🎧 Episode 128: Teaching Coverage Solutions

Basketball conversations are the best.

There’s nothing quite like interaction with a group of coaches as you talk philosophies, concepts, and best practices. Some of my best basketball memories were the coffee talk sessions that included several area coaches sharing old stories and drawing up plays over a 3-egg Denver omelette and crispy hash browns. The coach talk started around 6:30 a.m. and there were times where the final buzzer on the conversation would finally sound around 10.

I learned so much from those conversations. They were a big inspiration for the podcast.

I’ve discovered the best coaches find pride in being life-long learners. There’s no such thing as a perfect practice or game. Improvement is always possible. That program-changing idea or concept is just a conversation away.

Yep … there’s nothing quite like talking basketball.

I enjoyed talking basketball with coaches a couple of times this week. One was over lunch — it was a brief 2 hours session — and the other was over Zoom.

The latter discussion included George Vaz and Liam Jefferson. The topic was teaching coverage solutions from 1v1 to 5v5.

I’ve learned so much from Liam and George over the years. I appreciate their willingness to share, but also raise important questions that apply both in training and in competition. When I learned they were both in London when we talked, the thought did cross my mind of making a flight to catch Liam’s preseason game with his club.

A cool aspect of the conversation is that Liam has just come off coaching Great Britain’s U16 team at the European Championships. The team won it’s group and lost in overtime in the quarterfinals.

🎥 In this clip, Liam shares the importance of limiting the amount of coverage solutions to the defensive principles you will see the most within your league or tournament.

Meanwhile, George has been conducting clinics throughout Europe since July. He’s also the Community Manager and Podcast Host at Transforming Basketball.

🎥 In this clip, George talks about different spacing shapes that can be used in on-ball screen scenarios. He also shares how you can start to teaching these shapes as you move from 3v3 to 4v4.

There’s a lot more takeaways in this episode. Enjoy the conversation!

🏀 Drill Library

The basketball season is not too far away. I’ve started to look through some of my old drills to see what might be appropriate for this season’s library.

Nail 1v1

This is a drill we use a lot throughout the season. Very simple, but a lot players can work on — especially when it comes to finishing.

As the season progresses, you can build in different constraints for the offense or defense. We also change the geography so players have to finish from different angles.

No Trespassing Drill

Here’s a defensive drill we used to players recognize man and ball, while also trying to stop face cuts & flashing in the key. We eventually build on it by having the passers skip the ball opposite, forcing closeout.

The coach was a former guest on the podcast.

I’ve been fortunate to face a handful of guests from the podcast since it’s I started it. Full disclosure, my record against them is not very good. But that’s a reason why I have them on … there is always an opportunity to learn!

Earlier this year, after a good second-half shellacking from James Anderson’s Lake City team — a squad that went on to win the state title in Idaho’s largest classification — I asked him for a scout of our team. James has been on the show a few times and I’ve always appreciated his outlook and candor. His feedback revealed some areas where I needed to do better as a coach. From that point on, we played a lot better and just missed out on a trip to our state tournament. It was another former guest of the show — Mario Betancourt at Vallivue — whose team rallied late to squeak by us in the play-in game.

Of course, it’s not awesome to lose. But as I mature as a coach, I’ve learned to value aspects of coaching that I’ve found are much greater than winning a basketball game. They include …

1. Continuing to learn and grow as a person

2. Building toward goals & outcomes beyond the record

3. Developing relationships with the coaches I respect

4. The opportunity to compete against those coaches

Ultimately, it’s about creating community and camaraderie with the people I come in contact with as a basketball coach. I know this isn’t what motivates every coach. I also know that I still need to improve with my goal.

But it was gratifying in that early morning game at Eastern Washington to look at the opponent and see Nate Hartman was coaching the other team. I knew right then the game would be competitive and make us better.

Yes, it was a bummer we lost a close game. But the final result didn’t mean didn’t walk away as winners.

Nate Hartman first appeared on the podcast in October of 2021. A lot has happened since then, including Hartman being a go-to when it comes to the Princeton Offense through his website and social media platforms. Check out Hartman’s website 🔗 Coach to Lead.

