Every coach says they want to play fast. And for good reason. Playing fast is:

• Fun for players
• Effective 
• Entertaining

However, most coaches only pay lip service to playing fast and getting out in transition. Why? Because it’s hard to do well. In fact, I’d argue it takes more coaching ability to train a team to play well at breakneck speed than it does to call a play and set your offense every possession.

If you want to unleash your team, put constant pressure on your opponent, and light up the scoreboard, you’ve come to the right place. See below for transition offense & fast break resources that will allow you to make “playing fast” a reality.

• Complete Transition Offense Coaching Systems

• Specific Fast Breaks

• Youth Basketball Transition Offense

• 25 Transition Offense & Fast Break Basketball Drills

• 7 Reasons Why You Should Fast Break

• Choosing Your Transition Offense Philosophy

• Different Types Of Fast Breaks

  • 2 Sided Break

  • Numbered Break

  • Motion or Free Flow

• When Should You NOT Fast Break

• Transition Offense Coaching Resources

Complete Transition Offense Coaching Systems

Get Comfortable Playing At An Uncomfortable Pace With Rob Brost

• Stop Sabotaging Your Team & Practice LESS Half Court Offense - are you spending too much time practicing in the half court? Probably! Read on to find out

• Race Car Drill - The Race Car drill forces players to play fast. This trains them to make decisions at breakneck speed. While it will be ugly early, your players will quickly learn to play fast AND smart.

• How To Quickly Turn The Tide After Your Opponent Scores - score backs is a great concept from Coach Brost. Immediately come back at your opponent and look to score in seconds after a made basket.

• Unlock Fast Break Scoring with This Easy Transition Tweak - do you always have a set inbounder or do you have the closest player take the ball out? See what Coach Brost does as part of his system.

• Why Half-Court Offenses Are Overrated - no matter what, your team will be better in transition than they are in the half court. It’s just easier to score when the defense isn’t set. Check out some numbers that back this up!

• The "dead ball" offensive trick - this article talks about an important principle of transition offense - a point guard who relentlessly pushes the ball and seeks the paint if an advance pass isn’t available!

• HUPPPY - How To Honor John Wooden's Command In Transition Offense - Playing fast is effective as long as you are under control. Check out the HUPPPY concept to make sure you can play fast and on balance.

• This Improves Effort, Offensive Rebounding, Transition Offense, & Transition Defense - charting effort is a game changer. If you want players to run hard all the time, chart it. See how Coach Brost charts “winning your race.”

Transition Offense & The 4 Second Fast Break With Don Kelbick

• 5v3 + 2 Drill - a great drill that simulates a momentary 5 on 3 advantage, with 2 other players trailing.

• Transition Offense Made Simple: A 3-Step Coaching Guide - do you players know your objective in transition? Is your transition offense simple? Do you use progressive teaching methods? Make sure all 3 are yesses! 

• The #1 goal of a Great Transition Offense - do your players know the goal of transition? Contrary to current NBA trends, it should be a layup!

• Competitive One on One Fast Break Drills - 1v1 Attack - being effective requires players to be able to attack and finish in 1v1 situations. Use this drill to train that skill!

The Complete Offensive System With Tim Schuring

• How to Teach Transition Offense with 5 Easy Drills - A series of 5v0 drills to implement the transition portion of Coach Schuring’s offense.

• Transition Offense Drill - 2 Trips - this is another version of the drills above that uses 2 trips to focus on different transition options.

• A Critical Point Guard Mistake In The Fast Break - watch as Coach Schuring gives a vital tip that point guards should follow in transition to make their reads easier.

FREE BONUS PDF
10 Easy Transition Offense Drills

Early Attack Offense With Ryan Schultz

• 10 Keys For Early Attack Offense - Transition Offense After Misses - attacking off misses can be more challenging than attacking off makes. Implement these 10 keys to give some order to your missed shot transition offense.

• Turn Every Opponent's Miss Into a Fast Break: Missed Shot Transition Tips - 6 other key principles for transitioning off misses.

• How To Use The Transition Drag Screen To Expose Any Defense - the Early Attack features 10 different actions, including the drag screen. This article breaks down how to teach and utilize the drag screen within your offense. 

Specific Fast Breaks

• Free Throw Break - free throws are a great time to attack an unsuspecting defense. This multiple option attack is an easy way to steal a couple extra buckets each game!

• Carolina Secondary Break - sometimes you won’t score on the primary break. It’s critical to be able to flow seamlessly into your next scoring action. The Carolina break is a system that’s proven successful for decades! 

• 7 Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns Transition - the Steve Nash led Suns were one of the best in transition. This article teaches you the basics of their system.

