about the offense and defense we are learning

Some of you are familiar with the “4 out- 1 in” motion offense we’ve been running.  We will be implementing something new which is simple.  We call this offensive set “horns” which is a double high post, with two wing players and a point guard up top.  “Horns” I believe is a) easy to learn, b) intuitive and complementary to what we’ve been teaching the kids so far and c) takes advantage of our skills and ball movement while negating our opponents size advantage by pulling them away from the basket.

I encourage you to watch this with your child http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccdFcaeifU.  If this does link does not load, you should go to youtube and search for “bball breakdown horns.”    Its the 10 minute video titled “How NBA teams run Horns.”  If your interested to learn more and want to see all the variations and different actions that can be run off “horns” check out: http://www.hoopsplaybook.ca/horns.htm.  You will need a VPN for this as well.  You don’t have to review all these variations with your child.  It’s only if they have a desire to learn more.  The video covers the basic actions which can be run out of the “horns” set.

On defense, we only have the following simple rules for our help man to man:

1. on the ball handler: should be arms length away in a defensive stance.  Either face up, shoulders and feet pointed at the opponents or shading him to the opponents weak hand (left)

2. One pass away: defender should drop towards the basket and be in a middle of a flat triangle between his man and the man with the ball.  Ready to offer help for his teammate but able to recover to his man.  They need to understand the geometry between these two moving points and how they constantly re-orient themselves to maintain this “triangle.”

3. Two passes away: defender MUST have both feet inside the key in help position.

4. When your man receives the ball, you must close out under balance, arms length away.

5. Move on the pass not on the catch.  This means they must react instantly when the pass is released and not wait until the ball is caught.

6. Never turn your back to your man and always stay in between your man and the basket.

7. All 5 defenders should see the ball and the man they are guarding at all times.

8. When in doubt or you’ve lost sight of your man or ball, drop back towards the basket and defend the basket first then reacquire the closest open opponent to the basket.

9. A good teammate, communicates with his teammates and calls out screens, help, switches and alerts teammates to open opponents.

Thank you for your patience reading through this lengthy email.  We are eager for this new challenge and I fully expect this group to be able to execute “horns” by stringing 3-4 passes together to create a open shot and be able to play effective team man to man defense before 3/9.