Offense

Here are some thoughts for teaching players to space after the ball is passed to the low post.

These 3 options are from Trey Watt’s eBook on the “Versatile Swing Offense.”

It is a part of this week’s eBook bundle along with the Encyclopedia of Packline Defense.

Regardless of what offensive system you employ, you might be able to use these ideas, or use them for thoughts to develop feed and space rules that best fit your team.

You can find out more about the eBook bundle: at this link: Packline Defense and Swing Offense.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

On POST FEEDS we use 3 options:

OPTION 1: CUT TO CATCH

The wing that feeds the post cuts thru, “CUTTING TO CATCH” and the other perimeter players will fill the next spot.

NOTE: this option is used versus teams that are playing tight and not digging in on the low post.

Here 1 feeds the post and cuts.
4 comes to ballside slot
3 comes to ballside alley
2 moves form alley to slot.

OPTION 2: CORNER AND DIVE

NOTE: This option is usually used against teams that try to dig in on the post with the ball side defenders.

1 will feed the post and go to the corner
The next player, 4, will dive to the rim and out.
3 will move over to the ballside ALLEY
2 will move from SLOT to ALLEY

OPTION 3 SPLIT CUT

Run this option if your player in the 4 spot is a shooter. It can be any player and not a traditional “4.”

Here 2 will feed 5 and screen at the elbow for the next guard.
4 will move to the elbow and read his defender.
Here 4 comes out, so 2 willl dive to the rim.
3 and 1 will move up.

These 3 options are from Trey Watt’s eBook on the “Versatile Swing Offense.” It is a part of this week’s eBook bundle along with the Encyclopedia of Packline Defense.

You can find out more about the eBook bundle: at this link: Packline Defense and Swing Offense.

Clinic Notes from:

These are some of the notes I took at last spring’s PGC/Glazier Basketball coaching Clinic in Chicago.

The presenter was Tyler Coston, a full-time course director and clinician with PGC Basketball and his topic was “Handling Defensive Pressure.”

Mindset for facing pressure

• Dick Devenzio, Founder of PGC Basketball and author of several coaching books, taught players that “Pressure is an illusion in the mind of the offense.”
• It’s not the pressure itself that leads to most of the turnovers, it is the fear of the pressure that causes bad decisions and leads to turnovers.
• Most turnovers against pressure are stolen out of the air, not taking the ball from your hands.
• Fear of being pressured (fear of anything for that matter) is a “Mind Killer.” You can’t think when you’re afraid.
  Fear makes you frantic and flustered, agitated and confused.
• As coaches, we must help our players to develop a mindset to get over the fear and be cool, calm, and collected.
• Actually an opponent puts themselves at a disadvantage when pressing because they spread themselves out and have more territory to defend.

Getting open against defensive pressure

• Running a 4 way race.
• Players should run east and west or north and south, taking long strides, running in a straight line, and making sharp changes in direction.
• If the defense is on the side, run north and south. Players get in trouble when the run in curves.
• Get open by the 3rd or 4th step.

Spacing against defensive pressure

• You cannot have 2 players running away from the ball against pressure.
• Any time the ball is trapped, you need 3 available receivers near the player with the basketball and 1 at the basket to force the defense to guard the basket.
• You can usually fix your spacing just by moving one player.

Power Position Holding the basketball when being trapped while looking to pass out of the trap.

• Hold the ball with both hands and against the shoulder to establish 3 points of contact.
• Makes it much tougher for the defense to dislodge the basketball.
• Elbows wide, but not swinging. They are not swords to swing, they are spears.
• Wide Feet.
• Changing heights moving up and down-flexing and extending knees.
• Be ferocious when you are trapped.

Passing Out of a Trap

• Fake first before you attack the trap.
• Pass out of the trap with a “Piston Pass” an explosive driving pass from the shoulder. Pass as if you are trying to break a window with your fist. “Break the Glass on the Pass.”
• The windows to use to pass by a defensive player are directly over their head, by their ears, and by their arm pits.
• Ball handler must move the defenders hands and arms where you want them to be to make the pass with your eyes & body.

