What happens if we aren't a great shooting team?

This one has come up often with coaches saying that they didn't want to run motion because they just weren't a great shooting team.  That is quite all right, as you can emphasize anything that you would like within the offense.  For example if you want to work on post play and emphasize that, then make them screeners, and work a ton of pin screen stuff.  If you want to work midrange, you can widen your screening angle out, etc.  This can all change to adapt to your personnel.

For instance at Nolan Catholic we put a strong emphasis on: Post Play, Mid Range, then Perimeter Play in that order.  We also made sure that we put a very big spotlight on dribble penetration to add to post play.  By allowing guards to get to the rim, we felt that we could use our speed to round the corner.  This all had to be set up by great screening, and reading to make sure that help side defenders were occupied with action.

Game Plan Within Motion

One of the greatest things that I like about motion, is that it has an adaptability to anything that a defense is going to do.  Our mindset has always been that we wanted to find their weakest defender, their weakest interchange defense, etc, and try to exploit it.  Looking at many pattern offenses over my first couple of years, I hated how teams could adjust their defense to take something away, and then I was stuck having to do something that my kids weren't used to doing (if that makes sense).
With motion we were able to take any changes that the defense was throwing at us, and adjust on the fly without missing a beat.  You want to switch, fine our second cutters know to seal/slip/rescreen etc.  You want to hard hedge to take away the inside cut, second cutters are trained to adjust to that as well.  With that in mind, one of the first game plan strategies that we picked up from Coach Knight was back screen shooting.

**Imagine playing a team that has a big dominant post player who they need to stay around the rim.  With that in mind, we have noticed many times that this big, will not venture out of the lane too much.  One game plan thing that we will hit in practice that week, is we will drill our post players hard on making them back screen shooters.  During our guard post breakdown we emphasize 12-15 foot shooting, after setting back screens in our 2x2 relationship.  During drill work we will have the post start on the block, screen towards the wing by hitting a pad after a jump stop, and second cutting back to the ball, squaring in the air to shoot.  We tell them to create separation at about the 12-15 mark range from the screen and back to the ball.

If teams are switching this and allowing the guard to take the big, and the post defender stays inside we will give a hook call on the back screen. We will drill this in workouts by having the post (instead of being flat to the defenders back on the back screen) actually hook back up the floor to get on the baseline shoulder of the guard defender to give a flare screen type action.  At this point we will fade the guard to the corner and basically put them at a disadvantage. This is very good action if the guard is  a good perimeter shooter, and your post player can hit from 12-15.  In this scenario it makes the defense have to decide if they are going to send the big out (which is what we want if we are looking to get to the rim), or they have to give up a shooter to one of the two kids.


Figure 1: Simple backscreen shooting vs a pad.  Screener backscreens, and second cuts into an open area.

Hook screen vs switch and big stays inside. Hook baseline side flare to corner and get defense at disadv.

Teaching Points in the Offense

TEACHING POINTS WITHIN THE OFFENSE

1. KEEP DRIBBLE ALIVE.
1. TO DRIVE
2. TO MAKE BETTER PASSING ANGLES
3. TO CENTER THE BALL
4. TO DRIBBLE AT A TEAM MATE TO RELIEVE PRESSURE.

2. BASKETCUT IS THE KEY TO MOTION:
1. TO SCORE
2. TO SET UP SCREENING ANGLE
3. TO SET UP CUTTING ANGLE. (FLARE SCREEN)
4. TO RELIEVE PRESSURE.
5. TO EMPTY AN AREA.
6. PERIMETER:  PASS 1^ST STEP IS ALWAYS TO BASKETCUT.

3. NCHS MOTION:  THE ORDER CAN CHANGE AT ANY TIME
1. POST GAME
2. MID RANGE
3. PERIMETER

4. NCHS MOTION GOALS:
1. GET MORE LAY UPS, AND FREE THROWS THAN OUR OPPONENT.
2. GET UNCONTESTED SHOTS CUTTING, AND SECOND CUTTING.

5. SHOT DISCIPLINE:  WE WANT 3’S, AND 2’S
1. 3= LAYUP
2. 2 = WIDE OPEN SHOT
3. 1 = POOR SHOT (CONTESTED OR OUT OF RANGE
4. 0 = TURNOVER

6. COMMUNICATION:
1. SCREENERS ALWAYS CALL CUTTERS NAME.
2. IN PRACTICE DRILLS, SCREENER AND CUTTER MUST CALL OUT WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

7. BALANCE:  TERM USED WHEN WE ARE OUT OF CONTROL
8. USE MOVEMENT WISELY:
1. DON’T WEAR YOURSELF OUT FREEING YOURSELF UP ON A V CUT.
2. WALK THE ARC:  SET MAN UP SLOW, COME OFF OF SCREEN HARD AND LATE.
3. TAKE LANES TO SCREEN AND FLASH, DON’T FIGHT THE DEFENSE.

