Copyright © 2004 Craig Rowe

Last updated: 15 April 2004

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Introduction   General Offence   Zone Offence   Zone Overload   5 Out Motion

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Introduction

It has often been said "good defence leads to better offence" at higher levels most teams have a transition or fastbreak philosophy, that is look to score quickly after gaining possession. If your primary and secondary transition/break doesn't work, you then pull up and run offence. Most of this transition play is made possible by intense defensive pressure resulting in a defensive rebound or turn-over. In general teams with a quick transition from defence to offence tend to be most successful as they are the hardest to defend. The key to good offence is having your players read the defence and make an offensive call accordingly. Below is an example of some offensive calls based on defence from one of Coach Rowe's successful seasons...

Call "1" = 1-3-1 Zone Overload used against odd front zone defence

Call "2" = 2 Man Game out of a 5 man motion, 2 players work together to score, one post - one perimeter player (wing)

Call "3" = 3 Man Game out of a 5 man motion, 3 players work together to score, point, post and perimeter (wing)

Call "4" = 1-4 or (1-2-2) Inverted Offence using screens, screens set away from basket with 6 different cuts off screens (See Offence #2)

Call "5" = 5 out motion, recognising spacing and cues, no post, no screens, just player and pass penetration

Call "Fist" = 5 principles to beat a zone i.e. ball reversal, draw + dish, flash from behind, screen zone, get to gaps

Call "Ice ???" = Isolation where there is a definite mismatch ??? being players name

The defence dictates the offensive set your team should adopt. Players must communicate to the Point Guard what their opponent is doing, for example if a post is being fronted when the ball is on the wing or over denied high, they may look to get an inside seal on that defender and reverse the ball and hit the post inside from the top, this is part of the three man game. You can only capitilise on situations if your players communicate to each other how their defender is playing them. Coach Rowe says, "Basketball is about strengths and weaknesses, the saying for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is extremely relevant to this game. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, know your opponents strengths, know your opponents weaknesses, then play to them! Strengthen your weak areas, exploit your opponent's weak areas!"

Finally, if you have the human resources, scout the teams in your competition, this allows you to find each team's strengths and weaknesses and scout them more than once. Do player statistics and scout your own teams games, this allows you to find your own strengths and weaknesses. A team stat sheet is available in PDF format on the Programs page. Coach Rowe in the past has experienced coaches to scouting teams on his behalf, the quality of your scouts determines the accuracy of the information you receive. These scouts can work together to devise strategies with the coach, to capitalise on other teams weaknesses. At junior and club level Coach R often asks parents to do player stats for his team and opponents as part of this scouting process. Approach basketball development and training like it is a science, because it is!

General Offence

bullet Never let your players stand still off the ball
bullet Have your point guard make calls loud and get the pass off early just over the half way line, this gets offence started quickly and the passing angle is better than from the top of the three point line.
bullet If players cut have them cut via the key way
bullet Rotate all players through all positions
bullet Teach you guards and bigs both post and perimeter moves
bullet Post your guards against guards of a similar height
bullet Let your bigs take the three if left open, this helps keep the defence honest and may open the key way if the big hits one or two a game
bullet Try to keep the ball off the floor in the half court, hit moving players with the ball
bullet Allow bounce passes to feed the post, avoid them around the perimeter or in the full court where possible, they are too slow and easily picked off
bullet Ensure the offence you choose has a good rebounding triangle and a safety, if it doesn't make rules of who follows shots when shots go up from different spots
bullet Have your players always see the ball when they cut with hands always ready to catch it (i.e. a target of 10 fingers)

Zone Offence

Coach Rowe uses five principles in general to beat all zones, but runs an overload against odd front zones (i.e. 1-3-1, 1-2-2, 1-2-1-1 and also against a 2-1-2 zone). Teach your players to read the defence and set up offence according to the defence. Also teach your players where the weaknesses are in the offence and defence you teach. This helps them better anticipate what other teams will do. Strengthen your team's weaknesses and exploit your opponent's weaknesses especially the teams who run offence and defence similar to yours.

The five principles the coach teaches to beat all zones are:

bullet

Ball Reversal - swing ball from one side of the court to the other side either by pass or dribble
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Draw & Dish - dribble penetrate in to gaps to draw two defenders and then pass the ball
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Fill gaps/seams - players get into gaps created by the dribble penetration, looking to receive the ball
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Flashing from behind - as the zone shifts, players furthest away from the ball flash into gaps towards the ball from behind the defence. Coach R gets 2 post players flashing from low to mid post. Weakside wing also may flash when the ball is on the other wing.
bullet

Screen the zone - You may set a screen on a weakside defender and reverse the ball to get a shot for a wing or post player opposite where the ball originated.

