Coaches,
Practice has begun. No seniors, No juniors. Team consists of Sophomores, Freshmen, and 8th graders. Best player is a 5'7 freshmen guard that played some PG last year and can shoot and drive, second best player is a 5'6 sophomore wing that can shoot the 3. I need advice on an offense or offensive system that would best suit us. One player 5'10 and we gradually go smaller from there. Rest of team is developing.

Thanks.

We always run motion no matter our size, skill, or personnel. Sometimes we leave our motion the same from year to year -- and other times we adjust rules, emphasis, and/or player roles to adapt to our personnel.

I personally like that type of system because you can build and grow each year. My advice would be to pick an offense that is flexible and good for player development -- so you build it up over the years starting in middle school or maybe earlier.

If you want to try the motion let us know and we can point you to resources.

Coach,

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I would like to try the motion you spoke of.

Thanks.

We have our own wrinkles but this is really close to the base motion we run:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/kelbick-motion-dvds.html

If you need help or have questions, let us know.

I coach High School Girls that lack fundamentals and skill. I have been running the Read and React Offense, but my kids are really good at Pass and Cut and Dribble At...but struggle to score. It has been a good offense to run to teach spacing, etc., but I am struggling with what type of offense to run. My kids don’t make good decisions with the ball and often have many turnovers per game. Can you recommend the Blocker Mover, Tim’s complete offensive system, or something else?

Thanks,
Brad Simmons

I don't think the offense is the problem. Like you said, players lack fundamentals and make bad decisions. You need players to get better. So what is the best way to accomplish that? I think R & R is very good offense... the only knock I have is the time necessary to teach/memorize the options can take from time that you could be spent on skill development instead. And not 3v0 drills running through the actions. Those are not good skill development drills to lean on because you just don't get many reps and/or reps that translate into games and/or any defense where game like decisions need to be made. Maybe some coaches have figured out how to do that but I'm not that smart.

My motion literally takes 5 minutes to teach. Then it's all about developing the players. It sounds like your players need to learn point guard skills... ballhandling, decision making, creating space, passing, etc. You can make progress during season with smart skill development program and small side games to further develop the skills and decision making. But you can only do so much. Part of this development needs to happen in off season club basketball starting early on... in elementary or middle school years. So they come into high school with fundamental skills, PG skills, and decision making.

If you have other questions, let me know.

Jeff, would you recommend motion or blocker mover for my situation? I bought the blocker mover offense, but if you think your motion is better...where can I get information on it?

Thanks
Brad

I don't think any offense is better... it's not "what" you do, it's "how" you do it. So I think you go with what you believe in and feel you'll do a great job teaching.

The closest thing to what I run is this:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/kelbick-motion-dvds.html

I teach in 5 minutes by showing my main rules:

- keep spacing (explain that briefly but spacing and angles is something you emphasize and teach forever)
- when ever you pass the ball, you need to cut or screen
- when you are 1 pass away from the ball and not completely wide open, get open IMMEDIATELY by cutting or screening
- (I added this later but it's my 4th main rule)... we need a weakside rebounder on every shot

Literally takes me 5 minutes. I taught this to a new team I'm coaching this spring... 8th grade girls. Granted they had some base experience with spacing, cutting, and screening. But most kids this age do. They picked it up immediately.

For less experienced players, you might have to start by teaching them some basic cuts and screens. You might have to teach them how to drive and kick. And even experienced teams you might need to slow down and teach certain driving concepts. But this spring I didn't have to do any of that. Players just do what they know and what they are good at. They just "play". Certain players tend to ball screen more. Others tend to screen away more. Others tend to basket cut most of the time. I don't care much. It all works out and I give them a lot of freedom to play.

I think the biggest thing about putting in a motion offense is the coach giving up some of that control and letting the kids play with freedom to discover different ways they can make plays happen. It will look ugly at times and sometimes coaches can't stomach that because it gives the perception that they don't know what they are doing and the team is just unorganized and undisciplined.

I've gone the motion route for the last 5 years or so and it has paid great dividends. We teach concepts and principles now and just let the kids play. Sometimes we do this from 5 out and sometimes we have a post player. We teach cutting, spacing screening (on ball, off ball, downscreen, flare, back screen, etc) dribble handoffs, post splits, etc and just let the kids play. It's fun to watch them string 2-3-sometimes 4 actions together consecutively and all the sudden they have a WIDE open look. Plus your defense is having to defend multiple actions in practice so it makes your D stronger.

This takes time and patience and does not just happen in one practice session. It's something that has to be continually practiced, preached and reinforced.