9. SCREENERS ARE ALWAYS SECOND CUTTERS: 
1. EVERYTIME THAT WE EXECUTE A SCREEN THERE ARE TWO CUTS.
2. BETTER THE CUTTER, MORE OPEN THE SECOND CUTTER.
3. CUTTER READS DEFENSE, 2^ND CUTTER GOES OPPOSITE FIRST CUTTER.

10. REVERSE THE BALL
1. MAKE DEFENSE GO FROM ONE SIDE OF THE FLOOR TO THE OTHER.
2. MAKE POST DEFENDER(S) CHANGE POSITION, SET UP IS DIRECT.

11. CENTER THE BALL:
1. BEST SPOT TO SEE THE BACKSIDE ACTION.
2. BEST SPOT TO DRIVE THE BALL.
3. BEST SPOT TO MAKE THE EASY PASS.
4. BEST SPOT TO FEED THE CUTTER.

12. IF SOMEONE DRIBBLES AT YOU, EMPTY AND BASKETCUT.

14.  COUNTERS TO SWITCHING SCREENS:

      A.  SLIP SCREENS: WE HAVE TO DRIVE THIS HOME MORE THIS YEAR TO COUNTER SWITCHES, AND EMPTY OUT SPOTS AT POINT OF SCREEN

      B.  BACK CUTS: SCREENER FLASH HIGH

      C.  BUMPS.

      D. HIT SCREENERS

13. MOTION MIGHT STINK FOR A WHILE:  DON’T BLAME THE OFFENSE, LOOK AT THE QUALITY OF SHOTS.

14. RESCREEN:  IF MISS ON 1^ST SCREEN, GET THEM ON RESCREEN.

15. CATCH THE BALL READY TO SHOOT:  CHUCK DAILY STATED IT BEST BY SAYING THAT YOU ARE THE MOST OPEN YOU WILL EVER BE WHEN YOU FIRST CATCH THE BALL.

FIND A PHILOSOPHY THAT YOU WANT TO STICK WITH.  EITHER HAVE KIDS SQUARE IN THE AIR, PERMANENT PIVOT, INSIDE PIVOT ETC.  WE ARE DRILLING THIS VERY HEAVILY ON WITH OUR BREAKDOWN DRILLS ON THE GUN. 

Teaching Progression in the Offense

TEACHING PROGRESSION:  SEE DIAGRAMS

1. 1-0 CUTS WITH A COACH. (DOWNSCREEN, BACKSCREEN, FLARE SCREEN)
2. 2-0 CUTS WITH A COACH (DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE FLOOR)

1. TRY TO GET BOTH A SHOT SO THAT THEY CAN GET USED TO SQUARING, AND CREATING SEPERATION
2. SECOND CUTTER ALWAYS GO OPPOSITE OF THE FIRST CUTTER
3. ALSO WORK THE SHALLOW CUT, AND SHALLOW/BACK

3. 2-2 ON A SIDE WITH COACH AS A PASSER
4. 2-2 DIFFERENT AREAS.  (TOP OF FLOOR, GUARD/POST, SIDE, ETC)
1. IN THIS THE COACH CAN MOVE WITH A DRIBBLE SO THAT THE SPACING CAN STAY THE SAME, AND ALLOW KIDS TO READ THEIR DEFENDERS, AND CLEAR A SIDE OF THE FLOOR IF NEEDED
2. MAKE THE KIDS RESCREEN IN THIS IF THE FIRST SCREEN DIDN’T GET THE FIRST CUTTER OPEN.
3. EMPHASIZE THE BACK CUT ON OVER  PLAYS BY THE DEFENSE

5. 3-3 DIFFERENT AREAS ON THE FLOOR
1. CAN GO WITH OR WITHOUT A COACH
2. USE DIFFERENT SCREENER/CUTTER COMBO’S.  2 SCREENERS 1 CUTTER, 2 CUTTERS 1 SCREENER ETC.
3. MAKE THEM USE THE WHOLE FLOOR, AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY DON’T KILL SPACING BY SITTING IN THE POST THE ENTIRE TIME

6. 4-2 DESIGNATED SCREENING AREAS. 
1. HAVE THE DEFENDERS COVER THE CUTTERS
2. WORK ON THE RESCREEN HERE, AND SEPERATION TO CLEAR SPACE.

