When I’m coaching basketball, I find it challenging to teach players the kind of speed that great offensive basketball requires. When it comes to basketball; players understand getting the ball to the open man, they understand the fact that the coach wants them in a certain position on the court, they may understand that they have a “role” in the offense, and they may understand the plays.
What is challenging for players, except for those that are truly gifted, is to understand how to take all of the above to the next level. Many players will go down to their “position,” try to get open, do something with the ball when they get it, and then go back to the other side of the court to defend.
The drill that follows is initially done with five offensive players, the ball, and cones representing the defense. In this drill, the cones are set up in a 2-3 zone defense, though other defenses could be used. In the beginning, this drill is performed slowly to teach the athletes how to read a defense, how to recognize when the defense provides opportunities, and how to quickly take advantage of those opportunities.
First, the cones representing the defense are set up. As I mentioned above, in this example it’s a 2-3 zone defense. Then the offense moves the ball down the court and assumes the position they would use to attack this defense. In this position the point guard is at the top of the 3-point line, the #2 and #3 players fan out to the wings, the #4 player is at the low post, and the #5 player is at the high post.
As the offense moves down the court and initially the point guard has the ball. As the point guard moves to the three-point line, he/she will pass the ball to either the #2 or the #3 player. In the example below, the ball is passed to the #2 player.
When that happens, the coach stops the action and freezes all the offensive players in place. The coach then moves the cones to simulate the defense reacting to the play. In this example, two of the defenders move to box the #2 player. As that happens, the rest of the defense shifts to the strong side.
This presents some opportunities that the offense can take advantage of. In this example, the #1 player moves towards the free-throw line. The #5 player moves to the top of the paint and the #3 player moves to the low post. All three of those players are now in good positions and the has several targets (including the #4 player still at the low post).
The point behind the drill is to slowly learn to read the defense and react to opportunities that the defense provides. The coach can set the cones up in different defenses, speed up the action, and eventually do this against a live defense.
