Continuity Offense or Set Play? |

Finally!! Mandatory Moves Is Available!

Press play -> for Ed Schilling's webinar, presented by HoopClinics

Coach Stinson thanks for the press. I tried to run it last year but struggled with the rotations some. This will be a great help. Two questions to ask you. Very difficult to narrow it down, but I will try. I was looking for an effective but simple way in which to signal and change things on the court. You know something that would not interrupt the natural flow of the game. The second question would be to help me decide on whether to use a continuity offense or a bunch of plays. I would like to hear arguments on both.

Q: Help me decide on whether to use a continuity offense or a bunch of plays. I would like to hear arguments on both.

A: Both have their place, but if I had to choose, I would run a continuity. this might be particularly true in your case, since the second part of your coaching question indicates that you would like the action on the court to be as seamless as possible. Continuities are designed to be seamless; when run consistently well, a continuity is always probing the defense, looking to take advantage of the first good opportunity.

Set plays usually have the opposite result - the offense usually has to set itself up in order to get into the play, which often requires a break in the action where the offense stops attacking , even if momentarily. The negative of this is that you are allowing the defense to get itself set at the same time - if you are a believer in pressure offense and in trying to ‘put the opponent on his heels’, so to speak, running set plays every time down the floor will work against this purpose.

I prefer to run continuities as my primary offense because, more than anything, continuities emphasize team play, ball movement, and player movement, Many younger teams that run only set plays find themselves without a plan of attack when they run a play that doesn’t produce a shot. Too often players respond by trying to break down the defense by themselves with a 1 on 1 move. Penetration moves are not a bad thing - well-run continuities open up driving lanes all of the time. But penetration moves that are made just because the player with the ball didn’t know what else to do with it - rarely do anything but hurt your team - the two biggest exceptions to this rule being:

1. Penetration moves that are made at the end of a quarter, half, or game, and,

2. Penetrating to break down a pressure defense that is stifling your passing or scoring options.

Set plays are important for those times when you need a shot, and/or you need a shot from a specific player. Example: As a general rule, I don’t believe in running plays to get 3 point shots because almost any offense can get you a 3 point look at almost any time. But if we need a 3 to get back in a game or in a time and score siutuation at the end of a game, I want to get the ball in the hands of the right player - the one who is most likely to make that shot.

Generally, Coaches that run only set plays or who almost always run set plays do so for similar reasons - doing do gives the coach a greater degree of control over the outcome of each possession. Plays also allow the coach to identify and exploiut specific weak spots in the opponents’ defensive armor.

Lastly, coaches who prefer to play a slower tempo can use play-calling to force players into the deliberate act of setting up every time down the floor before looking for a basket. This can slow down the tempo of a game significantly.

Coaches sometimes go too far with this and try to turn every game into a personal chess match - this is counterproductive if the coach doesn’t place equeal emphasis on developing recognition and game-speed decision-making in players - eventually he will find himself against Kings and Queens, while never letting his players develop into anything more than pawns.

To recap:

Advantages of Coaching Continuity Offenses:

1. Continuity Offenses are constantly ion the attack, looking to exploit a defensive breakdown,

2. Continuity Offenses encourage unselfish play and ball movement

3. Continuity Offenses don’t have an “end-point”- As a result, players should always have a clear idea of the [plan of attack and should rarely have to resort to one-on-one play if her teammates are doing their jobs.

4. Continuities encourage player development by emphasizing good decision-making

Advantages of Running Set Plays:

1. Plays allow you to target specific defensive weaknesses on each possession

2. Plays Give the Coach Greater Control over shot selection

There you go…NOW, where do you stand?

Did you find this post useful? If you did, spread the word. Click a Bookmarking Icon below.