How to generate good shots on offense by John Mietus
Arguably nothing is more important to winning basketball than taking good shots. Shooting percentages play out pretty consistently across the board from various distances and difficulty levels. The more good shots our team takes, the better our odds of winning the game. We must reinforce the principles at every practice by devaluing those shots that have less points per shot (PPS) value and by training our players to play the game intelligently so that they can create the type of shots that win games.
1. Passing. Quick passing wins games. There is an old saying by Phil Jackson, “If the ball moves, the team wins”. It is important to understand the deeper meaning behind what it means for the ball to move effectively. Many teams think the Spurs or the Warriors simply move the ball back and forth across the court just to move the ball. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both of these teams are aggressively probing every time the ball moves, looking for attack angles and cracks in the defense. Because the basketball itself is always the fastest thing on the court, the ball moving creates defensive shifts and gaps and weaknesses. In order to provide excellent help defense, players need time to reset and reposition themselves, but if the ball moves quickly in those in-between moments, there will not be enough for them to read, plan, and act. In those moments, the Spurs and Warriors and all better basketball teams pounce. A player two feet out of position can’t get to a spot fast enough to help against a driving player and leaves his man open for a jump shot, or fouls the driver on his way to the rim. This cat and mouse game plays out time and time again, and offenses must be trained to look for, find, and exploit weakness wherever they spot it. Ball movement continuously shifts the defense’s mental and physical assignments, makes their margin for error less, and puts them in difficult spots trying to cover multiple players. Good, quick passing leads to open shots, which in turn leads to higher PPS, a great way to win a basketball game.
2. Cutting. If the ball is the fastest thing on the basketball court, the second fastest thing is a player who is not dribbling the basketball. With no ball in their hands a player is free to make any quick movement, either toward or away from the basket, forcing the defender to react to their motion. That moment of indecision on the part of the defense has led to many a backdoor layup or uncontested 3-point shot (see: Princeton Offense) because the defense simply cannot guard both things at the same time. If the options are either running toward or away from a defender, the offensive player has a head start in at least one of those directions. Cutting creates indecision for a defensive player and team and incisive cuts open up larger amounts of space that other players can cut or dribble into, making the entire team more effective offensively. More space for a defense to cover means more problems. Cutting without the ball is the next best way to free yourself or your teammates up to score.
3. Screening. The third effective way of freeing people up on the basketball court is screening, because screening creates moments of indecision and temporary odd number games where the offense might have a 2 v 1 for a split second. Screens also can create size or quickness mismatches, free up open shooters, or get a player an unimpeded cut toward the basket. All of these are great ways to put pressure on a defense and to extract the most possible value on each possession.
4. Fast breaking. Getting early offense is one of the best ways to get great shots, particularly if there is an odd number break (2 v 1, etc.). However, even in 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 situations, the odds of getting to the rim, drawing fouls, or getting open shots are greatly increased due to vastly more open space available for offensive players to operate. Less space makes movement more difficult and help defense more available. The less help defense, the better odds the offense will find a great shot. Fast breaking in a smart manner gives the offense a quick attempt that might be valuable. It is important to remember to take only high value shots while fast breaking, not just going fast to go fast.
The hardest way to score mathematically on a basketball court is 5 v 5 in the half-court with one player dribbling against a defender who is set in position and has four teammates in good help position. This typically leads to pull-up, contested jump shots with very low average PPS. Yet this shot has been glorified endlessly due to Michael Jordan making a great mid range jump shot under pressure over Bryon Russell at the end of the 1998 NBA Finals to capture his sixth and final championship. In fact, many NBA quarters end with one player going 1 v 1 from the top of the key. Jordan and Phil Jackson would tell you themselves that as great a one-on-one player as MJ was, the reason their team won six titles is because of their quick ball movement that freed up one of the greatest scorers of all time to act in brief moments before defenses could react, over and over, getting good shots with less help defense than he had faced previously in his career. The fact that the greatest player of all-time hit one difficult pull up jump shot off an individual dribble move should not be reason enough to base any basketball program around this type of offense. The Spurs, Warriors, and other teams with consistently good ball movement seem to understand the incredible value of sharing the ball quickly and repeatedly while constantly on the attack. Regardless of what offense you run, these four basic principles will make your team better.
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