Basketball Plays

With the way it combines speed, strategy and agility, basketball is one of the most interesting sports to play and to coach. While most of your team’s on-court success will come from quick footed players with dead-on accurate aim, a great deal of how games are played depends on the successful execution of basketball plays, especially offensive plays.

When coaching a basketball team is it best not to inundate them with a large number of plays to keep track of. Players end up getting the plays confused and tend to be sloppy when trying to execute them. Instead, limit your team’s basketball plays to a few for each category of play—offense, defense, press breaks and presses. This way you’ll be able to perfect a handful of basketball plays as opposed to sloppily execute a larger number. However, it can be a good idea to have a few plays reserved for special occasions or to use when your opponents see through your offensive plays early on in the game.

One great way to come up with a set of basketball plays is to do it together as a team. For offensive plays, ask each of your players how they like to receive the ball in order to execute their favorite shot, or at least the shot with the highest rate of success. For example, one of my kids prefers going left and catching a pass from the wing while another likes charging straight up the middle for a clean lay-up. Then design a series of basketball plays that incorporates your players’ strengths and favorite ways to field the ball and work from there.

Since many players will cite similar methods for setting up their favorite shot, you’ll end up with anywhere from 4 to 7 plays. You can even go as far as to name each play after the particular player, which will add an extra degree of excitement when that play gets called during a heated match. Players tend to excel at the game when they feel a special connection to the team and to the play this is being executed.

One of my team’s favorite offensive plays came out of a brainstorming session much like the one I just described. Before adapting the play to be used during game time, first practice it as a drill with 5 players. The tallest of the 5 players is player 1, who stands with the ball out of bounds. Players 2-5 line up facing the basket side by side at the free-throw line. Player 1 begins the drill by calling break. The player at far right and the player second from the left screen the player between them as player 1 passes the ball to the open player on the far left who does a quick lay up.

Run this drill for two minutes times before having your players switch positions. These basketball plays work really well during a game when your players are quick-footed and able to effectively predict the movements of their opponents so they can act as better screens.