4 on 4 passing out of a trap drill

• Objective of the drill is for players to develop confidence in their ability to pass out of a trap while teammates learn the value of 3 nearby and available receivers.
• A space in the middle of the floor works best for the drill. The receives should to to the pass and meet it, so the group will constantly be moving and adjusting positions and spacing.
• Offense must hold the basketball for 5 seconds before passing out of the trap. The two trapping defenders count to 5.
• 2 defenders must always trap the basketball.
• Offense gets a point per completed pass.
• If the defense gets a deflection, offense and defense switch.
• Play to 10 points.

2 offense vs. 3 defense Full Court Drill

• Rule for the offensive players. If you have one defender guarding you, beat them. If you have two defenders guarding you, pass to the defense.
• Offense plays to score or get fouled at the opposite end basket from where they start. Make teams of 3 and make the drill competitive.

Closing Thoughts

• The moment a pass comes out of a trap, attack before the trappers can recover.
• Your mentality against a press is to get a layup, not just getting the ball across half court.
• You get layups by attacking immediately when the pass comes out of the trap.
• Your team’s mentality must be ‘You press us, you pay!

These ideas on Press Attack are from the Xavier Men’s Basketball Coaching Newsletter.

You can see their archives at this link.

The initial part of the post are some ideas on developing your press offense philosophy. At the end are some diagrams with ideas for formations for your press offense.

Just like every other Attack in your playbook, your press offense philosophy must:

1) Fit your personality
2) Fit your team personnel
3) Work against the very best opponent you must beat to reach your goals

You have to believe in it so you’re players will trust it will work for them on their toughest nights.

Develop Your Philosophy

This is where you must evaluate what type of attack fits you the best and temper that with the personnel currently on your roster. Here are some questions that will help you…

Do you simply want to safely break the back-court pressure or score as a result?
Do you have a player that can beat double teams?
Do you need to break the pressure with the bounce or the pass?
Do you understand the intention of the defense that is attacking you?

Our philosophy has always been to use the fewest players possible in breaking a full court press. To us, the fewer
people you bring into the back court, the more players there will be to attack the basket. We have also witnessed over the years that the quickest way to keep a team from pressuring you is to get a couple of easy baskets.

It’s just human nature to retreat and whether the coach actually calls the press off, you will see players become
WAY less aggressive if they give up a basket. This has worked anytime we had a player (hopefully a point guard or a big player) who could invite double teams and safely get the ball out of the pressure.

If your personnel is such that you CANNOT attack to score, then you need to have a philosophy of getting the ball safely out of the pressure so that you can execute in your half court offense.

We believe you must also know WHAT the defense is trying to achieve so that you can best plan the attack. If it’s a
turnover based defense, simply NOT turning it over frustrates that team. If they are trying to increase TEMPO, then
you can counter that by methodically breaking with the pass.

Implement Strategy

Once you have decided what you are going to do, you must practice it.

We have always used our second team to go against first team when working presses. This gives our team confidence that the ATTACK will work. We also NEVER run our PRESS against our PRESS BREAK for the same reason. There is nothing worse than seeing your own PRESS DEFENSE broken for lay-ups.

5-on-7 situations work well to create priority on crisp ball movement, cuts, and meeting passes.

Execute Tactics

Make a team pay for pressing you. Awareness and preparation are the two biggest keys to keeping your team confident and calm in these situations.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Press Attack 1 Up

(Left Side Diagram) The most simplistic Press Break builds on the philosophy of only bringing as many players as you need into the back court.

This one works great if you have a point guard who cannot be denied 1-on-1 or even 1-on-2.

We clear out as much space as possible for the 1 to operate and space the other 3 players in the front court so that we can quickly attack the basket or flow into our half-court attack.

We also teach our 1 to “post-up” to receive the entry pass. Once inbounded 4 gets to the middle on a J Hookcut to be used as screen or release pass.

PRESSURE RELEASE: (Right Side Diagram Above)

We allow our 1 to work the first three seconds of the five count before we go to the pressure release.

Pressure release is to break the 3 up… this is a tough cut to defend… If the ball has not already been inbounded to the 1 it is because he is full fronted by his defender. We teach him to hold his defender off until 3 receives the inbounds pass.

On the catch 1 sprints to the diagonal and there is no way the X1 can catch up to him.