7. 4-4 PUT HEAVY RESTRICTIONS ON THIS, TEACHING TIME
1. SET GOOD SCREENS, AND GET GOOD SEPERATION
2. TRY TO GET AS MANY 2 ON 2 SITUATIONS ON A SIDE AS POSSIBLE
3. TIE DOWN HELP
4. CAN EVEN DO THINGS SUCH AS ONLY SCORE ON AN INSIDE CUT, SCREENER HAS TO SCORE ON A SLIP, BE CREATIVE.

8. 4 ON 4 ON 4
1. THIS IS WHERE THEY REALLY GET TO GET SOME QUALITY WORK IN CAN WORK MANY DEFENSIVE, AND OFFENSIVE THINGS IN DURING HERE
2. MAKE THEM CALL SHOT SELECTION OUT

9. 5 ON 5 SEQUENCE
1. WE WILL GO FULL/AND HALF/AND 5 ON 5 ON 5
2. WORK ON TRANSITION AND SECONDARY INTO OFFENSE
3. KEEP SCORE DIFFERENT WAYS
4. ONE COACH WATCH DEFENSE, ONE GET OFFENSE
5. MAKE THEM DO THINGS RIGHT, BUT DON’T OVERCOACH. (TOUGH BALANCE)

Breakdown Drills in Motion

1 on 1 With a trash can: O1 is working agains D1 using a trashcan as a simulated screener. 

2-0 Shallow Cut. Dribble hard at the 2 and let them fill. This is a reversal option in motion

2-0 Shallow Back: If the 2 is denied hard on the fill they can back cut

2-0 with a passer: Screen and Cut Run this with all screens. Pass to both cutters

4-0 Pass Cut and Fill

2-0 Cross Screen/Curl Cut: Head Downhill Hard on the Curl   

2-0 Down Screen/Back Cut                                                 

2-0 Down Screen/Curl                                                            

2-0 Down Screen Out Cut                                                     

2-0 Down Screen Straight Cut                                                   

2-0 Flare Screen Fade Cut                                                   

2-0 Flare Screen Pop Cut                                                         

2-0 Pin Screen Curl                                                                  

2-0 Pin Screen fade                                                                  

Free Coaches Clinic October 1st

Just wanted to announce that we will be hosting the First Annual Fall Maypearl Ball Talk!! This will be a free event, and will take place Saturday October 1st, at Maypearl High School Gymnasium at 11:00am.  This event will be a "Pass the Chalk" type of event, in which coaches will just pass the ball/chalk, around the bleachers to hear from as many people as possible.
This event will start at 11 am, and go as long as people want to stay.  Bring a notebook, a pen, and any drills/sets/ideas, that you would like to share with the group at this round table type of event.  All ideas are welcome, and the more the better.
Those interested RSVP to jwallen@maypearlisd.org

Thanks and see you there!!

Shot Selection Within Motion Offense

One of the biggest things that I have heard with motion offense is the old "I can't get the shot that I want in motion".  While you can't dictate the exact time you are going to get the shot, you can dictate who, what, where, and why of the shot selection process, but it must be something that is constantly harped on in games, and in practices.

We follow a simple few rules in shot selection.  1) We will let kids know where their range is, and tell them they aren't to shoot outside of this.  2) We have a plus minus system that we employ to make sure we don't become a jump shooting team 3) We make sure that we make kids in practice call out their shot, so that they can get an idea of what they are doing in the shot selection process.

Here are some things that we look at.

* Things to do to address shot selection:

                1.  During our half court breakdown we will have kids yell out shot selection number as soon as we attempt the shot. If we disagree with their shot selection number we explain why it should be something different.  You can make this as detailed as you want, or as basic as you want.  We also will show kids during film of where we think that they are doing well, or not doing  a very good job.  In a game we will have a coach that will keep up with a +/- chart to help relay to guards.  We also implement this within our half court break down drills, and our live drills like "50 Perfect Passes", or our "Implemented Rules" time.

.

                                3= Open Lay-up

                                2 = Open Jump Shot

                                1 = Bad Shot (contested, or out of range)

                                0 = Turnover

2.       We will also go with a plus/minus system in practice breakdown as well. During practice we run for 0's or 1's.

·         Every possession merits a +/- response.  A make is a + and a miss or turnover is a -.

·         We make sure that when we get to a -3 we are making every attempt to get to the rim.  Game situation we leave this up to our point guard to make the call.

3.       It is ok to tell a kid that you are not a shooter.  Same concept that football coaches have used for years in telling kids that they are a lineman, or something other than a skill position.  Everyone has a role, and they must accept it.  No one role is more or less important that the other.