The Breakthrough Basketball Newsletter for Coaches -- Issue #11: February 12, 2008

even on a full court man press wont a good coach usually place a saftey deep to take away a long pass?

Hi Coach,

It depends. Most coaches will choose to have a safety deep, but some coaches bring all their players up and apply intense pressure to everybody. There are also end-of-game situations where a coach might bring everybody up, because they need a quick turnover or foul. If they do this, this would be a play to try to get a quick bucket. It could also be a good decoy.

I have a girl that has very slow feet? What can I suggest to her to develop some foot speed? It hurts her on defense.

very nice

hi
i am coach of a high school basketball team and I was wondering for advice on how a should get our teams 2 star players to involve the other players on the team who are not as good while still winning matches relatively easily.
thanks

Thanks for you information iam having a match tommorrow againt the American International school lagos nigeria. my problem is that i have a team who are so fast but lack shooting skills, in my last game i had a lot of turn-over my pointguard cant shoot well.what can i do?.
thanks for your quick responce

OUR TEAM WAS IN A TOURNAMENT AND WE HAVE THIS PLAY WHERE WE MISS A SHOT BALL GOES OUT OF BOUNDS BUT WE RETAIN POSSESSION. NOW THE PLAYER BRINGING IN THE BALL PASSES TO A DIFFERENT PLAYER WHO IS SPRINTING TO OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BASELINE CATCHES THE BALL BEHIND THE BASELINE PASSES TO THE ORIGINAL PLAYER BRINGING IN THE BALL WHO HAS NOW MOVED UNDER THE BASKET AND MADE TO LAY-UP. DEFENSE TEAM WAS STUNNED BUT THE REF STATED THAT WE CAN ONLY DO THAT WHEN WE ARE ON OUR SIDE OF THE COURT. I MAY BE WRONG BUT IS NOT THIS A LEAGAL PLAY? THANKS

you can only do that off of a made basket and ys it would need to occur on your end of the court

Thanks for the clarification, Jacob.

Hi Sharon,

Here are a few other drills that would work solely on agility and quickness:

Diamond Drill – explained at this link: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/Diamond%20Drill.html

Foot Fires – Get in an athletic stance. You could also do a defensive stance. Repeatedly pound their feet on the floor as quickly as possible.

Lane Slides – Get in a defensive position and slide back and forth as quickly as possible from lane line to lane line.

Box Drill – Find a square on the court.
- You should start out in a sprint.
- Come to the corner line and stop as quickly as possible.
- Get in a defensive slide and start sliding to the left.
- Come to the corner line and start to shuffle backwards.
- Come to the corner lane and slide to the right as quickly as possible.

You stop where you started. The pattern should have formed a square.

Line Jumps – Jump back and forth over a line as quickly as possible. This can be done front to back, side to side, diagonally, and sorts of different combinations. Be CREATIVE! You do this with two feet or one foot if you really want a challenge.

If you want to work on other basketball related footwork, we have many great drills you could utilize in our basketball fundamentals page: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/basketballfundamentals.html

Great stuff here!! My 8th grade team just went 14-0 and won our district game 49-29!!!

Is their a set offense that can be used in junior high level for zone defense and man to man defense. I am looking for to offense sets for each than gradually work in plays with them.

8th Grade Basketball Coach

Hi James,

You should praise TEAMWORK. Applaud assists rather than who scores. Applaud great passes. This will help get you on the right foot.

Hi Martin,

Here's a basic set for man: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/plays/youth-offense-2.html

Here's a basic set for zone: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/plays/yo-yo.html

If you would like to read more on offensive theory & other sets, go to this link:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/Offense/offensiveTheory.html

IT'S NICE TRICK

I'm looking for a 4 out 1 in motion offense to implement for a youth team. Do you have anything similar to the Walberg or Memphis style offense?

Nice article!