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A great thought exercise is to contemplate what is the best way to install your offense so that players will master what is most important first, and see the solutions next.
In my opinion, there is nothing that has a greater learning curve than your half-court offense. I can envision a coach watching his first five-game films of the season and cringing at the decision-making and execution. One of the things I've tried to hash out over the Summer months is how to reduce that learning curve with a more thoughtful approach to how I install our offensive principles. To me, the most logical place to start was with the things that happen on every single possession and then build to the more problematic moments of play.
I. Spacing -
The first place we have to start is with our half-court spacing. On every single possession, we want to challenge our players to achieve our ideal floor spacing. We should give our players landmarks to guide their spacing and clear expectations for where we need players to be. We will never be able to taek advantage of the opportunities we get on this end of the floor if we don't punish the defense with our spacing.
Four Out Spacing -
My preferred spacing template is Four-Out Spacing.
So my initial challenge is to give players the landmarks of the lane lines at the top of the key, and the NBA three-point line. We define those spaces as the "slots".
Our corner players are asked to get to the "Rim Depth" on every possession and then bounce back to the basketball. This now gives them the chance to receive a pass or make a back door cut to the rim.
Finally, we need to be clear about what we want from our 5 Man. Do we want him getting deep post position looking for an entry or do we want him spaced opposite the ball looking for the drop-pass. That is a systemic decision you can make on your own.
II. Flow from Transition -
Once we establish our spacing I think we start developing our Transtion Flow into that spacing. Every single we get the ball following a defensive possession we need to find our way into our Half-Court spacing. I want our guys to know exactly where they should be sprinting to once we gain possession of the basketball.
Some of the Transition Principles I am going to teach on day 1 are:
First 4/5 Man Sprint to the Rim
Ball Fills the Slot
Fill the Corners First!
Trailer fills the Slot Opposite the Ball.
The idea is that we are going to flow seamlessly from our transition game into our Half-Court Spacing. This is going to happen over and over again all night long.
III. Unscripted Offense -
Basketball is not Football. Although there are plenty of moments where you can control the action, the reality is that there is a lot of the game that is unscripted. We need to build those unscripted moments into our habits. I'm talking about things like "Drive & Kick Reactions", our "Post Entry" Reactions", or a simple "Pass & Cut" decision. When these moments happen in the games we want our players to utilize their spacing and create scoring opportunities.
Drive & Kick Reactions -
One way to do this is to simply make your shooting drills an extension of your drive & kick reactions.
I will often use a shooting concept generically called chair drill. We are anticipating a dribble drive, perimeter help from the defense, and a kickout pass to a perimeter player.
In this concept we are working of drives from the slot, wing, and corner - and the corresponding spacing moments movements from our teammates.
IV. Neutral Starts -
Now that we have established our spacing, transition flow, and drive & space reactions we can begin to teach how we will create advantages. When we use the term "neutral" we are referring a moment where the defense is matched up with us and there is no clear path to the basket. With our passing, cutting, screening, and spacing we must now create that path.
There are a million different ways to create offense, but one of my favorite ways to incorporate this into practice is to use 4/4/4 Cut Throat to work on those advantage-creating actions.
With Cut Throat we are asking the offense to execute our main Create Action any time the ball needs to be checked out. This way we can both work on scripted action, and unscripted action.
V. Counters -
Inevitably, the defense is going to take away the action that we are routinely trying to execute. When that happens we need to teach our players how to counter the defense. This does not have to be anything complicated but simply a solution that they can instinctively use when facing that moment.
My teaching preference is to give players "If/Then" rules to use. So if we are building our Dribble Drive Offense we might work on:
IF you see back - THEN cut back door.
IF they (the help) move to paint - THEN kick up.
VI. Unique Sets -
The final piece of the puzzle is to build in a few unique sets that allow you to add variety to your actions and potentially control the action on the floor. So if you are a dribble-drive team this is a moment for you to incorporate some screening into your offense. Or if you have a dynamic player it is a way for you to get him a shot.
Standards for Sets:
Something that can used vs Zone or Man
Something that uses our 4-Out Spacing
Something that is Simple to teach
Something that gets your best player a Shot