Add oxygen to the room, don't consume it.
Develop your catalog of "Hard to Defend" actions:
- Elite dribble penetrators
- Urgent cutting (give-and-go, back cuts)
- Pick-and-roll
- Complex screening (Iverson, Spain PnR, Corner rip, Flex)
- Multiple actions forcing long closeouts
Basketball is "a game of separation." Excellent players get separation and finish to score. Excellent defenders deny separation and force lower quality shots.
Some of these actions aren't classic back cuts but whatever works.
Why do back cuts work?
- Defenders overplay or play 'tight'
- Defenders lose sight of the cutter (e.g. head turners)
- Defenders anticipate one action and get another
- Defenders are not alert/aware
- Cutters cut urgently
- Passers deliver "on time" and "on target" passes
Simple play designs I like (or got burned by):
Find a couple that you like. The advantage of "simple" with young players is that the simpler, the fewer turnovers. Anything can work when executed well. Nothing works without it.
"Beverly" - I saw Beverly line this up and called out, "backdoor" and they burned us.
An old UCONN action.
Ball side corner cut with PnR setup.
DHOs can set up this corner cut.
Corner cut run through Horns post entry.
The back cut serves as option one and establishes an iso for an elite '5' who can put the ball on the floor.
Celtics ran this "Triplets" action through horns.
Multiple back cut options off the high ball screen.
DHO corner cut away.
Tufts women ran this action with Carla Berube coaching.
Lagniappe (something extra).
I challenged the guys on my AAU team to watch a quarter of playoff basketball this week and not watch the ball the whole time. Instead pay attention to all the off ball movement. How hard guys set picks, how hard they cut, how defenses rotate…
— Myles Shepherd (@CoachShep34) May 9, 2023