Here is an “Ask The Coach” entry:
Coach Stinson,
I would like to know more about the run and jump press and any variations with it. Also, any baseline inbound plays vs. an overloaded 2-3 zone - overloaded toward the ball side side.
Regarding an inbounds play against a zone that is overloaded to the ballside, stack is a good option. Stack is geared to distorting the three baseline defenders in zone, so as long as the two perimeter defenders in the zone don’t slide down to the baseline to defend the inbounds pass, it should work very effectively.
Here is a different inbounds play, also from a stack set, that might be effective in taking it didn’t of the defense overloading the ball-side.
I will add some material on the run and jump in tomorrow’s post.
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Recommeded Related material:
Pat Summitt’s Mastering Special Situations — Championship Productions, Inc.
Other Out OF Bounds Plays:
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As we near the season, the topic of player motivation has been coming up more and more in subscriber questions. including a very common theme of how to motivate well-off suburban kids who might lack the motivation that inner city kids have. I can sympathize with the feeling of having a perhaps over-privileged group of kids and feeling like they don’t have to work as hard for some things as other, less fortunate kids. To be honest, I dont think there are any easy answers or magic buttons to push.
Aside from the most obvious answers - be consistent, be yourself, and maintain your passion I think that I might be able to offer a perspective on the suburbs vs. inner city debate that other can’t based on where I’ve coached.
I spent a couple of years coaching at Mercer Island High School. That probably means nothing to most people, buy Mercer Island is an island just east of south Seattle. It is the wealthiest population of people in the United States, per capita. More than any other group of kids I’ve ever worked with, Mercer Island atheletes didn’t need basketball, and any motivation they have to play the game had n-o-t-h-i-n-g to do with “bettering their ciscumstances” or “getting an education”.
Here’s an unrelated point that should drive home what I’m getting at - I work for Child Protective Services when I am not writing about basketball. A standard child neglect case usually involves poverty, the use of some kind of drug like meth, and/or the parent having a history as a victim that makes them think it’s normal to abuse or neglect children. The kids are usually malnourished on some level - and they will never in a million years have enough stability in their lives to play on a basketball team.
On Mercer Island - a standard child neglect case usually has to do with the child bonding more closely with the maid than the parents due to the parents schedules, or from having an entire wing of a house to themselves. Social problems on Mercer Island stem from having too much money.
I left Mercer Island to coach at Evergreen High School in White Center, the most diverse (and one of the poorest) neighborhoods in the state. There are over 44 languages spoken in the neighborhood. Its definitely not suburban - and to state it plainly, it can be pretty damn ghetto. I never knew that you could steal the tabs off of somebody’s license plates, or that practicing with armed security guards was a possibility, until I coached at Evergreen. I also never thought I would coach a practice where I was the only person in the gym who spoke English as a primary language - or that I would ever see a mother slap her son because she is a blood and he claimed crip during a parking lot fight.
I’m being a little but melodramatic - but all of those things did happen - and they aren’t anywhere close to the most difficult situations I came across at the school. Coach Carter actually comes really close to capturing the high school experience I saw a lot of kids have at Evergreen. My point … the problems at Evergreen have nothing in common with prolems that ’suburban’ teams and coaches face.
Coming back to the original point of the post (motivating suburban kids) - my experience was that the Mercer Island kids were more committed to the game, more focused on getting better and much, much, much more consistent with the basketball program. Most of us have made statemtents at some point about our kids being soft - or about suburban kids being soft. It’s important to rememvber that toughness can be taught. Suburban schools have a hiuge advantage when they provide the social stability needed for kids to become part of a program and to grow from it.
There’s a pretty good chanmce that part of you is thinnking, “Ok…that social studies lesson didnt give me anything to take to the floor with my team. Here are a couple of core concepts for increasing aggressivemeess in practice.
Here are a couple of great practice resources for further review.
