Basketball Coaches Mailbag
Coach Tony Miller Answers Your Questions
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Basketball season is here! As a teacher, I was taught that if one person is asking a question, there are others probably having similar questions. This week’s mailbag includes coaches’ questions regarding press offense, flowing from transition offense to half-court offense, conceptual offense vs. zone defenses, and terminology.
If you have specific questions, reply to this email, and we’ll answer those in the next Coaches’ Mailbag!
Q: Do you have a good drill for press breaking that teaches decision making and cutting?
Miller: My first response to this coach’s question was “no.” We typically spend most of our time practicing against pressure in a 5v5 setting. I have a press break that I’m convinced works best against almost any pressure, so we start teaching that press break and then rep it against live defense the first week of practice.
Now, we will do some basic drills early on to teach how to get open, how to pass to an open hand, how to cut, etc. Playing 5v5 is great, but some age groups / players will need extra reps with the basic physical skills.
Here is one of those drills. There is an emphasis on timing of the cut to get open, “throwing teammates open” (i.e., passing to where they will be, not where they were), and cutting…
I have a course on CoachTube called, “Offense vs. Pressure Defense,” where I explain my offensive philosophy for presses (reads, Xs&Os, etc.). For those of you who are AQTO+ members, you can have that course for free. For those who aren’t members, if you sign up for the membership, I’ll send you a link to that course for free. Once you’re a member, email me (awmiller@bju.edu), and I’ll send you the link.
Q: I’m trying to find something for my team to flow into without having to call sets all the time. We do something similar to UNC’s primary break. I’d like to flow into a simple motion from there, but I have no idea where to start. Your help would be much appreciated!