the rim.
It was so embarrassing because the left-handed reverse layup is one of my favorite moves.
But I shrugged it off; it was still early in the game. I knew I had more opportunities.
Time passed and it was now in the middle of the second half.
We were on defense and the other team chucked a contested 3-pointer.
The ball bounced off of the backboard and I ran over to grab the rebound and, noticing that no one was running back on defense, I just sprinted downhill.
It was just me and the basket, and the space between us was open like a bare desert.
I went up for a layup and it felt good. It looked like it was going to gently bounce off of the backboard and sink through the rim. In my mind, I just scored my first basket of the game.
But nope.
It bounced off the backboard onto the rim and just rolled out.
”Aw, come on!” I screamed.
I should’ve taken the warm up more seriously and practiced the Mikan Drill.
How To Do the Mikan Drill
How to do the Mikan Drill:
- Stand directly underneath the basket.
- Take a cross step to your right and lay the ball up.
- Rebound your shot, take a cross step to your left, and lay the ball up.
- As you do it more and more, you’ll start to develop a rhythm.
- Do the drill until you make 12 shots.
The Mikan Drill is a basketball exercise created by former NBA player George Mikan and collegiate coach Ray Meyer.
The drill is meant to help players find their rhythm when taking close-range shots and when rebounding.
This drill is good for building confidence and teaching the fundamentals of post-moves or close-range shots.
It also teaches you where to bounce the ball on the backboard to have it go in.
However, the Mikan Drill can get boring (a lot of young players hate it).
It’s very simplistic.
All you have to do is stand either underneath or right in front of the basket and lay it in.
You have to grab your own rebound and then lay it up with the opposite hand. You repeat this process until you make 10 or so shots.
It’s a tedious and repetitive drill, but it’s very effective.
How To Do The Advanced Mikan Drill
To make things more exciting, like a posterizing dunk on a player you hate in NBA 2K, you can add in alternative moves.
This is what Kyrie Irving does to make the drill compliment his game more. One of the things he would do to switch it up is jumping on one leg and then laying it up with various hands.
For example, he would jump on his right foot and lay it up with the right hand.
And then he would continue jumping on the right foot, but this time he would lay it up with the left hand. Then he would switch to jumping on his left foot.
What I like to do is add reverse layups.
This has always been one of my favourite moves, so this is how I practice it, especially now that I’m older and play down low in the post more.
When I’m doing the drill, I’ll do 10 or so normal layups and then add in 10 reverse layups.
To make it more challenging, you can do different finishes for every rep.
You can also add spin moves, which will train your footwork, into the routine as well.
Just figure out a few close-range moves you want to work on and do those.
Benefits of Doing The Mikan Drill
The Mikan Drill is great for developing and improving post-old man moves.
If you look at a guy like Zach Randolph, a lot of his post-game can be learned by doing the Mikan Drill.
You can learn the angles he uses to make close-range shots, but most importantly, you can learn how to position yourself to get the easiest and cleanest shot possible.
And you will be able to learn all this because of the rhythm and feel that you will attain from doing reps over and over again.
And if you’re a player who doesn’t play in the post often, this drill can also help you develop a lay-up pack.
Guys like Irving and Dwyane Wade do this drill all the time, and they rarely miss layups!
The reason why this drill will improve your layups is that it will give you familiarity.
If you do this drill consistently and put up a lot of shots, you will start to recognize where the ball needs to bounce to fall into the basket.
You will start to recognize the positions and angles for the easiest shot, and how hard you have to shoot the ball.
And again, this pattern recognition or muscle memory will be developed through repetition… and lots of it.
Oh, and it will also improve your ability to be ambidextrous and score with both hands.
Final Thoughts
I first learned about this drill when I was watching a workout video from a player. I forget who, but he was a shooting guard.
At first, I thought it was the most boring exercise, like something that a player from the 40s or 50s would do.
But I gave it a try anyway. It was difficult for the first few shots. I kept going and it eventually got easier.
However, I didn’t know if it was going to improve my game or not.
I continued to do it for about a week.
After my first game since doing the drill, I knew it worked. I made more layups and close-range shots than usual and they were easy to make.
I didn’t have to think about it much and I just looked up at the basket and my body went through the motions. No hesitations or deep thought whatsoever.
And I’m pretty sure it was all because of the reps I did. I know I keep coming back to the reps, but it’s the truth.
And it doesn’t just apply to the Mikan Drill. Anything that you want to become good at will require lots and lots of repetitions.
So if you’re willing to put in the work, do the Mikan Drill and its variations. It’ll help you become a better finisher.
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