Thoughts on Offense -P2

Let's continue to discuss our list of 10 "Thoughts on Offense" - now for numbers six through ten.

In the last post we discussed Offensive Thoughts numbers one through five, which included thoughts about Spacing, Your Best Players, Disguising Actions, etc. If you want to check out part one before jumping into part two click the link below.

• Thoughts on Offense P1 - https://bit.ly/3fLaEWY

Let's get after the second half.

6. Work on Your Flow Offense

To me a "Flow Possession" is one in which you attempted to push the basketball but no shot emerges. From there, can you players now seamlessly enter their half court offense without allowing the defense to rest?

This is something that will occur a dozen times or more throughout the course off the game.

If a faster "pace of play" is not something your team values that perhaps this is a point that can be ignored. However, for those teams that value pace of play - being able to flow right into their half court offensive actions is a must.

Against the best teams in your league you are not going to be getting lay ups in transition - but there are still opportunities in early offense than can be had - we train our teams how to hunt for them.

7. Teach Reactions Over Patterns

This is simply my own personal preference, but I do think in the heat of the moment players who are taught reactions over patterns will make better choices.

In any Screener / Cutter action I would like the Cutter thinking that his cut in one that will elicit a score. In turn this will allow the Screener to counter his action with a "Scoring Cut" as well.

In my opinion this puts the maximum amount of pressure on the defense. Where predetermined cuts and movement can afford the defense an opportunity to prepare ahead of time.

In addition, basketball is a game in which the coach only has so much control. They can not stop the action and huddle between every possession. Players inevitably need to know how to counter defensive pressure (or lack of pressure) and act appropriately. Offenses that can do this will be more likely to reach their ceiling than not.

8. Don't Neglect to Teach Off Ball Spacing

Naturally our teaching (and attention) is drawn to the basketball and where it goes.

However, some of the most effective teaching can be found in what players are doing without the basketball. This tweet was just a simple reminder to coaches that little edges can be found off the basketball as well.

• Cutting Speed after a Pass

• Spacing all the way to the Three

• Drive & Space Movements

• Backside Exchanges (Help)

These are all elements that may be hindering your offense's efficiency - and are not as obvious as shooting, finishing, turnovers, etc.

9. Don't Overthink Special Situations

My thinking with this tweet was that we should be mindful about how we have trained players to react to certain scenarios all season long.

Whether our players realize it or not we have created habits of movement, or reactions to certain scenarios all season long.

When crunch time comes in those last few moments of the game we shouldn't expect our players to smoothly go against those habits or reactions.

Put players in comfortable scenarios or actions that they know and rely on their technique or skill level to make the winning play rather than a unique "one in a season" play that you drew up in a timeout.

10. Mesh Your Base Offense into Your Sets

I think that the best offensive sets are built off of your base rules or principles.

Perhaps your offense calls for you to make a Basket Cut after any perimeter pass. Adding a set play that embeds that same cut into will only not only build off the habits of your players but will add an element of disguise to it.

Asking your player to make a Pass & Down Screen instead of the basket cut can potentially give the play away - and in my experience tend to be the kind of plays that end in frustration from the coaches.

• Let's avoid the, "why can't they remember anything?" moment.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope there were thoughts in this thread that made you think about how you approached the game - or perhaps even reinforced some of your own beliefs.

If you haven't subscribed to the blog yet you can go right to the Coaches Corner homepage; www.leicesterbasketball.com/coachescorner in order to get alerts when new posts are made. Please give us a thumbs up at the bottom of the article if you enjoyed the post and want to see more like it in the future.

Coach Lynch Contact Info:

Email - mflynch21@yahoo.com

Twitter - @LeicBasketball