Basketball Play Design and Evaluation

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Basketball Play Evaluation and Design

How to evaluate and design a basketball play

Possible Basketball Play Goals: 1. Evaluate a play 2. Cause a mismatch 3. Cause a defensive switch 4. Draw a foul 5. Inbound the ball 6. Force a zone defense into a man to man 7. Run out clock with skill 8. Run out clock with passing 9. Break a press 10. Get a three point shot

Evaluation: A basketball play may be evaluated simply by answering the question, “Is the basketball play likely to, or did it, achieve its goal?” If the answer is yes, then the basketball play receives a favorable evaluation. Of course, the question assumes you have a specific goal for the basketball play. As there are a number of possible goals for basketball plays listed below, you must identify your goal for the basketball play before designing or selecting one to achieve that goal. The goal is usually determined by a desire to achieve a practical end.

Mismatch: To create a favorable skill or size mismatch for individual basketball players. Such a basketball play usually isolates the selected basketball player or basketball players and his or her opponent by moving other basketball players to empty out an area of the basketball court so that the selected player may have room to use the mismatch to advantage against a single opponent.

Switch: To cause two basketball defenders to switch defensive assignments, thereby creating a favorable skill or size mismatch to be used via a basketball play as described above.

Draw foul: To draw a foul from a basketball defender. A basketball play is often run to draw a foul to put a particular opponent into foul trouble, to put the offensive team into a bonus free throw situation, or to stop the clock and also get two free throws. There are two main types of basketball play designed to draw fouls. One type simply isolates an offensive basketball player against the defender whose foul is sought. See the paragraph about isolation for skill or size mismatch elsewhere in this article. Another type attempts to get a player, not guarded by the player upon which a foul is desired, open and driving to the basket so that the player upon which a foul is desired is forced to help out by moving to impede the driving basketball player. The objective of the basketball play is to have the helping player moving from a disadvantageous position commit a foul while recovering to help his or her teammate.

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Inbound: To get the basketball safely passed into play from out of bounds via a skill mismatch. Such a basketball play usually isolates the intended recipient in an open area of the court and relies on her or his physical skill to create an open target to which the basketball may be passed.

To get the basketball safely passed into play from out of bounds via picks and motion. This uses some players as picks to be used by other moving players. The other moving players move so as to drive their defenders into the players used as picks thereby hopefully leaving the moving players open or with a step advantage over their recovering defender so as to be open to receive a pass. Often the players serving as picks move to a favorable position relative to the player who will then cut off of the pick to receive the pass. There are rules requiring the player setting the pick to be stationary prior to the pick being used and sometimes to be a specified distance or angle to the defender to be picked.

Force zone to man to man: To change a team zone defense into a man to man defense. A basketball play accomplishes this objective by moving players and the basketball into particular locations. For example: By moving the basketball to a player in a baseline corner of the court. Positioning a player parallel with the free throw line and on the perimeter near the three-point line on the same side of the court as the basketball. Positioning a player in the low post on the same side of the court as the basketball. Positioning a player at the corner of the free throw line and the foul lane on the same side of the court as the basketball. Positioning a player in the low post on the side of the court away from the basketball. The success of this depends upon the players being understood by the defenders to be capable of making shots from their locations. Once the players are in this arrangement and the basketball is in the baseline corner, the defenders have been shifted from their zone into individual defensive responsibilities. Some teams defend against this basketball play by double teaming the player with the basketball in the baseline corner. As long as the player with the basketball has practiced, and is skilled at, passing out of the double team, the offense may find itself at a four against three numerical advantage when the basketball is passed out of the double team.

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Run clock with skill: To run out the clock with a skilled and quick ball handler. This involves placing the ball in the hands of the team’s best ball handler and moving everybody else away to provide space for the ball handler to dribble into open court spaces. This basketball play has the advantage of avoiding potential turnovers during passes. This has the disadvantage of requiring a ball handler of considerable ability who is quicker than his or her defender and possibly quick enough to elude more than one defender. Common defensive moves to this basketball play involve double teaming the ball handler. A disadvantage could exist if your best ball handler is not a skilled free throw shooter because the defense may foul to stop the clock or take their chances that your player wont make both free throws.

Run clock with passing: To run out the clock by passing the ball around. This involves running out the clock by passing the ball among offensive players. At this stage in the game defenders will be tightly guarding the offensive players, the defenders will attempt to be between the ball and the intended recipients. To address this defensive strategy the basketball play usually relies on several picks being set by players away from the basketball so other players may run their defenders into the picks in order to get open for a pass. Disadvantages of this approach include requiring several players able to move, pass and catch and shoot free throws well.

Break a press: To break a full or half court pressure zone defense. A basketball play designed to break a zone press usually involves attempting the cause two defenders to move toward a ball handler and having the ball handler pass to an open teammate just prior to the two defenders getting close enough to the ball handler to trap the ball handler. If this is successfully accomplished, the offensive team may find itself at a four against three numerical advantage while moving into scoring range.

Get a three point shot: To get a three point shot attempt. A basketball play designed to get a three point shot attempt usually involves one of three methods. One approach involves: (1) moving the ball to a player on the side of the court away from the intended shooter. (2) waiting for the defensive player responsible for defending the intended shooter to sag toward the ball side of the court. (3) quickly passing the ball back to the intended shooter, possibly through intermediary passers. It is also common to move an offensive teammate into a position between the sagging defender and the intended shooter so that the recovering sagging defender is delayed by having to move around a pick while attempting to return to the intended shooter. The goal is for the speed of the ball movement, and possibly the pick to delay the defender’s recovery, to enable the shooter to receive the ball in time for a good look at the basket and comfortable shot release prior to the defender’s recovery. An advantage of this approach is that the shooter may be relatively stationary when receiving the ball for the shot. A separate type of play has the advantage of avoiding relying on a sagging defender by using the shooter’s motion to rub his or her defender off of a pick. It is common the intended shooter to run a pattern, possibly involving rubbing his or her opponent off of one or more picks, while moving to the desired shooting position prior to receiving the ball. A disadvantage of this type of basketball play is that the shooter must be skilled enough with her or his footwork and shooting mechanics to be able to catch the ball while on the move and immediately launch a successful shot.

Our Basketball Offenses page has several basketball plays with diagrams.

Another good article on basketball plays is the coach like a pro web site.

A list of basketball plays is the animated basketball plays web site.

Here are a number of basketball offenses.

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