Press Attack 2 Up

Left Side Diagram. 1 sets screen for 2… 2 reads defense and breaks to corner or the basket. (Editor’s note: I would not have the player break as deep to the corner as the diagram shows.)

RED OPTION: If 2 goes to the corner, 1 rolls to basket.

GREEN OPTION: If 2 goes to basket, 1 simply goes along the exact same line back to the ball.

This works very well against switching defenses. We also use this anytime we need to inbound the ball safely to get fouled or run clock…

PRESSURE RELEASE: (Right Side Diagram Above)

Again, if the defense does get 1 and 2 fronted, we break 3 hard to the basketball. 1 and 2 hold of until the catch.

Press Attack 2 Up Big

(Left Side Diagram) Another 2-up look we have used brings our 5 player up to help break the pressure as a lot of teams are reluctant to bring THEIR big away from the basket.

1 cuts off the 5 screen. 5 then comes right back to ball and is usually wide open if X5 has helped at all on the cut.

1 can get open every time by running NOSE-TO-NOSE with the 5 player screening and making the proper read on defense.

PRESSURE RELEASE: (Right Side Diagram Above)

1 simple re-uses 5s screen… This is very difficult for a team to guard successfully two times in a row.

I have been fortunate to partner with Kevin Eastman to provide some sample videos from has basketball coaching DVDs. This video is a segment from his “Stimulating your Offensive Thinking DVD.” It is a part of his 8 DVD set which includes High Intensity Skill Development, NBA Drills for All Levels, Stimulate Your Offensive Thinking, Defensive Strategies and Teaching Points, Strategies and Philosophy for Coaching Success, Stimulate Your Defensive Thinking, Defending the Pick and Roll the NBA Way, A Champion’s DNA.

This link is to a previous video that I posted with: 3 Drills from Kevin Eastman.

You can also see another 5 minute video from Coach Eastman by clicking on this link: Keys to Quality Skill Development.

Click here for detailed information about purchasing the DVDs at a special price If you need any assistance, email me at [email protected] or call or text (317) 721-1527.

Former D1 Head Coach and Long Time Doc Rivers Assistant NBA Coach Kevin Eastman provides some principles to apply to your offensive attack as well as a little about your team culture.

These ideas to get the ball inside were posted on a Xavier Men’s Basketball Coaching Newsletter. Click here for their entire archives

The techniques originated with Mike McNeill, Coaching Development, Basketball BC

In addition to the two that I have posted here, he also has included:

Post Triangle
High Low Down Screen
Down Screen to Post Up
Duck In
and Flex Duck In

If you are interested in seeing what he wrote on any of those topics, you can use this link:

Getting the ball inside

The following are three of tactics that can be used to get the ball inside.

Whether they are a part of a play your team runs, or they are part of the concepts you teach players, all teams must have several strategies to get the ball inside.

Diagrams created with FastDraw

Curl the Post:

This tactic is extremely effective when the post defender bumps curl cuts by offensive players.

The ball starts at the high elbow above the post. The cutter cuts across the lane below the post and then curls very tight around the post to the middle of the lane.

As the cutter comes across the lane the post defender must momentarily help on the curl, if the post does not help, the pass should go to the cutter. As the defender is helping on the curl the passer brings the ball towards the wing to improve his/her angle and the post steps into the post defender to establish position.

Once the cutter’s defender clears the passing lane is usually open. In many cases the cutter may set an incidental screen. by running into the post defender as he/she completes their cut. If the cutter’s defender attempts to go over top of the screen then the post should step higher and the cutter should fade to the corner.

Back Screen to Swim Back:

This tactic serves two purposes:

1) to get the ball inside and
2) serve as a pressure release.

A small to big back screen is a very effective way to relieve denial pressure because, unless the defense switches, the small defender will have to help momentarily as the offensive post player comes off the screen to the basket.

If the small defender does not help they may give up a lay-up.

The screener (the small) steps out of the post and sets a back screen for the post to go to the basket.

The screener then quickly steps out to the 3 pt. line and receives a pass from the top.

 

 

 

 

 

There are three critical points on the post’s cut to the basket:

1) He must come tight off the screener’s shoulder to force the small defender to help momentarily,

2) He must take the cut towards the front of the rim to force the defender higher (above the line of deployment)

3) He must not cut past the defender and allow the defender to easily get over top and front or side front.