Actually, Hartman refers to it as a hybrid Princeton Offense, and I wanted to learn more about the concepts he’s incorporating with pace and spacing principles to attack defenses. We had to make several defensive adjustments throughout that summer league game to keep up. This included in transition, where his team was constantly on the attack.

If you are interested in practical implementation and application of Princeton Concepts in the modern game, you will appreciate this episode.

To help you visualize some of the concepts Hartman discusses in this episode, I encourage you to check out his YouTube breakdowns. (You will also find regular media on platforms like Instagram and X.) This breakdown of the Richmond Spiders illustrates concepts like Forwards Out, Brush, Point Away & Point Over.

If you are interested, here’s the episode I recorded with Hartman in 2021.

“When the play breaks down ... they’re just going to resort back to whatever you’ve trained in practice.”

- Caden Hoffman

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🎥 Concept for building possessions: Shot Spectrum + Personnel = Identity

Caden Hoffman joins the latest episode of the podcast to discuss the evolution of conceptual offense and layering triggers within a possession. Among other things, Hoffman focuses on the importance of creating advantages, manipulating defensive decisions, and Using the Entire Floor.

Caden Hoffman

Using the Entire Floor: The Evolution of Layered Offense

Basketball offenses have evolved beyond simply running a play…

Read more

3 months ago · 11 likes · 2 comments · Caden Hoffman

Hoffman, a former Division 1 assistant coach, also shares practical tips on how to build up possessions, teach players to make decisions, and how to simplify layered offense for coaches at any level using basic spacing concepts and triggers.

5 coaching concepts covered in this episode:

• Building offense around player strengths

• Layering simple actions to create advantages

• Using triggers to read defensive coverages

• Court geography and moving the low man

• Teaching players to make the next read

A big THANK YOU to the University of Idaho men’s basketball staff and players for holding a youth clinic and practice during their recent retreat and team-building activities where I coach. Incredibly cool to have an NCAA program spend 4 hours in your gym while providing opportunities to grow the game and interact with supporters 150 miles away from campus.

If you have not had the opportunity, take a listen to a recent episode that features Vandals head coach Alex Pribble. It won’t take you long to understand why Coach Pribble is having success on the Palouse.

⛹️‍♂️ Swedish Inbounds

This summer, we used a basic screen-across action with players at the elbows for our baseline inbounds. It was amazing how often we scored off of it.

While a simple concept, this action created several affordances for the two players involved in the screen. In the few times we practiced it, we encouraged the players to be creative and had them face different defensive coverages.

Don’t forget the importance of the inbounder in these development situations. They need to recognize the defensive coverage in anticipation of what’s likely to be available.

The intent of this inbound wasn’t necessarily to run the action itself — it was to create situations where players seek the advantage. Deception came into play quickly. Players used slips and rejects to put the defense at a disadvantage. The better teams we faced figured out how to protect around the basket, but less disciplined teams really struggled to contain this simple action.

Sweden’s U20 men’s team ran some simple inbounds actions in a recent EuroBasket qualifier. Ireland’s coaches are probably still having nightmares. It wasn’t overly complex, but the combination of formations and actions put Sweden’s players in position to quickly exploit the affordances presented by Ireland’s defense. Let’s take a look.

Overload vs. 2-3 Zone

The first inbound play, barely a minute into the game, appears to be from the scouting report. Sweden uses an overload to exploit Ireland’s rather passive 2-3 zone defense.

The starting triangle formation quickly turns into a rectangle, creating an overload that puts Ireland’s backline in a bind when the ball-side guard makes a decisive basket cut off the point.

The spacing and movement lead to either a layup or a wide-open three. Sweden takes the three. Great option for attacking the zone.

Sideline OB: Stack

OK … it’s probably debatable whether this one can truly be called a SLOB (sideline out-of-bounds), but it could work as an automatic entry if you’re inbounding just beyond half court.

As you’ll see in some later clips, Ireland really struggled with its defensive coverages, especially on slips of screening actions. Here, some quick, simple reads lead to a wide-open three out of this Stack action.

No shot available? The formation lets Sweden flow easily into some secondary triggers, building the possession further and keeping the defense on its heels.