130 Great Practice Ideas from the Coaching Toolbox
Bobby Hurley’s Favorite Drills
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This is a topic that pops up from time to time in coaching conversations, forums, and the like. Many people tend to equate motion offenses with continuity offenses. There are some commonalities but also some very distinct differences in meaning between the two. This article will attempt tp provide some clarification on the topic.
I’ll start with a definition of continuity
A continuity offense is an offense that can be continuously run until the offense gets a shot or runs out of time. Almost All continuities feature ball reversals and are patterned in a way that allows to the offense to continue through several reversals without having to ‘stop’. In theory, you will rarely see a continuity offense team have ‘reset’ in the way that a team does at the end of a set play that doesn’t produce a shot. One of the benefits of continuity offenses is that they emphasize team play through ball movement. Many continuity offenses are also relatively simple, especially in comparison to a true motion offense. But the key distinction to keep in mind that differentiates continuities from motion is that continuities are almost always patterned offenses that feature the same repetitive cutting and screening sequences every time the ball is reversed. For an example of a very good continuity offense, take a look at a set I’ve run with some success in the past – we called it U-Conn.
This is a very simple continuity that can be run by youth teams and high school teams alike with positive results. It can be a great set for teams that want to focus on creating post-up opportunities from a 3 out, 2 in set. Every time the ball is at a wing, the weak side post player comes off of a screen to the top of the key. This makes it easier to pass the ball into the low post because the weak side post defender becomes occupied guarding his man, and is less likely to help out on a pass to the post. This set initially draws big help defenders out of the lane where they can’t help defend the offensive post move. It is also difficult for most defenses to switch the screen on the weak side block, because in most cases this would leave the defensive point guard to defend a post player coming to the ball in the paint …causing a big-time mismatch problem.
This is not a, however, a motion offense, in my opinion. Yes, the players are moving, but the pattern basically remains the same regardless of the defense. Offensive adjustment will tend to come from the sidelines or in the form of a set play on a particular possession.
This is where a motion offense differs greatly from a simple continuity. Motion offenses do the opposite – offensive players are expected to read the defense on every screen and react. That is very different than going to a prescribed spot and running a pattern, as we do in U-Conn.
Another perspective is that a motion offense can be considered a continuity offense. The offense is expected to continuously probe the defense until it gets a good shot – like other continuities, there is no ‘end’ or ‘break’ point.
A continuity offense cannot, however, necessarily be considered a motion offense.
Something that occurs very often is that a team will run its motion but it will get stagnant, stop making reads, and do nothing more than “pass and screen away” over and over and over. This is particularly true for teams that are in the early stages of learning motion and haven’t figured out how or where to attack the defense. When that happens, a motion offense will start to look and act like a continuity offense (usually an ineffective one.)
Good motion offenses will feature all kinds of different cuts and screens, each executed based on defensive reads that may not be the same on any two consecutive trips down the floor.
A well run motion offense can take a long time to develop, but once it gets there. it can be a thing of beauty to behold. Many times, good high school motion offenses started out as simple continuities like UConn and developed over time.
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Another disruptive run and jump tactic
Posted On: October 17, 2008
The scramble version of the shell drill serves a different purpose than other variations. In other variations, the defense is evenly matched (5on5) and is set, while scramble puts the defense at a numbers disadvantage. This helps teach players the most important defensive priorities - covering up the basketball and preventing the layup.
Procedure: [...]
Once you’ve gotten to the point where you are able to integrate rebounding into your shell drill is a good chance that your team is developing a good overall understanding of defensive concepts. Adding rebounding signifies that you developed a grasp on individual concepts within a man-to-man defense-on the line, up the line, ball-you-man, [...]
The next step with the shell drill is defending pass and screen away action. Initially, it is much simpler and clearer to teach this skill-set using just 3 offensive players and 3 defenders. The principle teaching concept at play in this scenario is that we want to open up, get into [...]
The 6 on 4 shell is really just an extention of the 4 on 4 baseline penetration version of the shell with tewo added advantages: 1. It utilizes more players (keeping players active and involved), and 2. It places specific emphasis on a concept that can be difficult to grasp for some players [...]