To execute a good post up the post must swim back by taking their baseline arm aggressively over top and in front of the post defender and, with their baseline foot, step across the top foot of the defender.

The passer may be able to pass directly in to the post or may need to take a dribble to the baseline to improve the passing angle.

 
 

Flex Duck-In

This tactic has the same principle of curling the post: the post defender must defend a cut by another offensive player. The cutter will flex cut low off the post and force the post to help momentarily.

As the post defender helps the offensive player ducks in right in front of the post defender. As in all flex action the ball wil be at the opposite high elbow. The post should not step outside the lane to set a screen for the cutter because it makes the distance too far to get back in and post up. The flex screen should be set with the posfs back to the basket.

Then to execute the duck-in properly the post wil drop step towards the bal with hislher top foot and then slide quickly in front of the defender. The ball may be passed into the post high or low depending on the post defenders recovery. Similar to the regular duck-in, the post should go back in the direction he/she came from to score, because there should not be any back-side defenders to help. This is done by completing a drop step with the foot furthest from the passer. The finish can be either a lay-up or a power move.

Closing Thoughts:

These tactics are team concepts because they will involve more than one player. When concepts are taught to players they must learn to read the defenders because the position of the defenders will determine where the ball should be passed. In the case of getting the ball inside the first step is to teach the players to see the position of the post defender. So begin teaching these tactics with only a post defender and initially instruct the defender on where to play. Then you can allow the defender to be live. The next step is to add defenders on the passers. This will now force the passers to use their skills while also reading the post defender. The final step is use the tactic within the context of a 5 on 5 environment, so the passers must recognize the help defenders.

With all offensive play, spacing is a critical element. It is important to emphasize spacing throughout the teaching of these tactics to ensure the post player is not crowded when he/she receives the pass. Proper spacing will help prevent the quick double-team on the post and will open passing in and out of the post.

The last aspect is timing. The anxious post player will often get into position before the pass is ready to be delivered. The post often ducks-in too early or posts-up before the ball is at the wing; which either results in a 3 second call or allows the defender time to get around the post. It is important for the post player to be patient and allow the play to develop.

All teams need to have an inside threat. Whether you simply teach the tactic or concept, or incorporate them as part of a play, these are steadfast methods which wil usually be effective when executed properly. While there are many ways to get the ball inside these are some of the most effective and popular ways.

By Mike Dunlap (former Charlotte Bobcats Head Coach and current Loyola Marymount Head Coach)

The development and decision making process of the pick and roll game covers a lot of ground.

I will give you a couple ideas and leave it there.

One of the most important points that I can make is teaching to the advantage of the drill.

For example. play 3 offense versus 2 defenders. You can guard the ball and the screen, while putting a coach on the replace or fill man.

The coach is there to instruct only while giving the ballhandler different verbal cues as he takes his second dribble off the screener, like pass to replace man using the verbal “3” ….or making a bounce pass to the roll man using the verbal “5” or calling out “1” which means the ballhandler attacks rim or shoots a pull up jumper.

Diagram of the 3 scenarios just described

The set would be: ballhandler in middle alley, screener on either elbow, and replace man in the corner opposite side ballhandler dribbles for throwback pass. The idea here is to give all 3 offensive players verbal cues and use different types of situations so they must read and react.

Offensive basketball is nothing more than move and countermove. We teach different situations or types of pick and roll defenses and show the offense how to attack that particular scheme. For instance, if the defense is using a traditional hard hedge against the hallhandler, we tell him use at least 2/3 dribbles to get separation from screener so that passing windows are much bigger.

Additionally, we tell the point guard that there is an order to our progressions: “you attack rim first, look for roll man second, and find replace man third.” We also know that people remember things in threes so we tell the ballhandler to be aware of the 3 S’s: start point, set up (fake opposite the screen) and the separation rule of at least 2 dribbles before passing the ball.

The biggest problem I continually see with the p/r game is that the ballhandler leaves before the screener gets to his defender…WAIT…fake away….and once the ballhandler hears both feet of the screener hit the ground, he takes off…..The next most prevalent mistake lies with the screener because he does not sprint into his pick….sprint. sit, separate….there it is again, the 3 Ss…