Screening within the offense

Today we are going to look at our screening rules within the offense.  Now a couple of things that I have noticed with us in regards to screening:  1) Kids want to go way to fast when implementing this.  Make them slow down, they have to change pace, we try to teach them to walk into the defender that is guarding them and make the initial contact.  Only time this changes is when teams are playing heavy mid-line, in which we automatically ou-tcut.
2) Kids want to predetermine cuts in the offense.  Usually this results in every cut being a straight cut, and makes this more or less pattern, and easy to defend.  In the coming days I will have some trash can drills that we use to help break this habit.
3) Kids don't get to the screen, they want to drift around the perimeter.  Once again this is a speed problem, make them follow the elements of the screen to get there.
4) Screeners go screen when the ball is out of position.  This is not too bad of a problem, but if the ball is on the right wing, and a screen is being set on the backside of the floor, it usually results in an ineffective screen and cut.  This is where patience has to set it, and they have to realize to wait for the ball to be somewhat centered so that it can see action on both sides of the floor, and they have to re-screen once the ball is being centered.
5) Kids away from the ball want to watch the ball.  This makes it tough to read defenders at an early stage.  Try to teach see the ball, watch your defender, the ball will find you once you contact the screen and get open.  Before then, see what your defender is doing.  This will also help in the pre-determine problem that we have had.

Here are our screening concepts:

ELEMENTS OF THE SCREEN:

1. Basket cut:  In order to set up a good screening angle, we must basket cut to make all defenders react.  Screens should be set 1-2 feet outside the lane.

2. Walk the arc:  Get nose to nose with the screener, change of pace, slow then explode.

3. Nose to Nose:  Maker sure that the cutter, and screener are nose to nose in relation before reading the screen.

4. Screener head for defenders shoulder based upon where you are at on the floor.  As they move (defender) your aiming point moves.

5. Hip To Hip:  Close the space between screener and cutter. Make sure that there is no room for the defender to get through.

6. Finish the cut:  Once you decide what you are going to do, don’t second guess.  Go full speed, and force the defender to play the cut.

7. Second Cutter:  Screener is always the second cutter.  Go opposite the first cutter, and do so with a purpose. First cutter inside = second cutter away.  First cutter away = second cutter inside.

8. Read the defense, don’t predetermine your cut!!!

TYPES OF SCREENS:

1.        Down Screen:  Screening towards the basket, with back usually facing the ball.

2.       Flare Screen:  Screen from the seam to the slot, when a screener is on the wing, or below the cutter.

3.       Pin Screen:  Screen from outside the perimeter towards the post area. 

4.       Back Screen/Up Screen:  Back to basket, moving up the floor.

We want to try to set all screens outside of the lane, the reason for this, is so that we can keep the floor spread, and it gives us a pretty good spacing opportunity for either inside first cuts, or inside second cuts. By doing this, and wanting screens outside of the paint, we have noticed that we have better dribble penetration angles as well.  There isn't as much traffic.

Thanks and see you tomorrow!!

2x2 Relationship Shown

In this situation we are in a 2x2 relationship if 1 has the ball.  In this case we 2 and 5 would be partners, and 4 and 3 would be paired up.  This is where we could designate our screeners, have screen calls, etc.  If 5 were to slide to the backside, we would be 1x3, which we don't want a whole lot, but if we did, it would be an automatic screen the screener off of one of our all inside or all outside calls.

Also in this situation if we were all inside 5 would be the screener for the 2, and the 4 would be the screener for the 3, because in the partnership, they are the ones who are closest to the midline at that time.  If we were all outside then we would just flip, and 2 would be the screener for 2, and 3 for 4.

Everytime a pass is made, those numbers aren't staying the screener, it would be re-evaluated on the fly.

Motion Offense Day 3

Today we are going to discuss the screening rules for what we do.  Now this can be adapted to many ways, but we have decided this is what works best for us.  I have our rules listed first, and our designations listed lower.

I think it is important, at least at first, to designate some type of screener.  Like we talked about yesterday, we want to always keep a screener/cutter concept, and talk about a 1st cutter/2nd cutter impact.  There are several ways to establish this, and you will have to pick which fits you.  Some have gone with the mover blocker series (Dick Bennett has great videos on this) in which you can pick an alignment (lane/lane, wide/wide, lane/wide, top/bottom); while some have chosen the designated screener, and designated cutter approach (Don Meyer has great videos for this), we pretty much call our screen based upon what defenses are doing to us, or trying to get a offensive player open.

For instance we have a few calls, and all of these are based upon a 2x2 alignment with the ball (diagrams will come later today).  We may go all inside (person closest to the midline will screen the person outside of them).  We do this against really aggressive man 2 man teams, while trying to establish the inside cut.  Our best goal here is that one of our better shooters starts close to the midline, and will work to screen outside of them, and 2nd cut to create spacing.  

We will also go all outside (person farthest away from the midline will screen the person to their inside) we will do this against teams that are loaded with bigs inside to get a good post shooter a shot from 10-15 feet, and will also utilize this against teams that can't handle the flare screen very well.  If they can't handle the flare very well we will try to make sure our shooters get to the inside of a partner so that they can receive the flare, and get to the corner, or we will tell our quicker kids to receive the flare, and try to inside cut it hard.  This usually ties down the hedger, and creates room for slips, or second cuts away from the rim.

We also have other calls such as: all flare, all down, etc, but we only use those in situational areas, or against zones, which I will get into later this week.  Hope this helps!!

