How to Create, Design Your Own Basketball Plays

From the Coach's Clipboard Basketball Playbook

Coach, here are some tips and a stepwise approach for custom designing your own plays for your team. But don't go overboard and overload your team with too many plays, that they can't remember. Have a few good ones that they can execute, and let them "play basketball" by initiating the action, and reading and reacting to the defense.

OK, let's design a play...

1. Choose a starting formation

Use a simple alignment such as:

• 4-out, 1-in — four perimeter players and one post
• 5-out — all five players spaced around the perimeter
• 3-out, 2-in
• Horns — two players at the elbows
• Box — two players on the blocks and two at the elbows

For younger teams, a simple 3-out or 4-out motion setup is often easier to teach than a large collection of set plays.

2. Decide who should get the first opportunity

Design the first action for a specific strength that your team has:

• Shooter: down-screen, staggered screen, or flare screen
• Ball-handler: ball screen or dribble handoff
• Post player: entry pass, seal, or pick-and-roll
• Cutter: backdoor cut or UCLA cut
• Athletic player: isolation or clear-out

3. Add one or two actions

Keep the first version simple. For example:

• Point guard passes to the wing.
• Point guard sets a screen for the opposite wing.
• The screener rolls or pops.
• The post player seals inside.
• Weak-side players space to the corner and wing.

Useful actions include:

• Down-screen
• Back-screen
• Flare-screen
• Ball-screen
• Dribble handoff
• Give-and-go
• Backdoor cut

Good offense depends on spacing, cutting, screening, passing, and movement without the ball.

4. Build in a counter

Your play should have an answer when the defense takes away the first option:

• If the defender denies the pass, use a backdoor cut.
• If the defense switches a screen, have the screener slip to the basket.
• If help defense stops a drive, use a kick-out pass.
• If the defense goes under a ball screen, shoot or re-screen.
• If the first option is covered, flow directly into motion offense.

Counters are important because defenses will deny passes, switch screens, or help on drives.

5. Check the spacing

Before using the play, ask:

• Is the lane open for a drive?
• Are players standing too close together?
• Does the screener have room to roll?
• Is there a passing angle to the post?
• Are weak-side players ready for a skip pass or rebound?
• Can the play work against both man-to-man and zone defense?
  

Simple play example: "Wing Screen"

• Start in a 4-out, 1-in formation.
• The point guard passes to the right wing.
• The point guard screens down for the left-side guard.
• The left-side guard cuts to the top for a shot.
• The post player sets a ball screen for the right-wing player.
• The ball-handler reads shoot, drive, pass to the roller, or kick out.
• If the defense denies the top cut, the cutter back-cuts.

Run the play slowly at first, then practice each option separately before adding live defense. Motion offense resources emphasize drilling spacing, screening, cutting, and reads until those actions become automatic.

Special Actions:

For completeness, here are some additional actions that you might consider. But remember... oftentimes well-executed simple plays are the best. So don't over-complicate things.

• Pick and Roll
• Drag Screen
• Spain Pick and Roll
• Pistols Action
• Zoom Action
• Floppy Action
• Ghost Screens

For help in diagramming your play, see How to Create Basketball Play Diagrams

Related pages:

• Motion Offense Principles
  
• Spacing and Movement Without the Ball
  
• Basketball Plays Library and Plays Selector