The Fundamentals of Designing a Successful Basketball Offense

Every basketball team should have an organized basketball-offense attack, and a "system" of play with solid back court players. In this way, every player will know what is expected of him. He'll know where to go. Moreover, a system play will often overcome individual weaknesses of one or more players.

Over the years, basketball coaches have devised many kinds of basketball offenses. In general, they fall into two groups; those designed to defend against the man-for-man defense and those put together to crack the zone.

These basketball offenses have many characteristics. Some are slow and deliberate, involving a series of "set" plays. Others are of the slam-bang variety, sometimes referred to as "race horse" basketball.

Regardless of how the basketball offense is paced, it must be "sound" to be successful. By that we mean that the offense must have certain features; it must give its players short, medium and long shots. It must give the team good rebound strength off the offensive board. It must be able to switch to defense quickly in the event the ball is lost.

Most of all, the basketball offense must include passing "options." If player A wants to make a pass to player B to start a screen play and suddenly finds B covered, he should have the option of starting a play with another teammate. And without stopping the attack.

What Kind of Offense?

Ideally, any basketball coach would like to have players suited to every position; however, it doesn't always turn out that way. The type of players you have as a coach will dictate how the offense is to be shaped.

This places the responsibility of selecting an offense on the coach. The coach must be imaginative and sensible when he sits down to plan his basketball offense. He has to carefully analyze his team of players and come up with an offense that will take fullest advantage of the type of players that make up the team.

If a team is small, for example, a "possession" type of offense would be best. The offense should be designed to keep the players moving constantly, to give them plenty of good screens; screens that will lead to medium and short range shots. This team wants to rely, too, on specialty and spot shooting. A possession game and a good shooting percentage will go a long way toward making up for lack of size.

If the team has one or two big players, the basketball offense can be built around a single or double post system (against man-for-man).

Since the principles of the man-for-man defense differ from those of the zone, the principles involved in the attack against each of these defenses differ too.

Attack Against Man-for-Man Defense

In any attack, the objective of the basketball offense is to make the defense move; to get it out of position so that an offensive player can have an opportunity to shoot.

In the man-for-man defense, the guards play the man. To move the guard, you must move the offensive man. In moving the offensive man, however, you must maneuver the defense out of position. The best way to do this is to set up a series of screens,a "pattern."

What kind of pattern you establish for your offense depends on the kinds of players making up the team. Let's assume you have three players of average height who are fair outside shooters and better than average drivers. Let's also assume the remaining two making up the first five are big men that are poor from the outside.

The pattern might take this form. The two big men establish post positions on either side of the foul line. The other three bring up the ball. From this three-out, two-in pattern, you can devise all sorts of screens. It will give you a long, medium and short attack. It will give you rebound strength and defensive strength.

In building up the pattern, remember that the offensive players must keep moving in order to move the defense. To get continuity of movement, the passing pattern must include several options.  In order for a basketball team and its players to be successful, it must have a basketball offense that can handle any and all kinds of defense that an opposing team throws at it.

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