Baseline OB: 4 Across

Sweden quickly learned how to attack Ireland’s man-to-man inbound defense. This relatively simple action generated three layups and a great look at a three-point shot over the course of the game.

This doesn’t happen against well-drilled defenses, but the movement and screen at the ball-side elbow does enough to exploit defenses that don’t communicate well. Here, the slip becomes a simple read for the screener, especially with the man in the gap (MIG) occupied by the first player through.

The screener at the elbow has options, too — it’s this player who ends up with an open three in the second half by following their own screen.

A final thought: Sweden’s approach to these inbounds incorporate the same principle we found with our own elbow screen-across this summer. Give players a simple action, allow them the opportunity to explore, and then the freedom to attack come game-time, and they will start to see and exploit the advantages.

📖 Slices of the Game

“The essence of skill is being adaptable, finding movement solutions that work in the context of the current problem, and continuously fine-tuning the fit between person and environment.”

- Slices of the Game, Dunlop and McCosker

Friend of the podcast Drew Dunlop’s new book is now available. Drew’s been featured on two episodes and has been a big influence in how approach development with my players.

If you are looking for a summer read to grow your approach to coaching, check out 🔗Slices of the Game: From research to REPS — Experiments in Player Development.

⛹️‍♂️ Timeout Messaging

This past year people ask me constantly about coaching boys vs. girls differently. My answer usually disappoints them, but it points to something more useful.

Yes, there are some differences. But I haven’t found the gap to be as wide as people expect, including in Timeout Messaging. Sure, there’s tactical stuff that comes up. But the messaging — the non-X’s-and-O’s part — is basically the same regardless of who’s on the floor.

As a coach at the high school level, I approach most timeouts as teaching moments that go beyond drawing up a play. These become mini-clinics on context — the bigger picture — for players to gain knowledge from. More often than not, I find myself saying some version of: “I can’t promise you how this ends. Here’s what we’re focused on for the next few possessions.”

Reflecting back to how I’ve approached timeouts as both a girls and boys coach, here are some themes I keep coming back to.

Control What You Can Control

This might sound like a cliché to coaches. It’s not a cliché to a 16-year-old.

The mental part of the game is a skill — right up there with passing, dribbling, and shooting. Since taking over a program that hovered around .500 or worse, I’ve had to spend real time helping players understand what they actually control: their Attitude, Effort, and Approach.

That’s just as true with a lead as it is being down double digits.

Break the Game Down Into Possessions

The scoreboard shouldn’t matter (until it does). Helping younger players think in possessions instead of outcomes is one of the most useful habits you can build in them. In the timeouts I call, we’re almost always talking about the next possession or two, not the final score.

Stats like Kills — three straight scoreless defensive possessions, which is a stat some programs track — are a great tool for getting players to think in the micro instead of the macro.

Covet the Opportunity to Develop

Games are finite. You only have so much time to compete against a given opponent.

Especially when we’re down against a better team, I tell players this is an opportunity to covet, not check out from. It’s a chance to learn how a good opponent carries itself. It’s a chance to discover what we need to do to compete against teams like this.

‘This Is the Fun Part’

This is what I tell players in the fourth quarter of a close game. This is where you can enjoy the true essence of being an athlete (or coach).

You don’t remember the blowouts. You remember the games where players and coaches come together to compete.

There’s a real beauty in the courage it takes for a young athlete to be in that moment. You might lose. Most people don’t want to fail in public. But disappointment is as much a part of life as celebrating is — and it’s on coaches to help players to embrace and appreciate both.

A challenge as a high school coach employing a conceptual offense is layering triggers together seamlessly — especially onto the second side.

Factors like timing, spacing, and a menu of actions, coupled with different defensive coverages from an opponent, can make layering two triggers together in different parts of the court a complex situation.

I listened to an enlightening conversation between friends of the podcast Liam Jefferson and George Vaz that addressed the topic through the use of set plays in a conceptual offense. One of my big takeaways is a less-is-more approach that encourages coaches to pare down into a simple principles what they are trying to achieve on offense. From there, you can start to construct set plays that align with your players and principles.

