Having a central theme for offense has been on my mind a lot lately. I have tweeted about it several times, but I feel like I need to do a better job of explaining my thoughts. When I say central theme, I really mean having the same goal for a possession regardless of what defense we are facing. Other than taking a great shot, scoring, or drawing a foul, the goal for our possessions is to find a teammate who will play against a recovering defender. This teammate could be around the rim or on the perimeter. We want our players seeking out those defenders that are over helping or over rotating. Now, if a player is attacking the rim and no one helps, we obviously want that player to score (To keep with the idea, that player is the one that is playing against a recovering defender. In a situation of no help, the defense didn't do a good job of recovering). I like to say "Once we reach that first closeout, the possession is over." By over, I  mean we should no longer have to run any actions other than drive and kick/dump. As long as our guys make the correct Rhythm Offense read on the catch and then make the correct Puncture read once inside the defense, we will be able to get a great shot or draw a foul. This idea is nothing new or original, but I think it really benefits a Coach to have this mindset. Having a common theme on offense simplifies things for our players.     

Monday 8-28 New Gym

1. Warm Up
2. 5-0 Transition (7 Mins)
3. 2v2 Deuce *The majority of our practice was spent here and on 3v3*
4. 3v3 Horns/Deuce
5. 5v5 Entries
6. 5v5 Play
7. Weights

Reflection

1. None
2. The drill didn’t go as smooth as it usually does. It was my fault. I tried to split the guys into even groups and it was too confusing. It's easier to let the guys pick their own groups. Here are the actions we went through.  
   1. Pitch - Punch
   2. Pitch - Attack - Score
   3. Pitch - Flatten D - Pass back to PG - “One”
   4. Pitch - Flatten D - Pass back to PG - “Two” - Kick to corner 3
   5. Reversal pass through trailer to reversal ball screens
3. I went into detail on how to handle this situation. (Review the breakdown on last week’s post). I told the guards "if the inside player hands the ball off to you, he is telling you to attack immediately to the baseline. The inside player made the read for you, trust it and go." Also showed why the inside player needs to stay high after the handoff. Staying high creates space for the attack and also sets up the ball screen if the guard could not attack and puncture.
4. Carry over from 2v2. 
5. Didn’t get to.
6. Didn’t get to.
7. Varsity: Military Press, Close Grip Bench, Pulls, DB Swings, Carries. JV: Did the same lifts just in a different order . 

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Thursday 8-31 Old Gym

1. 1v1 FC
   1. Read between Advantage (Go Score), Neutral (Offense)
2. 3v3 FC
   1. Action over Motion
3. 5v5 FC
   1. Action over Motion
   2. Ball in Slot

Reflection

1. I talked to the guys before hand about making the decision to attack with the advantage or pull back when their defender matches in the front court. The message didn’t stick very well. I don't want them to get into the habit of thinking they always have to beat someone off the dribble.
2. The guys separated themselves into their own groups of 3. Half way through the drill, I stopped the group to offer some advice.
   1. Know who the ball handlers are
   2. Know who will be using the majority of our ball screens (As the guard)
   3. Know who the screeners are
   4. Space, Screen, Roll and Replace
3. We are still having trouble flowing from the break into half court offense. We are not arriving organized vs the set defense, We are struggling to get to our actions vs the set defense, We are struggling to find space vs the set defense. When things look good, it really looks good. Guess that is expected for this time of the year. This will be our main priority moving forward.     
   
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Friday 9-1 New Gym

1. 3v3 FC
2. 5v5 FC

 
Reflection

• We didn't stay for weights after school. Overall, today was not a good day. We are going to have to go back to some of the things we were trying to do at the end of last season. 
• The Plan: Going back to Space and Attack off the break and vs Pressure will allow the guys to play with a clear head. Using our Actions vs a defense that is Set and Not Pressuring will give us multiple options to attack.   

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