• Loyola Marymount Fast Break - Paul Westhead was a true visionary when it comes to transition basketball. His 1990 team averaged over 122 ppg (with a :45 shot clock!). Learn about his revolutionary system here!

Youth Basketball Transition Offense

If you’re coaching a youth team - grades 3-6 - check out these articles for age-appropriate and effective fast break concepts!

• Our Transition Offense - Super Effective & Super Simple

• How to Teach Transition Offense To Your Youth Team at the Beginning of the Season

• In 4 Seconds - Develop Faster Players In Transition Offense & Defense

25 Transition Offense & Fast Break Basketball Drills

1. 1v1 Attack With Narrow Cones - This is a great fast break drill that works on breaking down a defender with a dribble move before attacking the basket in transition.

2. Competitive 1v1 Attack - This fast break drill improves your ability to finish at the basket in a break situation.

3. 3 easy transition drills to get game-like shots - These drills work on the types of shots you can generate out of your transition offense. Players learn the looks and shot you want to create when pushing the ball in transition.

4. 5 on 3 + 2 Fast Break and Transition Offense Drill - This transition drill improves your team's ability to score out of the break or transition seamlessly into your offense.

5. 1v1 Attack With Narrow Cones - This is another great fast break drill that works on breaking down a defender with dribble moves before attacking the basket in transition.

6. 4 Spot Fastbreak Shooting Drill - This drill is great to work on shooting off the fast break. You can do it by yourself or with a partner. We also show you how to work ball handling into this drill, so you can manage your time better.

7. Full Court Chair Series - Good warm up that works on ball handling full court, change of directions, and either layups or jumpshots off the dribble.

8. Go, Go, Go! - This drill teaches several fundamental skills, but does so in a fun, competitive way. The drill is designed to improve each player's defensive posture and technique, reward effort, aggressiveness and quickness, and create offensive and defensive transition situations.

9. 1 on 2 Pressure Ball Handling Drill - This drill forces the ball handler to beat two defenders. It improves ball handling and the ability to escape and beat the double-team.

10. LOCO-Motion - This drill encourages players to look up the floor and pass, rather than dribbling. You develop skills for rebounding, pivoting, jump stops, bounce and chest passes, lay-ups, power and speed dribble.

11. Danny Miles' Pride Drill - The Pride Drill is great for perfecting a team's transition defense. In addition to providing a key conditioning component, this drill also allows teams to improve their fast break and rebounding skills, and is great for boosting team morale.

12. Navy Transition - This drill begins with you slamming the ball down and both teams pursuing the ball. After one team gains possession, they attack in transition. You can play 2 or 4 trips. This transition basketball drill comes from How To Run Championship Practices With Nate Steege. Watch the drill below.

13. 3 on 2, 2 on 1 Transition Drill with Steve Nash - This drill is designed to teach players how to take advantage on the fast break, creating easy baskets for themselves and their other teammates. I've used this at the youth and high school level. Everybody enjoyed it, especially the youth teams.

14. 3-on-2 Full Court Drill - This fast break drill teaches your players to break the press and get out of traps, capitalize on fast break opportunities, play within a 3-on-3 set, trap the ball on defense, and defend against disadvantages (3-on-2, 2-on-1).

15. Pass and Replace - "Pass and Replace" is a terrific multi-purpose basketball drill that will help players improve their passing, pivoting, finishing and is a great conditioner as well.

16. Transition & Conditioning Drill - This is a great transition drill that conditions your players and works on mental toughness. It also works on passing, dribbling, rebounding and shooting layups.

17. 5 on 4 to 4 on 4 - This is a great transition drill that works on a game-like situation where there is a transition from 5 on 4 to 4 on 4.

18. Three Man LSU - This drill works on converting a layup in transition, and quickly transitioning to deny defense by face guarding the offensive player. It can also be used to practice getting open against pressure.

19. Full Court Press Breaker Drill - This full court drill is great for breaking pressure while working on skills such as ball handling, passing, and cutting. This drill overloads the court with defenders and makes the offensive players work twice as hard to break the pressure.

20. Full Court Press Passing - This drill simulates the first part of your press breaker in the full court. It helps players make crisp passes, read the defense, and not panic.

21. Progression Drill - This drill starts 2v1 & works it’s way up to 5v5. Watch the drill below. This fast break basketball drill comes from The Screening Game Offense With Bob Martin.

22. USC's Five-Man Fast Break Drill - This drill serves multiple purposes -- conditioning, teaches fast break spots, and offensive spacing.

