X’s & O’s Breakdown – Why Coaches at All Levels Are Using the Horns Set

Coaches at the high school, college, and pro level are all incorporating the horns set into their offensive playbook. The flexibility, simplicity, and spacing of the horns set allows coaches to easily add plays to the playbook without bogging down the players. The NBA pre-season is underway, and I can bet that you cannot go a game without seeing at least one horns set used by both teams.

There are some obvious benefits of using horns: simplicity, spacing, and variety. However, there are some less obvious benefits as well. One of these is the control that a coach can have to exploit mismatches and to create scoring situations. The horns set can get your best players the ball in the best places for them to score. Also, you can enter any offense that you run with simple actions out of a horns set. Doing so can make your team less predictable and harder to guard.

History of the Horns

The horns set has been used for many years, and was recently known as the “A Set”. European and international coaches made use of Horns and developed it into a successful offense. The “stretch 4”, popular in the international game, is a perfect fit for this offense and is part of the reason why coaches in the United States are now using it. Most bigs want to step out and face the basket now, and the horns set allows them to do so.

 Video Playbooks

Below are several video playbooks that have been compiled on the horns set. There are countless options out of horns that you can use, but these videos show some very popular actions.

BBALL Breakdown – How Every Team in the NBA Uses Horns

This video dives into several actions including a horns to flex and a horns to flex counter. Coach Nick also points out one of the negatives of the horns set, which is the limited amount of players that move at a time. Often times, one of the corner players is stuck in that spot for the duration of the play. Coach Nick also touches on isolation opportunities out of horns when Lebron James has the ball at the elbow for almost the entire duration of the play.

Iowa State Horns Series – Fred Hoiberg

One of the best offensive coaches in the game is Fred Hoiberg. In this video, Zak Boisvert shows us some common actions that Hoiberg likes to use. While coaching in Ames, Iowa State has been a top scoring team both in the Big 12 and in the entire country. Hoiberg is credited for bringing some of the NBA’s up-tempo/spacing offense to the college game.

Pelicans Horns Offense

To show some more options, here are some horns plays used by the New Orleans Pelicans. Thanks to Adam Spinella for putting these together.

Horns Playbook – Volume 1

Lastly, here is a look at some more horns plays from BBall Breakdown.

The Best of the Best Are Using It

The top coaches in college basketball and the pros are all using some variation of the horns offense. The great thing is that horns allows coaches to put his/her own twist on it and make it part of his/her philosophy. To get a better sense of which coaches are using horns, check out these articles:

• Steve Kerr Golden State Warriors Horns Options
• Billy Donovan Florida Gators Horns Set Play
• Gregg Popovich San Antonio Spurs Horns Dribble Series
• Doc Rivers LA Clippers Horns Basketball Plays
• Jim Larranaga Miami Hurricanes Horns Hi/Lo Options
• Kevin Ollie UCONN Huskies Horns Set Plays
• Terry Stotts Portland Trail Blazers Horns Playbook
• Mark Jackson Golden State Warriors Horns Options

Fast Model Plays

Fast Model has a HUGE selection of horns plays that you can view in the plays and drills library. Simply search for “horns” and hundreds of plays show up. Here are a few that I have put on the website:

You can also find more horns plays on HoopsChalkTalk.com. There is a search function in the menu that allows you to click on the horns category for all of the horns plays on the website.

6 More Options

If you haven’t had enough, here are 6 more horns options for you to use.

The basic alignment for the horns, or “A” set, is the point guard up top, two posts at the high post position, and the two wing players in the corners. Horns Offense can be very effective at spreading the defense and opening up the middle of the floor for penetration and cutting opportunities.

Horns Offense Option 1: This option starts with an entry to the 5 at the high post. A staggered screen is then set for the 2 in the corner. If 2 is open he can take it to the basket or take the shot. If not, 4 turns around to pick for 2 with pick-and-roll opportunities.

Horns Offense Option 3: 1 enters the ball to 5 at the high post. 5 passes to 3 who cuts to the wing, and 2 cuts across to the low block from the corner. This is a great option if you have a guard with good post-up abilities.

Horns Offense Option 4: 1 enters the ball to 5 at the high post, and then sets a wide down screen for 3. 5 hands the ball back to 3, then 4 sets a ball screen for 3. 3 then has the option to drive to the basket, hit 4 on the roll, hit 2 in the corner, or pass to 5 at the top of the key.

Horns Offense Option 5: In this option, one of the high post players steps up to set a ball screen for 1. Then the opposite post player screens the screener, and 1 looks to drive or hit the post on the fade. If these two options aren’t open, a ball screen is set for 1 with pick-and-roll action.