Basketball: Structuring Your Offense as Easily as 1, 2, 3

Teach (man-to-man) offense around themes - personnel, court areas, actions, range (layup, mid range, threes), or numbers. Study simple actions that work. 

Overview: Find offense that create separation for your finishers. Force opponents to defend hard-to-defend actions. This is too much material for young players, but provides a goal-oriented framework. 

1 - Isolations via primary action or options from many other sets (e.g. Horns stagger or Iverson cut)...occupying the help side works 

Breakdown: one-on-one, box drills

2 - Pick-and-roll, give-and-go, post entry and back cut

Breakdown: two-on-two 

3 - UCLA cuts, Celtics "triple action", Bucks off-ball screen actions

Breakdown: three-on-three (small-sided group play) 

4 - Horns downscreens, GSW downscreen basket cut, Bulls ballscreen options

Breakdown: shell drill emphasizing offense and defense

What do I mean by numbers? Run offense according to the number of players involved initially.

1 = isolation for your best individual attackers; that doesn't preclude options

We're a very right-handed team. We might elect to run isolation from horns from the right slot (above). 

Maybe, we align 1-4 high, with a myriad of options. We could run 3 through and get isolation for 5 as a "starter" play.

Or we could run a spread set and let 1 try to isolate off the dribble. 

2 makes the simplest actions for "two man game"

And the most basic 2s are give-and-go or pick-and-roll. The more circuitous route includes wing entry and corner back cut...a modified give and go. From Horns or the 1-4 high, it's easy to run high ball screens. 

Dribble Handoffs are another easy action to get multiple attacking options. 

Back cuts from the wing are an attractive option. 

3  isn't a crowd. 

Among the most obvious is the UCLA option cut. We expect x1 to jump to the ball, making the cut above more probable. 

From horns, the post entry and off-ball screen is conceptually easy. The 

Celtics like to run other options off the "high triangle" including handoffs pick-and-roll.

The Bucks liked to enter the post and then downscreen for Antetokounmpo (4). Any time you can get a great player the ball that seems like a good idea. Also, the 1-4 screen challenges the automatic switch. 

4 or more. 

I'm a fan of horns with paired downscreens. 

Golden State runs horns downscreen into a basket cut. 

The Bulls of Tom Thibodeau liked to run the high ball screen with options for 4 or 3 depending on the actions of the help. These create open shots and/or closeouts.