23. 2v1 Fast Break Drill - This drills works on converting 2v1 situations. It helps players learn when to score and when to pass in these advantage situations.

24. 5 on 3 + 2 - Fast Break Drill - This drill gives the offense a momentary advantage. They should look to score before the defense can get set by applying your transition offense principles. The defense looks to get back to neutral.

25. Race Car Drill - The Race Car drill forces players to play fast. This trains them to make decisions at breakneck speed. While it will be ugly early, your players will quickly learn to play fast AND smart.

7 Reasons Why You Should Fast Break

1. To get easy scoring opportunities - Many teams have great half-court defenses when they are set. Whether it's an advantage fast break 2v1, 3v2, etc or 5v5 transition offense situation, the fast break allows you to attack the defense before it can get set which can lead to many easy baskets for your team. If an easy basket does not present itself, they transition directly into your offense to keep the defense on their heels.

2. Control tempo & force bad decisions for your opposition - Some teams are not used to playing a fast tempo. Due to your opponents' lack of repetitions running the fast break, this can lead to more bad decisions for your opposition which would be advantageous for you.

3. Wear teams down - If you practice the fast break every day during practice, chances are that your players will be in pretty good condition. Your opponents may not spend as much time running the break, so when you pick up the temp, this will wear on your opponents. It may not happen right away, it may not happen until the last 4 minutes of the game. Paul Westhead's teams were known for wearing teams down, then going on enormous runs in the second half.
   If you have 9 or 10 players, this can also be a great way to wear the teams down. It is also a great way to develop your underclassmen.

4. Beating zones and pressure - Many coaches will say that your best offense against a good zone or defensive pressure is your fast break and transition offense. As mentioned before, you want to get the ball up the court for easy scoring opportunities before the defense can get set.

5. Aggressive mentality - When taught properly, the fast break can lead to an aggressive offensive mentality. If you watch the best players in the world, they usually have that "attack" mindset. Quite often, the difference between average players and good players is their mindset. If you can get all of your players with the same mindset, it could lead to a much better team. This doesn't mean that everybody on your team is jacking up 3's or the first open jump shot, your players should just do what they do well with assertiveness.

6. Offensive rebounds - Many rebounders are not good at running the floor. When your big man is conditioned, it will lead to many more opportunities. Danny Miles will sub his post players more frequently than his post players because post players have to cover more ground on each possession. This helps keep his post players fresh. Danny typically subs his post players every 4 minutes.

7. Players enjoy it - Players are more likely to buy in and want to participate if you provide a style of play that is enjoyable to play.

Choosing Your Transition Offense Philosophy

Running a transition offense, at least a good one, is a lot more than just running up and down the floor as fast as you can. For a break to be truly effective in a transition system, the break must fit seamlessly with whichever half court offense you have chosen to run.

The purpose for a transition system is to take advantage of your opponent's breakdowns while they are changing from offense to defense or from defense to offense. It is designed to take control of and lengthen the transition period. Openings will exist as your opponent is making the transition giving your team a great opportunity to take advantage of openings. It would be counterproductive to your goals and objectives if you had to hold the ball out to reset your offense and give the defense a chance to organize and defend.

When running a transition game, I think the single most important things to establish are your break objectives. What do you want to get out of your break? Coaches do it with the offense. Coaches do it with the defense. How many coaches address it with their break?

Are you going to be a coach who looks for 3-pointers off of the fast break? Are you going to say lay ups or short jumpers only?

Do you want to create a frantic pace even at the risk of giving up easy baskets like Paul Westhead used to do with his Loyola Marymount teams?

Do you want to slow things down if you do not get a lay up and force the opposition to play defense for extended periods?

Are you going to run a numbered break or a free flowing fast break?

These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself.

Different Types Of Fast Breaks

2 Sided Fast Break

One of the neat facts about Coach Brent Tipton's 2-Sided Transition Offense product is that it's effective at ALL levels.

It's easy enough to teach and implement that middle school and high school teams could run it effectively...

And as you'll see right now, it's also used to dominate at the highest levels of the NBA.

I want to give you a visual of one action off the 2-Sided Transition Offense...

And this visual comes directly from James Harden and the Houston Rockets (when he was still on the team).

I'll walk you through it step-by-step so you can see why it's so effective...

As well as how the concepts could apply to your team.

As you can see in the diagram below, Harden's first order of business once he gets the pass off the rebound is to move towards the sideline:

At the same time, you can see that three other players hug the sideline (one player on Harden's side and two players on the opposite side) as they sprint down the court.

This is so that they can create maximum spacing to spread out the scrambling defense.

