Basketball Offense - 4-Out, 1-In Motion Offense

From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook, @ http://www.coachesclipboard.net

This motion offense uses four perimeter players and one post player, and is a good offense to use when your team has good outside players and only a few post players. Generally, we like to run the 4-out motion offense against man-to-man defenses. However, you can use the 4-out, 1-in set as a zone offense, although the rules are different (see 4-Out, 1-In Zone Offense). The now popular "dribble-drive motion offense" uses a 4-out set and very little screening. Below, we examine three different "looks" in our 4-out offense, depending on where we want our post player to locate... "4-Out", "4-High", and "4-Low".

You can also use the 4-out offense to post up any of your players inside, if you feel there is a defensive mismatch. For example, if a defensive player has four fouls, have your player that he is guarding set up as the inside post player. Then get the ball inside to him/her and attack the defender for the easy basket (since the defender is in foul trouble and will play "soft"), or force the 5^th foul. You can change the inside player by just calling something like "4-Out to John", where John is now the inside player.

You can make the 4-out offense as complicated, or as simple, as you want. Youth teams should start out with just the basic 4-out motion offense, learning the motion rules and "how to play". You can add a few simple plays. High school and more advanced level teams that have more practice time, can expand and use the basic 4-out motion offense, and the "4-High" and "4-Low" sets. Each of these sets come with a number of set plays and options. We typically do not use all of these plays in one season. We pick those plays that best suit our current team personnel. Next season, as our players change, we may use other plays and options (or if we are blessed with several good post players, may use the 3-out, 2-in motion offense instead, and only sparingly use the 4-out offense). Use those plays that will best benefit your team. Importantly, don't overload your players and try to teach too much at once. Teach the basic motion and sets, and then add other plays and options gradually.

"4-Out" Motion Offense

This is a more simple, free-lance style of 4-out motion offense that uses the rules explained below under "General Rules". Refer to the diagram to see the basic set-up for this offense.

With "4-Out", our post player moves as the ball moves, using the low blocks, anywhere up and down the lanes, paint area, elbows and high post (free-throw line area)... basically anywhere he/she can get open for a pass inside.

When the ball is on top (O1 or O2), O5 should locate at high-post, ball-side elbow area. If the ball is passed to O5 at the high post, O3 and O4 should be thinking about a back-cut to the hoop if they are being denied the pass. O5 passes to the back-cutter for the easy lay-up.

When the ball is on the low wing, corner (O3 or O4), then O5 should move down to the ball-side low post.

General Rules

Outside players should be moving, screening for each other (on-ball screen and screen away). Additionally, hand-off screens work well. For example, O1 dribbles toward O2, hands the ball off to O2 while screening O2's defender. O2 comes around the screen and either shoots the three-pointer, or makes a dribble move inside (see Weave-Screen Plays).

Dibble-penetration, attacking the seams, is often possible when the post player is located on the opposite (weakside) low block. If you have good three-point shooters, you can go "inside-out" where a guard dribble-penetrates a seam and then kicks the pass outside (usually to the corner) to a wide open perimeter player for the three-point shot. For this reason, we often like to locate our best shooter O2 in the right corner.

Pick and roll moves work. Give and go plays work (example: O2 passes to O4 and cuts to the hoop for the pass back from O4). If a dribble entry is made, the outside players rotate (example: O1 dribbles toward O2. O2 can either exchange with O1 and move to his/her spot, or O2 can rotate down to take O4’s spot and O4cuts through to take O3’s spot, while O3 rotates out to the O1 spot).

Four things you can do after making a pass:

Screen for the ball.
Screen away.
Cut to the basket (example: give and go, or back-cut). Backcut if the defender is denying the pass.
V-cut and pop back outside for the return pass and outside shot.

