Pocket Pass: Basketball technique, drills and fixes

A pocket pass is a pass to the screener after a ball screen, thrown through the gap (the "pocket") between your own defender and the nearest help defender. It's usually a one-handed bounce pass off the dribble, pushed from about hip height so it stays under the defenders' hands and reaches the roller on the move. It's a passing skill: the read and the timing on the pick-and-roll are yours, not something a camera grades.

Set up

Use it on a pick-and-roll when the screener rolls toward the rim and a gap opens between your defender and the help defender, for example when the screener's defender steps up to stop you.

Find the gap, not just the roller.

Come off the screen with your head up. Watch the roller and the nearest help defender with your eyes up, without staring at the roller.

See it, don't stare at it.

Bring the ball from your dribble down to your hip on your passing side, with your passing hand behind the ball.

Ball low, hand behind it.

Pass

Push the ball forward and down with one hand. Keep your elbow near your body and extend your arm toward the bounce spot.

Short push, no wind-up.

If your other hand is on the ball, take it off before the release and keep it open.

One hand throws.

Thread the bounce through the gap between the two defenders, keeping your body between the ball and the nearest defender's hands.

Under their hands, past their body.

Lead the roller. Put the ball where they will be as they move toward the rim, so they catch it in motion and don't have to stop.

Pass to where they're going.

Give it enough speed to get through the gap but not so much that the roller can't catch it.

Firm, catchable.

If the gap closes, don't force it. Move to your next option, such as a kick-out to an open shooter.

No gap, no pass.

Feel it

A good pocket pass feels like a short, quick push from your hip that goes straight from the dribble into the pass. Your eyes stay up, the ball stays low and under the defenders' reach, and the roller catches it while still moving to the rim. If you have to wind up, lift the ball, or throw it over a defender's hands, it's the wrong pass for that moment.

Fix-its

You throw it in the air into a hedging defender and it gets deflected Against active hands, keep it low. Push a bounce pass through the gap from your hip instead of a chest, overhead or lob pass.
The defense sees it coming Don't stare at the roller. Keep your head up, use your peripheral vision, and use a ball fake or look-away to move the help defender.
The roller has to stop or reach back to catch it Lead them. Aim where they will be on their way to the rim, not where they are now.
It's too hard to catch, or so soft it gets picked off Use a short, firm push. Too hard is uncatchable; too soft gives the defense time to get a hand on it.
You force it into a closed gap If the help defender is already in the lane, keep the ball and find the next option instead of passing into a crowd.

Drill

One-hand push pass with a partner: ball at the shoulder, hand behind it, push to your partner's target hand. Once that's clean, bring the ball down to your hip and push it as a bounce pass.
Pocket-pass cone drill: put a cone at the elbow. Come off a screen (real or simulated) and bounce the ball to a partner rolling past the cone toward the rim, leading them so they catch on the move. Then backpedal to the three-point line for a catch-and-shoot.
Two-side pick-and-roll: a post passes to the opposite wing, follows the pass and sets a ball screen, then rolls in a straight line to the hoop for your pass and a layup. Alternate sides. Add the short-roll version, where the screener catches a bounce pass around the free-throw line.
Add a defender who hedges with active hands. Read it each rep: pocket bounce pass if the gap is there, kick-out or keep the ball if it isn't.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-26.