The next key part of this transition offense is for Harden to pass the ball to the opposite side of the floor in the first 2-3 seconds of the possession:

Ideally, the ball should cross half-court in the air. This allows you to move the ball down the court faster.

And by getting the ball to the opposite side of the floor early in the possession, it forces the defense to readjust their positioning based on the new court positioning of the ball.

They're already flat-footed on the retreat and they have to quickly change their focus from Harden to the opposite wing.

That's what creates the match up advantages you can already see starting to develop.

And now you can see the full 2-on-1 advantage once Harden swings the ball:

By sprinting ahead and hugging the sideline, the two opposite wing players force a mismatch, all while the Clippers big man is still getting back in the play.

Remember, because centers are usually near the rim on their offensive end, they must run a full 74 to 94 feet to get back on defense while your wings can get there much quicker (especially if they sprint in transition).

And finally, the last step of this action from the 2-Sided Transition is to find your shooter in the corner for a wide open jump shot.

Now this "Early and Opposite" action is just one of the scoring options you'll often see in the 2-Sided Transition. If the corner 3-point shot is taken away, there are options to:

• Drive at the OBD (off-balance defender)

• Boomerang the ball back to the wing (make an immediate return pass)

• Go into DHO action with the wing (dribble hand-off)

By drilling Early & Opposite with players, they can begin to make proper reads quickly and easily, often taking a small advantage situation and turning it into a big advantage shot!

Additionally, 2-Sided Transition also has concepts that help teams create and keep advantages off:

• Early & Up (when the ball goes down the same sideline)

• Dribble Push (when the ball crosses half-court with the dribble)

• Non-Advantage Triggers (triggers actions to create an advantage when there was not a number advantage in transition)

The variety that this conceptual approach provides is one of the best features of this fast-paced offense.

The Numbered Break

In a numbered break you assign numbers to each player.

1 is the point guard and can bring the ball up the left side of the floor or the right side (not the middle, we want the point picking a side). You can allow the point guard to choose a side or if you prefer, you can specify that point always goes up a certain side (ex: right side).

2 sprints to the spot in the right corner.

3 sprints to the spot in the left corner.

4 inbounds the ball and trails filling the wing opposite the ball (in this example it's the left wing).

5 sprints to the strong side block.

The numbered break is easy to teach because players always go to the same spot.

Motion or Free-Flow Break

The best and the simplest break I have ever experienced did not have multiple cuts or transition options. I have learned that it gets you up the court quickly and fits with any transition offense. It is simple and you can teach it in a minute. I recommend that everyone try it, at least for a little while.

The break is simple: If you are ahead of the ball, run wide; if you are behind the ball, run down the middle. Everything else pretty much takes care of itself.

You can figure out the trailers, you can figure out where the wings go. You can even have players run in the same lane. As long as they finish in spots where your offense can continue, there is no harm. In fact, if you have 2 players run in the same lane, as long as they are properly spaced, the first cutter will strip the defense for the second cutter and you might find opportunities where none were present before.

Are There Times When You Should Slow It Down?

Against talented, athletic teams, you may choose to slow down your offense, but I don't believe that you want to completely dismiss fast breaks because they could lead to some very easy baskets. In this situation, you may enforce a "lay up" only rule. If you get an advantage, take a lay up.

If no advantages are presented out of the fast break, you could set a rule that you only take lay ups until a specified time or number of passes. Some examples are:

• No jump shots until 30 seconds have passed.

• No jump shots until 10 passes have been made.

• No jump shots until the ball has been reversed 5 times.

• No jump shots until the ball has touched the post twice. 

Transition Offense Coaching Resources

• Early Attack Offense With Ryan Schultz - playing fast AND organized can be challenging. Coach Schultz covers how to get your team to play at a rapid pace with poise. He goes over a number of actions your team can flow into at the end of the break to immediately put pressure on the defense. If you like secondary breaks, this is a great product for you.

• Transition Offense And The Four Second Fast Break - Coach Kelbick covers the basics of transition. He spends a lot of time on spacing as well as decision-making in transition. This video provides a general framework for transition. The drills support that and will help your players become proficient at taking advantage of early offense opportunities.

• Get Comfortable Playing At An Uncomfortable Pace With Rob Brost - a lot of coaches and players say they want to play fast. Many less actually do. Why? Because it’s hard. Coach Brost covers basic principles of transition as well as the mentality needed to be a fast breaking team. He then goes over the drills & actions he’s used to make his team one of the highest scoring programs in Illinois.

