In my 20 years of coaching, I’ve seen and ran a lot of different offenses.

While every offense looks good on paper, there is 1 major separator come game time.

What type of shots does your offense create?

You can run an offense that uses beautiful screening action but results in primarily 3 point shots. Some of you might be okay with that.

While I like open 3’s, I love open layups.

The best offenses are the ones that create layups. No matter what level of basketball you coach, open layups are the highest percentage shots.

Look at your offense. Are you regularly threatening the rim within your system? If not, you might want to reassess.

2 Ways The Screening Game Creates “Gimme’s”

Bob Martin is the coach at Pickens HS in Georgia, one of the top programs in the state.

When you watch his team play, you see how well versed they are in The Screening Game Offense With Bob Martin.

Check out theses clips of his team from earlier this year:

Screening actions set up all 3 baskets. However, in none of the clips did the scorer catch the ball coming off a screen and shoot. Rather, they used these 2 tactics:

• The screener slipping to the basket.

In clips 1 & 3, the screener slipped the screen and got a wide open layup. This is especially effective against teams that show or switch on screens.

The defense’s attention is focused on the player using the screen. That gives the screener the chance to slip to the rim uncontested.

It’s not just the screener that created the basket. The passer was also looking at both players involved in the screening action. Too many players only look at the player receiving the screen and don’t see the player slipping.

The Screening Game trains players to view every screen as a scoring opportunity for both players.

• Cutting from the player coming off the screen.

As we said, the defense is usually worried about the player coming off the screen. Often, they will try to prevent them from catching the ball.

In the second clip, you see Pickens use that against the defense. As the defender moves into a denial position, the offensive player immediately back cuts, receiving a pass for an open layup.

In this example, the screener does a great job of spacing out after the screen, leaving space for the back cut and pulling the help defender out of the play.

If you’re looking for other ways to teach passing and screening, check out this video:

The Other Thread That Links These Clips - Elite Passing

Coach Martin prides his team on passing. They are one of the leaders in the state in assists. It’s a huge emphasis throughout his offense.

Assisted baskets are almost always great shots. Great shots are the goal of every offense. 

And while there may be some gray area in how coaches define great shots, we’d all agree that open layups fall into that category.

If you want to get more of them, check out The Screening Game Offense With Bob Martin.

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Terry Boling says: 1/21/2025 at 2:56:36 PM Hello, Can this offense be used against a zone defense? Like     login   register

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