Hello,
Coaching my daughter's 4th grade traveling team. First non in house experience for all these girls. I read Jeff's post about what he did with his girls at 4th grade and have a question about teaching the Bob Huggins 5 out. I have the DK motion offense dvd as well as the TS DVD. These girls are starting from a clean slate...so I have a blank canvas. My question is : Do you think it is reasonable to just teach them layer 1 of the Huggins cut through the nail 5 out or will that be too much for them? My other option would be to just teach standard 5 out but I really like the options cutting through the nail will give me when these girls get a little older. Really not concerned about winning games this year, I just want to build a solid foundation for these ladies in the coming years.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated!
Coach D

Hey Coach - Refresh my memory on the Huggins cut to the nail concept. It's been quite a few years. Do players always cut to the nail, then if defender is below you... pop out. If defender is even back cut? Remind me how that works.

I remember watching that years ago and thought it was interesting but never used the nail concept. I teach players to fill to the ball (3 pt line area), then read the defense.....
- if over player back door cut or screen away
- if defender is even of behind you, face cut for layup
- if wide open, shoot
- if defender is in no mans land, pop out
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/play.asp?id=437

With 4th graders, my biggest priority is spacing and then if covered... basket cut. Later on as they get older we teach them to read the defense.

Hi Coach Jeff,
Big fan of the site, thanks for the response. All wing to top fills run though the nail then they have the option to back cut or pop. I ran a traditional 5 out with my son at this age and was just never quite happy enough with the movement we generated…particularly on the weakside. We also had a tough time getting it initiated. I was a rookie coach then so it might have been more the way I taught than what I taught. I like that running through the nail forces them to make a very straight forward read every time and forces them to move in straight lines not curves. Also, for the long haul it seems like it's a better way to get kids to read defense rather than "go back door if your defender crosses the 3 point line".
I’m a huge proponent of the “teach them to play not teach them plays” mantra but if you’re not careful a motion offense can easily become very robotic and almost equivalent to one long play. IMO that’s the difference between a good coach and a coach. How you teach. With my son I was a coach. With my daughter I’d like to be a good coach. I share your philosophy on winning at this age…really don’t care about the wins I’m focused on developing basketball players.

Ok, that's what I thought. Yes, I think you should use what you believe in. As long as you teach fundamentals and universal concepts they can apply later when they get older... it all works. 100 different ways to skin a cat. Good luck and let us know if need anything else.