My players are 6'5 or smaller and very quick/athlete and all can shoot and dribble, what kind of offense do i run to get them all a shot within the 35 second shot clock.

Hi Vince,

That's a good question.

It really depends on your players strengths and weaknesses. And believe it or not, it depends on YOUR strengths, weaknesses, philosophy, and coaching style.

- Are you very knowledgeable on executing half court offense, reading screens, cuts, and so on?
- Do you prefer to run and gun?
- Are you good at teaching post moves to perimeter players?
- Do you prefer motion offenses or a patterned offense that are more controlled?

Many times it helps to focus on your strengths and not try to fake it.

For example, let's just imagine that you're very knowledge and believe in fast paced offenses that run, gun, cut, penetrate and kick. You know how to teach this style, you've run it before, and you believe in it.

Now if you try to implement a completely different style, it will be a challenge for you to learn the new style, and your players might see through you. They can tell when you believe in something or not.

So that's just one reason why you need to take your own strengths and weaknesses into account.

You also need to consider your players:

- Are your players good at posting up?
- Are they fast? Strong? Good ballhandlers? Good at penetrating and passing?
- Are your players good outside shooters?
- What are their backgrounds? What have they been taught? Reading screens, fast breaks, etc?

With that said there are MANY offenses that work well with a bunch of guards or perimeter players. However, I've seen many 6'5 and under players dominate in the post. Height is NOT the most important factor. Strength and footwork can help smaller players dominate bigger players in the post.

There are too many offenses to list here but here just a couple that work with guards.

- Swing (posts up ALL your players, even your point guard)
- Flex
- Cutters (5 perimeter players that utilize back doors cutting, penetration, and quickness. virtually no screening)
- 5 Out Motion
- 1-4 Series

I suggest that you do some searching on Google for basketball offenses. You can also check out this site that has lots of good offenses and some tips on choosing an offense:
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/BasketballOffenses.html

We'll also post an article about choosing an offense and diagram more good offenses on our own website, but we haven't gotten to that yet. :)
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offenses.html

Hope this helps!

Jeff Haefner

Thanks good advice, yes i do love to fast break and play a pressing d traps and run and jump

hi can u all help me?? this coming weeks i have a 3 day camp coming up!! the weakness of the team is that they see opponets to play. eg if the opponents is not so good they are slack if the opponents is strong they play very good as to win them and they did hw can i change their attiude?? and how do i use 3days to increase their stamina?? can help me as their tourament is coming up soon

Hi Boon,

One way to fix your players' problem with not playing hard versus the weaker teams is to always stress "intensity." Have them practice with fierce "intensity" and don't accept anything less. If they don't use that intensity during practice, they don't play. If they buy into it, that intensity should transfer to the court against the weaker opponents.

In response to increasing their stamina in 3 days, there is not much you can do. To increase stamina, take time to schedule practice so all of the drills require hard work and continue at a fast pace to condition the players. If all else fails, condition them at the end of practice by running.

thks.. i will try on to it..:)

So I should only count baskets that result from assists? Interesting. That sort of presumes that looking for the pretty pass - the one that leads to the basket - isnt almost as big a problem as shooting too much. Both represent ballhogging. Setting conditions to your scrimmages isnt groundbreaking news, but if you're going to do it, do it in a way that encourages team play, not an advanced form of selfishness.

I don't think it presumes for a player to make the pretty pass or an advanced form of selfishness. That's only if you encourage that sort of thing as a coach.

Passing represents team play if encouraged the right way. Simply explain the concept to your players and tell them to "move the ball" or "make the easy pass." They'll get it.

dear coach i have a very tall u14 team next year i want all of them to get involved in dribbling and shootiing but some have no confidence how can i space the floor and work a fast break

I need help. My basketball team is very good, but i feel they are not playing their best until the next day. So we will lose all of our games that day but then the next we win them all. How do i get them to play their best all the time? Please answer soon.

Marina - How old are your players?

They are in 6th grade ages between 11 and 12

It's been a few years but I can vividly remember coaching a club team of about that same age. I was a very young and inexperience coach at the time. I remember how frustrating it would be for them to play incredible one day and then it was like they were sleeping the next day or even the next game. I know that morning games were horrible for us and it seemed like the players were still sleeping, while the opponents kicked our butts.

I have heard many other youth coaches say the same thing and I think it comes with the territory. They are still young and they don't think or act like adults. They are still developing mentally, emotionally, and physically.

At the time, I was overly concerned about winning. Now I don't think the ups and down would bother me as much.

So my first suggestion to you, is to not be overly concerned about winning with a youth team like this. The most important things are to teach fundamental skills, develop the players for the future, teach life lessons, set a good example, and have fun. Sure you want to win, but the things I just mentioned are more important.

All you can do is keep trying to improve them in practice. Keep teaching, motivation, and developing skills. You can also check out some of the motivation suggestions in this report:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/mental/motivate-players.html

Hope this helps.

Hey there,
I am about to enter into a coaching job of a middle school team, ages 12-15. This team is fast. I am a firm believer in the run and gun offense, as in getting the ball straight up the court as soon as the ball goes in the basket, and having a shot off very soon after. I really want to get the ball up and down the court fast with my players because of their great speed. I also want to run the trap defense. Can you please give me some speed, agility, fast pasted drills to run with this club? (fastbreak, full-court pressure, etc.)Thank you!
Steven Jones

Steven - Here are some fast break drills:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html#transitiondrills

I also suggest Danny Miles clinics and DVDs. He is one of the best at scoring off fast break.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/value-point-system.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/danny-miles-clinic.html

I have a bunch of other speed agility and skill development drills for fast break. But none are on the website yet. It will take a while but we have video footage of all of them and they'll be put on DVD. As long as your on our email newsletter you'll get notified when the DVD comes out.