Drills for Motion Offense Development
by eBasketballCoachThe Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
Below are three basic drills you can use to teach motion offense skills to your team, and improve your cutting, spacing, passing, and finishing in the half court set.
Drill #1: V-Cut Drill
Purpose:
To teach players how to get open to receive an entry pass on the wing.
Setup:
For this drill, you'll bring out three pairs of similarly matched players and have them spread out around the arc - one pair up top, and one on each wing, lined up offense versus defense. The player at the top of the arc on offense will start with a ball.
Execution:
The goal of this drill is to give players a chance to work on their v-cuts, and that is how the drill will start. When the coach signals the start of the drill, both wings will perform V-cuts. The point guard will hit one of the players, who will then catch and pivot, getting into triple threat position immediately. The drill will continue with the point guard then performing a V-cut of his own to get open at the top of the arc. Once he has received the ball back again, the wing players will try to get open once more.
After two successful wing entries, the drill will go live, with the offense getting one shot to try and put the ball in the hoop.
Coaching Tips:
The V-cut is a simple but extremely important and effective technique for getting open on the wing. The offensive player will take a couple hard steps toward the hoop, plant, and explode back up to the wing and towards the ball, tracing a 'V' shape on the court with their feet. The key to a successful V-cut is really selling the cut towards the hoop, as if the defense doesn't feel the need to drop with the back cut, they will still be in position to defend the cut back to the wing.
It can also be very effective to make contact with the defender at the bottom of the cut, using a little push-off to get the offensive player an edge and keep the defender off-balance.
Drill #2: Feeding the Post
Purpose:
To teach wing players how to properly feed the ball into the post.
Setup:
For this next drill, the point guard will start at the top of the arc. We'll also have a shooting guard on the right wing and a power forward on the right block, each with an appropriate defender matched up on them.
Execution:
The drill will start with the shooting guard receiving the pass on the wing. The power forward will establish position, present a target for the catch, and receive the pass from the shooting guard. The power forward will secure the ball with a strong grip, holding it up under his chin with both hands.
The shooting guard will then slide down into the corner, ready to either catch and shoot or re-post the power forward if the ball gets kicked back out.
The power forward will then go to work down low, making a move and trying to score one on one. He has the option of kicking the ball back out to the shooting guard and re-establishing position if he loses his dribble or wants to get deeper in the paint before receiving the pass.
Coaching Tips:
You can vary the intensity of this drill - begin with mere token defense, and as the players get more comfortable allow the defense to bump up to 75% and eventually go live.
Also, once you start to increase the intensity, give the shooting guard the option of cutting through off the power forward's shoulder to the hoop after the entry pass for the backdoor opportunity.
Drill #3: Give and Go Drill
Purpose:
To teach players the basics of how to effectively execute the give and go.
Setup:
Have your point guard start at the top of the arc with a ball, and the shooting guard start on the wing, each with a defender matched up in front of them.
Execution:
The drill will start with the shooting guard performing a v-cut to get open on the wing, where he will receive the pass from the point guard. The point guard will then take a misdirection step outside before cutting back across his defenders face and making a hard cut straight to the rim. The shooting guard will hit him with a pass, in stride, allowing the point guard to go up and finish with a lay-up.
Coaching Tips:
Once the players understand the concept, you can combine this drill with both the flare screen and curl screen drills and allow the offense and defense to go live. They will be put in situations where they need to read the defense and react accordingly - whether that's a flare screen, curl, or the classic give and go.
Next Steps
If you're looking for new plays to improve your half court offense, check out Complete Basketball Playbook. It's packed with 35 fully diagrammed plays for man to man offense, zone offense, inbounds plays and more.
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