Rules without the ball:

If you have an under-play (defense sagging off), pop out to spread the defense.
If you have an overplay (being denied), backcut.
Someone dribbling at you, backcut (except for the weave plays).
Fill the open spot when a teammate cuts inside.
When someone dribble-penetrates, relocate.
Screen away, and pop out.
The most important rule is to keep moving.

Set Plays

You can run any of the set plays listed below under the 4-High and 4-Low sets... just make sure you start the post player in the correct spot.

"4-High" Motion Offense

Sometimes we want our post player to locate at the high post. This takes the defending post player away from the hoop and allows our post player to go 1-on-1 with defender from the free-throw line area. This also opens up the inside underneath for backcuts or dribble-penetration from the wings and corners. Our high post player can be used as a screener for our perimeter players. He/she may set two or three perimeter screens, and then, once a big-little mis-match occurs (by the defense switching the screens), will post up inside.

Additionally, certain plays run better off the 4-High set. 4-High may work well against teams that like to full-front our post player. Our post player moves up to the high post, and if still full-fronted, seals the defender, and cuts to the hoop for the over-the-top lob pass. Or our post player can seal the defender as the pass goes to the corner, and then cuts to the hoop for the pass from the corner.

4-High Set Plays

"4-Low" Motion Offense

Sometimes we like our post player staying down low, moving from low block to low block, or from short-corner to short-corner. The 4-Low set opens up the top and the lane for 1-on-1 dribble-penetration and cuts from the top. We also use this set to run our "Big" series of plays, where we post-up our "big" 1-on-1 with the defender.

The short-corner to short-corner strategy is used if the defense has a big, strong inside post defender, or shot blocker, that we feel our post player cannot consistently beat in a 1-on-1 post-up situation. So if our post player can hit a couple shots from the short-corner, hopefully this will draw their big defender outside away from the hoop. Taking the shot-blocker away from the hoop then allows our smaller, quicker post player to beat the defender with a shot-fake and dribble move.

4-Low Set Plays

4-Out motion offense and our low post player is double-teamed...

Teams that play good man-to-man defense, will double-team our low post player, making it tough to score inside. Usually the double-team (help defender) comes from the opposite wing when we feed the low post from the wing or corner (diagram B below). There are a couple things you can do.

Feed the low post from the top ("hi-lo" plays like the "Big" series), because the helpside defense is not established when the ball is at the top of the key (diagram A below).
After feeding the low post from the wing or corner, your post player gets double-teammed by help coming from the opposite wing (diagram B). Teach your post player to immediately skip pass out to the opposite wing (where the help defender came from), and then follow the pass and immediately re-post on the opposite side, for the quick pass back inside (from O4 in diagram C). Oftentimes, the new helpside defender (X2) will be late in rotating over to double-team, and O5 has a better chance to score 1-on-1 vs the X5 defender.

Here are some helpful videos on the 4-out motion offense.

	Jay Wright: The 4-Out 1-In Motion Offense By Jay Wright, Villanova University, Men s Basketball Coach. Wright does an excellent job of clearly demonstrating an effective 4-out 1-in motion offense. After outlining the advantages of running the 4-out 1-in, Wright illustrates the proper positioning and spacing of all five players. He lists and demonstrates his basic rules for the perimeter and post players... (more info) Price: $39.99
	Jay Wright: Breakdown Drills for the 4-Out 1-In Motion Offense By Jay Wright, Villanova University, Men s Basketball Coach. One of the brightest young coaches in the game today, Jay Wright details the drills he used successfully at Hofstra, and now Villanova, to implement an effective 4-Out 1-In motion offense... (more info) Price: $39.99
	Rick Majerus: The Encyclopedia of the 4-Out-1-In Motion Offense By Rick Majerus, ESPN Analyst; former University of Utah Head Basketball Coach; 1998 National Coach of the Year. Coaches, this is the motion offense DVD you have been asking for! Over 4 hours of top-notch instruction with "the coach's coach," Rick Majerus, will help you and your team completely understand every facet of this effective offense... (more info) Price: $39.99