As I'm getting ready for this coming season, I started thinking of the details of our open post motion I want to run this year. I will have a 7th grade girls team that is still rather raw but has tons of potential. I had them last year as 6th graders so they have a foundation of pass and cut already.

Just thinking about the initial action of the PG passing to a wing and cutting through. I want our players to take advantage of that double gap more this year. So I was wondering if anybody teaches the weakside wing to wait to fill the point until they see what the player with the ball is going to do from the wing.

So PG passes to the wing and cuts through. What I'd like to emphasize this season is that wing taking advantage of the double gap created by the cutting PG (think draft drive if you're read and react minded). But things can get clogged if you're trying to drive middle and the opposite wing is filling to the point. I'm thinking if they hesitate, then fill once the wing has committed to the drive then it can turn into some good drive and kick action if the drive is cut off. And if they kick it back to the point spot, that player should have a good angle for a strong downhill attack of their own.

Thoughts? Considerations?

I see where you're going with this concept. You already know this but a lot will depend on your player's court sense. Adding that extra element can be a bit tricky for 6th/7th graders. I don't see any harm in going with it, but it seems like you'd have to add that "hesitation" to the off-ball wing every time unless I'm missing something?

Yes, that hesitation would be part of the "rule" or principle of what we'd be doing. So the first layer of our open post offense would be:
- pass and cut
- pass catcher looks at cutter, then looks for a drive
- we "slow fill" the open spot

I think as the season goes on, the slow filling might eventually lead to back cut opportunities against better teams that jump to the ball and will look to jump the pass to the filling player.

Once we're solid with this layer I plan to move onto pass and screen away. The pass catcher will have the same general concept.....look to hit someone on the screen action or look to drive it.

I'm a big fan of drive and kick offense and I love the gaps that a 4out offense creates but I'm not sure I want to use anyone in the post with this group.

My other thought is to go to a more attack and react (Andrew Grantz) style but I don't see us really having anyone that can beat someone straight up off the dribble at this point.

I get what you're saying about it being tricky for this age group.

Yep, if that's part of the rules running the offense, I like it. Curious to hear how this morphs as the season goes along.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep you posted.

With the team I have this year I want to get really good at the really basic stuff. We don't have a ton of experience so we're going to have to be really solid fundamentally to compete against the better teams.

It's an exciting challenge after going 31-1 the past two years with a different group.

That's an impressive record, but always good to take on new challenges. Just remember us, little guys, when you're rich and famous.

Ha. Yeah, no. That was a special group that I coached from 4th grade through 8th grade. Some of them since 2nd grade.

I just watched 4 of them play in their first varsity scrimmage as freshmen last night. A 5th was out sick. Pretty fun stuff and I'm lucky to have been able to be a part of their growth.

I'm excited for this season because of the challenges it presents and the grind it will be, knowing I've got to be at the top of my coaching game.

I'm going from working with players on a euro step, inside hand finish to working with players on just making a stride stop layup and using proper pivots!

Lots of ways to go about this. Here's what we emphasize (works amazing with our 8th grade girls but took awhile):

- Spacing (duh)
- Share the ball (pass to open players)
- Take good shots
- Have an idea what you'll do before you catch (shoot, drive, or pass in less than .5 seconds after you catch) -- quick decisions!
- If you're one pass from the ball, get open (pop, cut, or screen)
- When you pass out of the corner, cut and continue for back screen (this opens driving lanes)
- After you pass, screen or cut
- You can temporary post anytime (be smart and of course keep space)

Beyond that we just teach fundamental concepts... spacing, how to screen away, how to ball screen, how to face cut, how to read the defender, etc. And of course dribbling skills, triple threat skills, shooting, etc.

We practice a fair amount of catch and rips (Jay Wright) because the best scoring opportunities usually come away from the pass.

The quick decisions really helped us this year. The ball and players move so fast the defense cant' keep up and continually gets distorted... they are always chasing and trying to catch up.

BTW. I toyed with the double gap concept last year. Maybe it will work better for others. But I found it just complicated things. I just tell players to see space... if you have the lane take it. The more rules and concepts I added, the more things slowed down. Quick decisions is what worked for me. Getting them thinking about double gaps was too much to think about for our kids. But if you focus on it and simplify other things, it might work for you.

Another thing that really helped us tremendously.... teaching players how to move on the dribble drive. This simple drill worked wonders for us:

- Play 3v3 or 4v4. Coach has ball. Players are spaced on the perimeter. Pass to an offensive player. The person guarding that player has to get two feet outside of 3pt line before they can defend. This turns into constant advantage situations and amazing teaching opportunities and IQ development.

First the player driving needs to make a decision... score at the basket or kick to an open teammate.

Next, you teach players off the ball how to get open. I just teach:
1) Open windows (go where you can open a passing windows.... often times on baseline drive you want a player drifting to corner. etc.)
2) Go where you'll force the defense to make as long of a close out as possible (while staying in shooting range)

This works amazing. Emphasize those two things. Players develop all the skills passing skills extremely well and they figure out how to get open. Just think how difficult this is to guard! You have to guard a player driving to the basket and worry about 4 players moving to open spots. Very hard to do both.

In 5v5 setting, I usually allow one player to cut to basket area ... especially if their defender loses vision (the other 3 need to space and force long close outs). But that is just something to consider for them. I keep it very simple and just emphasize those two things. Combine that with quick decisions on every catch. Tough to guard.