Concepts in Modern Offence

With the start of the WNBA season and the NBA deep into the play-offs, we look at some of the concepts being used in these two leagues and in international competition that can be applied by coaches at different levels of sport.

Coaches will see plenty of these concepts in the FIBA Asia Cup for Women in Sydney later this month, as well as the Australian Boomers v The World Series in Melbourne in August. These two events will be a showcase of talented and skilled athletes, but also coaches looking to use a variety of tactics and concepts to gain that competitive advantage.

Here are some thoughts and offensive observations from the international game.

5-out offence – Return of 3-side, 2-side offence

• Staple of modern offence – NBA/WNBA influence
• What is old is new again – concepts in “3-side, 2-side” a key element of most offensive systems, including motion offence
• Use of transition ball screens – “Drags”
• Spread pick and roll
• Cutting as a key tool to create high percentage shots and space
• Dribble hand-off and “Gets”
• Move people into the post – the post as a playmaker
• Elbow “splits”
• Wide pin down
• Staggered screens
• Return of cutting – advanced receiver principles, cutting to disrupt scheme, build pressure on the rim
• Playmakers on both sides of the floor
• Playmakers at different geographic parts of the floor – bigs with vision and passing ability

NBA's best cutters teaching tapehttps://t.co/0k1WUSgKBy

— PickandPop (@PickAndPopNet) June 7, 2023

Cutting out of the 2-side Drag screen

• 2-side Drag
  • Speed in, speed out
  • Screener skill set – rim runner, roll out to 1 v 1 rip game, pick and pop
  • Handler downhill
• 3-side opposite
  • Post player skill set – elbow flash, corner, high out (skilled, decision making 4-man)
  • Cutting rules – base-line cut (Australian Opals), sandwich cut (Flow offence), high out blast (Mimi/Jimmy Butler)
  • “Most obvious cutter” – advanced 3-side cutting, predicated on reading the defence and decision making
• “Gets” game (Stationary hand-off) –
  • Can you bigs play-make off two hard dribbles and jump stop?
  • This is cutting situation – bodies in motion, Australian Boomers
  • Isolation with action opposite
  • Pressure release – Plan A, Plan B

Never trust a Sami look 👀#FIBAWWC x @BasketballAus pic.twitter.com/XGZRHXfPgi

— FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWWC) September 30, 2022

• 3-side motion –
  • Create speed of action as the ball leaves the 2-side
  • Cutting is key – can’t afford to always simply “space”
  • Screening action – back cuts and curls
  • “Logo” pick and roll (low on the floor) – hard to help with the quality of international shooting
• Wide pin-down –
  • Cutting with momentum hard to guard
  • Back cut, curl cut – constant pressure on the net
  • Elbow flash and play 2-man “Gets”
• Staggered screens –
  • More prevalent now than 5 years ago
  • Speed of cut/separation the key
  • Back cut – simple solution to switching strategy
  • Curl the first screen – pressure the paint