BNSW Clinic – Building Your Team Offence

Basketball New South Wales is currently conducting a series of free coaches clinics as part of their “D-League” program. These clinics provide coaches both in the event and in associations with a wide scope of skills, drills, concepts and strategies for their coaching. Here are some notes from a recent clinic conducted at Penrith on “Building Your Team Offence”.

Introduction –

• When building your offensive system, identify your priorities in three key areas
  • What do we want early – Pace phase
  • What next – Poise phase
  • How do we want to finish – Penetration phase
• Think “fast break” before “transition” – lay-ups are still king
• Most coaches say they want to establish the running game, but are they defining what it looks like and committing to the running?
• Spacing, ball reversal, player movement and penetration (paint touches) key in any offensive system
• Must teach and define “the geography of the floor” – young players need to understand their positioning of the floor is key to successful offence
• Importance of organisation at the end of the possession to provide high percentage scoring opportunities and limit turnovers
• Everything predicated on skill and decision making

Early offence –

• Starts with rebounding – how many to the glass, spacing and organisation on the break
• Outlet – “sweep” to get the ball on the move or establish back to side-line in “outlet pocket”
• Importance of the forward pivot on the catch of the outlet – create “forward inertia” with the pivot
• Stretch the floor wide and deep – lane runners run wide, “running post” pressure the middle of the floor
• Elite guards are elite at the kick ahead
• Lane runners – lay-ups and corners – start the possession high, wide and deep
• If no down the line kick ahead, “cross the street”
• Use of the ball screen in transition should be PART of the offence, not THE offence
• Need to define spacing around the pick and roll setting

Spacing and alignment cues –

• Create space by elite corner running – early in the possession create “high wide and deep” spacing
• Running post – off-centre, slice through elbow opposite ball to create space and vision on the ball
• Wings make reads  – PG with a head of steam (shoulders past defender) – continue to corners, PG held up – present (lead)
• Trail post “widen the wedge” – think lateral spacing, create space through the foul line

Early penetration –

• Deep catch – post the “halo” or hold and create space below the catch
• Post feed
• If stepping post away, send to post to “low box” opposite, not the opposite block – spacing, “stretch the help triangle”
• Base-line drive and receivers
• “Flow drive” (middle) and receivers
• The 5 D’s of penetration floor spots – driver, drift, diagonal, dunker, drag
• Penetration floor spots as much about limiting turnovers as creating open shots – predictability
• “Second touch” concepts for the point guard – “through”, “exit”, “bounce” or “v-away” (keep the PG near the ball)

The next phase –

• Screening – curl early down screens, dive early flare screens
• Maintain the “wide wedge” – move seams out, attack through the foul line with cutting
• Use of “short route” screening action – create space above and below the point of the screen
• Start the possession high, wide and deep, open up the floor with high and wide spacing in the middle part of the possession
• Blend of screening action away from and on the ball

Late possession –

• Ball screens are not the answer to every problem
• Defences are keyed to late clock pick and roll – what is your point of difference?
• Factor in defensive balance – what happens after the shot goes up?