How To Teach Basketball Plays

Coaches are expected to teach their teams good plays, and teaching your team how to benefit from running a set play is an important part of being an effective coach. Plays are different from offensive motions, in that they are intended to produce specific shot opportunities within a relatively short time span. While good basketball plays include a series of options, they also focus the energy of all five players in very specific ways that result in quick decisions leading to good shots.

1. Your first task is to “sell” the basketball play to your team. Point out how the play creates great shot opportunities and provides good alternatives if the defense ‘cheats’ to prevent the first option. Explain how it results in players being in ideal positions to rebound, creates great spacing, and ensures that you have a player in position to contest a potential fast break. Once you have provided a solid rationale for the basketball play, you can move to the next step.
2. Go through the play sequence in slow motion, pointing out the critical executions that make or break the play. Do not rush this stage! No play, no matter how well conceived, will survive sloppy execution. On the other hand, even relatively obvious and simple plays can be extremely effective if executed precisely. You have to be vigilant and insist on precision. You also need to emphasize the key moments in the basketball play that require a good read and good decisions.
3. If you have done a good job of choosing a solid basketball play and selling it to your team, then your players should be prepared to stick with it patiently and strike at the opportune moment. Many plays develop over the course of one or two ball reversals. The defense, sooner or later, is a step late or cheats out to stop a pattern that has been established. This is when all your work with precision, reading keys, and teaching alternative strategies pays off. There will be no forces, and as soon as the defense over-commits or is late somewhere, your team will strike and get a great shot. This is the ideal combination of intensity and patience that you’re aiming for.
4. Watch for commons problems and correct them. One drawback to running set plays is that players sometimes force passes just because that’s ‘the play.’ Obviously, no good play will require a turnover. Another drawback is that players can become so intent on running the basketball play that they ignore great opportunities for easy baskets that present themselves unexpectedly. Therefore, you need to constantly remind your players not to force passes and to be alert for unexpected opportunities for easy baskets. If the defense is giving you a lay-in, by all means take it, whether or not it has been covered as an option in ‘the play.’

Final tips

Misdirection, great screens, explosive cuts, ball fakes, and crisp passing all figure into the effectiveness of any basketball play. Spending time developing advanced levels of these skills, particularly in your primary ball handlers, will pay big dividends when you run your basketball plays. Your point guard, in particular, needs to be a crafty and creative ball handler and passer. Your point guard also needs to have the presence of mind to wait until all players are in proper position before initiating a play.