SCREENING RULES:

1.       Screeners head for defenders shoulder nearest the offensive cutter.

2.       Screeners, always look to find a cutter, never stand!!!

3.       Make sure we have two cuts at the point of action!

4.       Make sure that we know who, or where the screens are coming from, as this will change based upon personnel

5.       This year we are going to designate either an area, or the type of screen to set.  Sometimes we will still have the screener cutter concept, but this is the next logical step in the progression of the offense

1.       INSIDE: Person inside will set screens, based upon who is closest to rim (see diagram labeled screening rules inside)

2.       OUTSIDE: Person outside based upon relation to the rim/midline will set the screen. (See diagram labeled screening rules outside).

3.       ALL FLARE: Mainly against zones but will be set from the bottom up the whole possession, looking for flare, out, or pop cuts.

4.       ALL BACK:  All screens will come from lower offensive person, moving away from the rim for the possession.

5.       ALL DOWN: All screens will come from upcourt towards the rim.

Instead of designating screeners/cutters as our only means of working the offense, we are going to shift so that we can utilize mismatches, or personnel moving by changing our screening rules.  This year we are going to make this more of a location screening, (ex. We want to get a big defender away from the rim, we are going to run a lot more ALL BACK for a few possessions, to get them away from the rim as much as possible, and hopefully get them into a chasing situation.).  Hopefully this will reduce some confusion on our end, make us more cognizant of where everyone is on the floor, and be more difficult to defend/scout.

Motion Offense #2

Today we are going to look at some of the basic rules of the offense, and see where we can apply them.  Like stated yesterday, motion, to me, is at its best when we use spacing, and timed/purposeful movement to create as many 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 opportunities on one side of the floor.  Here are some more of our rules from our motion packet.

You will see a couple of things mentioned below, and the biggest thing that we constantly teach is spacing.  The old Chuck Dailyism of "Spacing is offense, and offense is spacing." holds very true here.  We want to keep the floor wide, and allow for dribble penetration.  By doing this we create tougher help situations, and help the helper when the offense is initiated.

We will also focus on proper use of the dribble as much as possible.  3 major things to teach within our system is to dribble for 3 reasons, and 3 reasons only.  1. Get to the rim (game is still won or lost there) 2. Center the basketball (try to get it close to the lane line as possible, it allows the ball to "see the action" on both sides of the floor. and 3. To make a better passing angle.  Those are the only three that we will use, and will often stop and run, or use a flat basketball if we get too dribble happy early in the season.

Today we also add the first cutter/second cutter concept.  If you need more detailed information on this, we will discuss it in the next few days.  You can also look up Coach Don Meyer's "Building your motion offense from scratch" video.  

Basically we will have two cuts at the point of the screen.  The cutter, who is receiving the screen, will be the first cutter.  They can cut inside (towards the rim), or outside (away from the rim).  Wherever they go, the screener (second cutter) will vacate and move opposite.

ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENSE:

1. Cutting
2. Screening
3. Passing
4. Penetration
5. Spacing: “Spacing is offense, and offense is spacing.” Chuck Daily

MOTION RULES:

1.       Constant movement by the athletes, but does so in a controlled manner.

2.       Spacing of 15-18 feet maintained at all times.

3.       Never pass and stand, either cut or screen.

4.       Only dribble for 3 reasons: better passing angle, attack the rim, center ball.

5.       Ball must be centered as much as possible, let the ball see the action.

SPACING RULES:

1.       Make sure that we are about 15-18 feet apart so that we can get to the 2 on 2/ 3 on 3 opportunities that we would like.

2.       Second cutters (screeners) need to second cut hard to vacate the area where the contact of the screen happened.

3.       Make sure that we know where the screens are coming from (i.e. inside, outside, down, flare, etc) or who the screeners are at all times of the possession.

Week 1 Motion Offense #1

Starting this week we will look at motion offense, and how it can be applied to high school basketball specifically.  Currently there are many definitions of motion offense, and many revert back to a continuity with options.  For this segment, we are going to focus on a strictly rules based motion offense, that will be designed around screening, cutting, and spacing.  There are no pre-determined cuts, we are going to focus on just the reads and reactions of defense.

For Section 1 We are going to discuss what motion offense is, and how we can apply it *(Click on the link at the bottom for a sample packet of our motion offense rules)

WHAT IS MOTION OFFENSE?



Motion offense is a system based upon a series of screeners and cutters, working together to free each other up. We will focus heavily on spacing so that we can capitalize on offensive opportunities out of several alignments . There will be times that the offense takes a different shape, and will be hard to scout. This at times to the untrained eye, will look like a freelance offense, but nothing is farther from the truth. We will work on things such as: balance, spacing, timing, ball position, screening, and we must know where all 10 people are on the floor at all times.

This is a process that will be frustrating at times, but will teach the kids to be players, not robots, and outthink their opponents throughout the entire game. There will not be a pattern to what we will do, but it will be very structured.





WHY DO WE RUN MOTION OFFENSE?

We will run motion offense to utilize the ability that our athletes possess. We will also run it so that our players can understand how to play the game, not just run a pattern offense. We will have sets to compliment, but they will be few, and far between. I feel that by doing so, we can create an environment that teaches our kids how to outthink our opponent, and adapt to any change that they might throw at us. This will also make us a little more difficult to scout on the defensive end. Finally we feel that in late game situations we are able to run a lot of clock with our base offensive package that our kids feel very comfortable in.



WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO GET?

We are trying to get into as many 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 situations on a side of the floor. We feel that by running our offense with quality screens, and timing, we can tie down help on the back side with action, thus limiting help opportunities from the back side. What this allows is more room to run our offense on one side of the floor, and doing so by trying to isolate defenders, and placing them in difficult situations. If we can get a number breakdown, we feel that we can penetrate better, and free up room for our interior post players to operate, instead of having to do the above in traffic.


Motion Offense Packet

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This blog is designed to help pass information to coaches, players, and parents for the sport of basketball.  On this site, I will post helpful information on all things related to basketball that I have gathered, and hope to pass on.  I hope you enjoy the site!!