Dribble Drive Motion by Fran Fraschilla

Written by Tedi Yaghoubian

Tedi Yaghoubian is a head basketball coach at Northern Suburbs Basketball Association in Sydney Australia – currently coaching Men’s Under 18 representative squad. Last year the Norths Bears won the metropolitan championship and were runners-up at the NSW State Shied Tournament. Coach Yaghoubian’s playing experience includes representative basketball for Norths Bears State League Division 1 team as well as many years of playing at club level.



Basketball Playbook



0 Comments(s)



September 20, 2015

Dribble Drive Motion by Fran Fraschilla

The dribble drive motion was made popular by Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari while he was coaching The University of Memphis and became known as the “Memphis Attack”. This offense focuses heavily on spreading the floor with four interchangeable perimeter players and one center in the post and then having one of the guards initiating the offense by driving the ball to the basket. Players are taught to make reads off the penetration to get to the right receiver spots for layups or open 3-point shot which is another hallmark of this offense. Unlike other motion offenses that focus primarily on cutting and screening, this offense relies on constant dribble penetration to break down the defense. This then results in offensive rebounds and/or wide open shots for perimeter players. As Coach Fraschilla says in his presentation – it is essentially organised 1 on 1 offense.

What I have put together here, is a mini-playbook based Fran Fraschilla’s demonstration of this offense. This playbook contains the basic motion of the dribble drive motion offense as well couple of different variations and quick hitters that can be utilized to initiate the offense as well as change the flow of the game. Many key teaching points were highlighted by Coach Fraschilla are contained in a separate document here.

A key teaching point in this offense is understanding the ‘Drop Zones’ – this is the area (as highlighted in the playbook) where the guard has to make the read to either continue his drive to the basket or use a 1-2 step stop to pass to a teammate lifting out of the corner. It is critical that guards are taught to pass the ball when their teammate is even or above the ball – in order to create a driving line to the basket. Another action commonly seen in this offense as a result of constant dribble penetrations is the back door cut which leads to easy layups and drop-offs for bigs. Coaches must spend a lot of time organizing their dribble penetrations to ensure all players understand receiver spots off the ball when a teammate penetrate baseline or middle. The center must always position himself opposite ball side.

Read more on the basketball motion offense.

Dribble Drive Motion

Coach Fraschilla demonstrated two simple variations into the dribble drive motion offense – 1) “High Loop” initiated when the guard makes a loop cut to opposite seam as seen in diagrams and the ball handler makes an inside drive through the seam to initiate the offense. 2) “Quick Cut” is basically when the offense starts with a euro cut off an inside drive as opposed to a straight line drive. Also included are three quick hitting actions 1) “Quick Post” designed to get the ball to the centre in the post 2) “X” which utilises a screen and a shuffle cut in an attempt to get a quick basket and 3) “5 Out” used to create an isolation for a playmaking guard. All these quick hitters flow into the dribble drive motion offense.

Coach Calipari has had tremendous success with this offense in Memphis as well as in Kentucky which includes a national championship season in 2012 for the wildcats. I hope you find the attached notes and dribble drive motion playbook useful for your program.

0 Comments