There are many adjustments that we can make within our offense to attack different defensive coverages. Below are just a few examples. We will continue to add to this each year to further develop our offensive package.

Over the years, more and more teams have utilized a switching approach to guarding on ball and off ball screens. It's important that we teach our players how to attack switching defenses beginning on day one of practice and not wait until the week of a game we're prepping for. While we have a few sets that work well against switching teams, below we focus on actions within our Motion Offense that work well against teams that switch.

Open:

• Open is a variation of our Motion Offense.

• Open is best used in the following situations:

  • We are playing against a team that switches all screens.

  • We are looking to enter into a soft delay game.

  • Our regular Motion is getting stagnant and we need to create more consistent movement.

• Below are the the rules for Open:

  • No screens should be set, unless you're filling to an occupied corner after a cut to the rim and you need to back screen your way out to maintain floor balance.

  • Every time you pass the ball, you make a basket cut or thru cut. The only exception is to hold in the corner from a corner to wing pass.

  • Maintain proper spacing by filling the designated Motion spots.

  • The best scoring opportunities will be drives, kicks, basket cuts, back door cuts, and ball reversals for open looks.

  • Role defined players (i.e. cut and seal, ball screeners, etc.) may still complete their designated actions if directed to do so.

  • Circle movement rules are still followed on all drives. 

  • Note: You can also run Open in a 41 alignment with a permanent dunker.

Ghost Screen:

Ghost screens should be used against teams that switch screens or have a really good screen coverage that we want to blow up. They create confusion since the defense thinks a screen is happening, but it's not actually set. Ghost screens can occur in two types of situations:

1. Any type of off ball screens.

2. Ball screens.

There are several teaching points that are important to setting effective Ghost screens. They include:

• The screener needs to sprint towards his intended target. They should communicate the screen both verbally and physically like they would in any other screening situation. 

• When the screener gets close to their teammate's defender, they should reach out and make slight contact with the defender. For example, as they approach they should reach out and touch the defender's shoulder or back. This will make the defender believe an actual screen is being set.

• The screener should not set the actual screen, as a Ghost screen is a fake screen. Right before they set the screen, they should open up and sprint past the screen. They can do so by slipping to the rim or sprinting into a cut similar to a fade or a pop.

• The intended target can act as if they are receiving the screen by making a straight cut or driving like they are using a ball screen, or they can hold in place.

Below are some examples of Ghost Screens being set:

Twirl Screens:

• A Twirl screen is a screen where the cutter who received an initial screen turns their cut into a second, immediate screen. 

• Twirl screens are used for several reasons:

  • 1. To confuse the defense.

    2. To attack switching defenses.

    3. To mask actions, making them harder to guard.

• Below are a few examples of Twirl screens.

Twist Screens:

• A Twist screen is when players interchange before setting their screen.

• There are a few reasons to set a twist screen:

  • 1. To confuse switching teams.

    2. To get shooters or scorers into the spot within the screen where they receive the screen and are a cutter.

    3. To mask screen actions that we are trying to set..

• Players simply interchange before engaging in the screen action. The more the interchange looks like a screen (think Ghost screen) the more effective it'll be.

• Below are some examples of twist screens.

Boomerang:

• A boomerang pass is simply passing the ball back to a player who has a mismatch on them due to an opponent switching a screen.

• This allows us to attack a mismatch either on the perimeter or in the post. 

• Below is just one example of a boomerang pass.

You can also set a down screen and get into a tight cut. If the pop make is being denied or his defender switches high, he can back cut after the tight cut.

Oftentimes, teams will tag our best scorer. There are many options to help us attack this. Some of them include:

• Engaging in Ricky screens.

• Putting the player being tagged in a position to set screens.

• Setting more screens for that tagged player within the flow of the offense.

• Encouraging the player being tagged to look to back cut when they are being denied on the perimeter.

• Place the player being tagged in different spots on the floor such as starting them in the corner, in the dunker spot, or having them bring up the ball.

• Using that tagged player in post up situations.

• Using twist or twirl screens to get them open.

Below are just a few examples of some of the aforementioned adjustments:

There are several actions within our ball screen package that attack teams that high hedge or switch PNRs. They are detailed below:

Teams that play an effective pack line man-to-man defense are often hard to score against. There are several concepts and actions we can take to attack these types of defenses.

Concepts:

• Put them in scramble situations to get them out of position and create long closeouts. We need to create dominoes and can't afford to have the defense stay in neutral.

• Look to drive long closeouts.

• Be patient and don't play into their hands by forcing drives and shots that aren't open.

• Push the ball in transition or semi-transition to avoid letting their defense get set.

• Attack any defensive mismatches to engage help and create advantages.

Actions:

• Utilize flare screens against their pack line when they are over helping.

• Auto weak side flares screens on Pistol Action, DHOs, and other types of drives to exploit them over helping on drives.

• Use two outs on drives to make their closeouts longer.

• Use Ricky screens to get them working harder when defending our screens, thus opening up advantages.

• Use thru cuts like One Thru, Two Thru, and Wave Action to begin offensive possessions.

A great way to create a variety of scoring opportunities without changing much of our offensive attack is putting players in different starting positions in a given possession. Below are only a few examples of ways we can do this.

• Starting players in the dunker spots to open up driving lanes or gain an advantage in the post.

• Starting a ball handler in the corner spot to get them into Chicago or Zoom action within our Delay Series.

• Starting shooters in the corners to spread the defense out or to get them coming off Strong action.

• Putting a player who is being tagged in a screening spot (or even in the Delay spot) to exploit their lack of helping off that player in order to maintain the tag.

• You can use twist screens to get players in different positions on starts. For example, if you want #1 coming off Zoom action you can set a twist screen for him after the ball is entered to #5.