FREE BONUS PDF
10 Easy Transition Offense Drills

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

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Brady says: 12/11/2015 at 1:12:29 AM We always ran our fast break by having our pg catch the outlet at the wing and look to push straight up that sideline to the 2 in the corner, like you mentioned. But if that wasnt there, our 1 was taught to "cross main street" as soon as they crossed halfcourt meaning he was to cut diagonal to the other wing and look for the 3 there or a backdoor cut to the rim if the defender overplays. 4/5 still inbound or run to the block but the inbounder just follows the point guard up the floor and when pg crosses main street the 5 stays in that lane. Like   2 people liked this.   login   register Joe Fisher says: 11/28/2012 at 7:30:31 AM I don't understand. Why do you want the point to pick a side when doing the numbered break? Wouldn't you want the point to bring it up the middle so he has more options to pass the ball to a teammate? Thanks. Like     login   register Jeff Haefner says: 11/28/2012 at 8:19:10 AM Joe - The biggest reason for the point guard to pick a side is for spacing. You also have to think about where players end up at the end of their break. In the transition offense explained above, players end up in a 4-out 1-in formation. If the point guard sprinted down the floor in the middle he would be 8-10 foot away from the left wing player. This results in poor spacing in the secondary break / transition offense. The transition above is based on sprinting the floor, and if the is no immediate advantage, going directly into your half court offense without any hesitation. This puts a lot of pressure on the defense to get back and get set. So where guys end up on their break is pretty important so you can immediately go into your half court offense without resetting. It's a little hard to explain in text but hopefully that makes sense. Like   1 reply   login   register Joe says: 3/13/2024 at 5:04:46 PM TKS Jeff Another issue is my point guard out runs his team on the break. So I have PTg out front with the other team right behind him then his players are out of the play?? Like     login   register Tom Kalfas says: 1/23/2013 at 1:06:09 PM Naturally, off the rebound on defense, the bigs are going to look to outlet the pass to the ball-side wing. So, the ball is going to start wide. Ideally, you would like to have either an up-line pass to your ball-side guard in the corner or a cross-court pass to your weak-side guard, all happening with less than a couple of dribbles (depending on age). If a wing defender manages to slow the ball on either the outlet pass or in the point's hands, the other big can be a quick alternative around mid-court to get the ball to 2 or 3, but spacing needs to be right (middle or opposite lane line). Zig-zagging the ball down court is most effective as defenders (especially at younger ages) tend to follow the ball, leaving the shifting "weak-side" player unguarded. As for the point guard, if a defender(s) prevent the long/quick pass, the point can attack with the speed dribble headed toward middle of court (top of key) to create 2 passing/scoring options for the wings as is typically taught with the 3-man fast break. Like     login   register BasketballHQ.com says: 7/18/2013 at 4:14:27 PM One of the hardest things for a defense to guard is an offense that is able to sprint the floor, maintain spacing, and then quickly get into their transition or semi transition offense. Great article and keep up the good work with the site. Like     login   register Lito Libbrodo says: 7/26/2013 at 8:51:52 PM If you have an average player in terms of height, what best example of drills to let these players maintain their athleticism inside the court? What offense and defense can they will do during training? Like     login   register dominick says: 2/8/2014 at 8:33:03 PM nice!!! Like     login   register Tayo says: 6/2/2014 at 7:23:09 PM My aau teams plays up and they seem to have problems with teams that apply full court man pressure. They get rushed into making mistakes. Do you know of any pressbreaking plays that they could run against aggressive man defense. Like     login   register Ken Sartini says: 6/3/2014 at 10:20:09 AM Take a look at this page - http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/press-breaker.html Like     login   register Ken Sartini says: 6/3/2014 at 10:23:53 AM That was for zone pressure... against m2m, we just got the ball to our best ball handler and cleared out for him. Something I added to things I saw other teams do.... take the ball to one side of the floor, use a hesitation/crossover dribble and now you have the rest of the floor to bring the ball up. IF he starts chasing you from behind,...... cut in front of him and he will spend a lot of time avoiding you. Like     login   register Show More Allen Morrissette says: 2/11/2015 at 11:57:38 AM In a free flow fast break, who inbounds after a made basket, designated player or player closest to the net?? Like   2 replies   login   register Jeff says: 2/11/2015 at 2:19:33 PM I think it's a matter of the coaches preference. Both methods work well. Either way, it's a matter of practicing the details to make sure players get it in quickly and get open quickly. Like     login   register Brady says: 12/11/2015 at 1:03:22 AM 4 or 5 always inbound on any team I played on. They should be under the hoop boxing out anyway. The one who doesnt, runs to the block. The inbounder is the trailer Like     login   register Lou G says: 1/19/2025 at 8:27:56 PM Loyola Maramount... should be Marymount with a "y" Like     login   register

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