Digital Playbook: Motion Drive Reads

When a drive is made, you must read the ball handler’s shoulders and the direction in which they are driving.

If your teammate drives the basketball towards the basket with his shoulders towards the rim, you need to react accordingly to maintain proper spacing and to provide better passing angles.

If the ball handler’s shoulders are pointing to the rim, players get into circle movement.

Players move toward the direction that the ball is being driven.

As they move, players will pitch and crackback in the direction of the drive.

There are three exceptions to this rule:

1. The corner man positioned on the side the ball is being driven to holds.

2. A player makes a 45 cut.

3. A baseline drive occurs, which would lead to a baseline drive/baseline drift as detailed below.

While circle movement rules apply easily to a 41 alignment, shifting to a 50 alignment with a flank changes some rules (as noted below). The rules are as follows:

1. If a drive is made to the open side (side without the flank), standard circle movement rules apply.

2. If a drive is made to the loaded side (side with the flank), one player on the loaded side needs to 45 cut to balance the floor and enter into a flank reverse.

After a driver passes the ball, they should continue to cut in the direction of the momentum of their drive and empty out to a corner. This is called an exit cut.

There is a slight deviation from circle movement if the ball is driven baseline.

The man opposite of the driver must “drift” to the corner to provide a baseline passing angle for the man with the ball.

This is called baseline drive/baseline drift.

Ball handlers can complete a dribble handoff (DHO) with their teammates.

A DHO is usually initiated when a driver drives towards a teammate or makes a power dribble towards a teammate.

When a DHO occurs, the rest of the players on the floor engage in circle movement.

A player who passes the ball on the perimeter can follow that pass with a ball screen if they are role defined to do so.

Players who are role defined can also set random running ball screens for the ball handler as well. These can come from any spot on the floor.

Circle movement applies to the players off the ball as the ball handler in the pick and roll is driving.

Note: Please see Role Definitions for more information.

If the ball handler turns his shoulders towards his teammate, this signals at dribble at. 

On the first dribble, the player who is being dribbled at should cut backdoor. 

The ball handler should pass off the bounce to the cutter.

You can get a cut and seal action out of a dribble at as well. If the cutter doesn’t receive the initial pass from the ball handler, he can cut and seal in the post.

Note: This is not an action we are going to emphasize in Motion this year, however, it is something we can eventually get to. We would rather get in DHO action instead.