1-3-1 Zone Overload Offence

1-3-1 Phase #1 - Alignment
bullet The point guard reads the defence and calls "One" if it is an odd front zone or 2-1-2 zone.
bullet You must set up one low post (5) and one high post (4) on the same side. Once you have both players on the same side, that will be your strong side.
bullet The first pass goes to the post side, if this is not possible the pass may go to the weakside but the posts must cut diagonally through the key swapping post positions if this occurs.
.1-3-1 Phase #2 - Swing
bullet The point (1) passes the ball to the strong side wing (3), as the pass is made the weak side wing (2) swings to the strong side baseline corner.
bullet If 2 catches the ball in the corner and is unguarded, they may shoot the ball or feed the the post.
bullet Upon feeding the post if 2 is still unguarded they may step towards the post to get the ball back for a shot using the low post as a screen.
.1-3-1 Phase #3 - Reversal/Continuity
bullet If no shot is available the offence is reversed, the ball is passed back out to the point (1) who dribbles to the opposite wing, as 1 does so, 3 replaces them at the top/point position using an L-cut.
bullet 2 swings to the other baseline corner as the two post players cut diagonally across the key to the ball side. Phase #2 is then repeated.
1-3-1 Phase #4 - Weakside Cutter
bullet If the baseline corner and the low post are defended by an odd front zone, you should look to get the ball to the high post.
bullet When the ball goes to the high post the player at the point position should look to backdoor cut on his player, cutting behind the zone weakside looking for a pass from the high post.
bullet You get a good rebounding triangle on this weakside cut.

If the weakside cutter doesn't receive the ball, they pop out to the weakside wing, the ball can be reversed by a pass back out to either wing, or passed to the top if the strong side wing replaced the weakside cutter. The weaknesses of this zone overload is you don't have a good rebounding triangle on the overload, so all players must crash the boards. Also it doesn't work against a 2-3 zone, or 3-2 alignment. It works well against a 1-3-1 zone. You do get a good rebounding triangle on the weakside cut off the high post play.

5 Out Motion (No Screens)

The beauty of 5 out motion is all players rotate through all positions and the ball is taken to the cutters, you can add screens, basically instead of pass, cut, replace - pass, screen away and replace. This pass screen away and replace is the topic of the Offence #2 page. There are many ways to run motion, but this simplified replacement shown here allows for all high percentage areas to be attacked, it maintains good court balance and has simple rules to follow. This offence and the 1-3-1 zone overload are extremely simple to teach and therefore can be taught to juniors as young as 10. Like the coach says it doesn't matter what you do it matters how well you do it.

Motion Rule 1 - The cutter from the top always replaces weakside
bullet Players start 5-out making straight leads going deep into the key looking to get the ball, if they don't they explode out of the lead looking to receive the ball..
bullet The top player (1) passes to a wing, takes two steps away from the ball and then basket cuts ball side again looking to get it back. They may stay in the post for 2 seconds and then must clear out.
bullet Players must see the ball on every cut / lead and must always have their hands up ready to receive the ball from the point or wing.
Motion Rule 2 - Weakside Replacement
bullet Once the cutter (1) is below the dotted line of the jump ball circle, the weakside wing players initiate cuts. (3) L-cuts looking for the ball at the Free Throw Line, if (3) doesn't get it he pops out to the top.
bullet The corner weakside player (4) also initiates a V-cut to replace on the weakside wing.
bullet As (1), (3) and (4) basket cut they are all in perfect position to receive the ball in high percentage areas, they also form an excellent rebounding triangle on their cuts.
Motion Rule 3 - All Cuts Must Go Via The Key Way
bullet All cuts must go via the keyway, all players must see the ball on all cuts.
bullet At any stage of the cut you may receive the ball to score, you must be ready for it.
bullet Slash Arm on all cuts.
bullet Recognise spacing.
bullet Recognise cues.
bullet I-cut after every pass from wing to corner or wing to point, but not wing to post.
bullet Relocate in the corner on feeding the post.
Motion Rule 4 - (4 out 1 in Replacement) Low Post Replaces Himself
bullet If you look to get the ball to a post (5) in a two or three man game (i.e. on the dribble entry cue) and you cannot get the ball to the post or the post cannot score the post should pass it back to the wing. The wing dribble exits back to Free Throw Line extended and the post replaces themself on the ball side corner.
bullet This rule helps maintain good court balance.
bullet A wing feeding the post should relocate to the corner.
bullet Weakside players must flash into the key towards the ball on the low post feed.

These offences being so simple can be mastered in half the time it takes to master screening offences, because screening offences are dependent on more factors such as how teams fight screens and how a player comes off the screen. From this 5 out motion offence, the coach runs two man and three man games, splitting the court offensively down the splitline into a game that players play every day in the school yard (i.e. 2 on 2 and 3 on 3). The Three Man Game uses screens and cuts off the high post.