Last season, for example, I challenged myself to build an “Entry” that used some actions we emphasized in our offense with the intent of moving the ball from one side of the court to the other. “Heavy” incorporated back-to-back Chase actions (follow your pass) with the purpose of getting a guard and big into a 2-man game at the the high slot. Coupling those first actions together provided some early ball movement and the framework and space for a two-player trigger that fit our personnel. In the episode, Liam calls these “Spacing Sets” — triggers stacked on top of each other so players can flow from one into another.

This is a big responsibility for coaches implementing a conceptual offense. We have to help players understand — especially at the lower levels — that when in Neutral against good teams, Gold Medal shots won’t typically happen off the first trigger. Players need the ability to recognize this and change course quickly. They also need the structure (spacing, off-ball movement) and tools (action) to transition quickly into the second trigger.

As Jefferson points out, these sets are best built using the triggers that you run every day in practice.

“… All of those actions and triggers are within our flow offence anyway, but we would have a call for that,” Jefferson says in the episode. “(This) meant that the players knew in the moment that we could quickly get into something because we were trying to score in one of those situations. And I think the difference with that is because we worked on each of those as one of our triggers, there’s multiple scoring opportunities within that one set play.”

* Side note: I asked Vaz a while back if false action is considered conceptual offense. His answer: Running false action for the sake of running false action is not. The difference is players should be looking to score off this initial action, not mindlessly flowing from one action to the next. When players recognize that they are in neutral and can’t attack, then the right solution is probably to initiate another trigger from a different part of the floor. Basic point: players making decisions is a key aspect of the conceptual framework.

Another takeaway is that you don’t need a lot of triggers. Jefferson says his team last season had 5 triggers they would utilize out of their arrival spacing templates when in neutral and 3 set offenses adaptable to different alignments in dead-ball situations.

Layering Together Triggers: New Zealand U17

In their game last month against Türkiye at the U17 World Cup, you can see how New Zealand layers actions together out of their arrival spacing in Neutral situation. The 2-1-2 formation puts the Big at the Nail allowing New Zealand several options as they work through a second Trigger.

This first clip shows the Initial Trigger (Chase into Corner Ball Screen) leads quickly into a Secondary Trigger (Middle Ball Screen). Notice the spacing here — It’s something I wrote about in 🔗 a previous post.

In this next clip, New Zealand changes up the second trigger a few possessions later. The Initial Trigger is the same, but this time the Big sets a Down Screen rather than setting a Middle Ball Screen.

A few things to notice in this clip …

• The big Twists into an on-ball screen after the initial Down Screen

• The 3-Side or Triple Side spacing that New Zealand forms

• The Push reaction to the dribble penetration

This final clip demonstrates how New Zealand seamlessly layers together 3 Triggers just a minute later in the quarter. This time, they start with an early offense on-ball screen from the Big, but quickly move onto the second and third Triggers.

A big point from this clip is the need to teach your players coverage solutions. New Zealand runs the same Down Screen on the reversal, but Türkiye changes its defensive coverage. In the previous clip, the defender Chases but this time they call for the Switch. These are the type of reads players need to recognize and react to on the fly.

Looking for ways to apply these ideas in practice? In one of our most popular episodes, Ryan Josephson shares some ways he taught players to flow from one Trigger to the next.

🤔 Thought Starter

“Success in sport cannot be pursued, it is attracted through who you become day by day. The goal of any team should not only be to win a match or a championship, but to deserve to win it.”

- Xesco Espar, Play from your Heart

🏀U17 World Cup: BIG Spacing, BIG Advantage

A point I like to make to my team is that good offense is about creating space.

Like a lot of programs, we use the term 4-point line spacing as a cue to get players from hanging on the 3-point line. This takes a lot of time and hard work to get players (and some youth coaches) to understand the importance of creating and holding “Big Spacing.”

The focus and impact of Big Spacing is on display at the FIBA U17 World Cup. There are a number of factors resulting in this — court length, FIBA’s 3-point line, extended pressure with a 24-second shot clock — but chief among them is the offense making the defense defend more of the court.

Check out this Australia possession from their first-day matchup against Serbia.

Australia continuously initiated and re-set its offense from this Big Spacing Area (the half-court line to about 10 feet above the 3-point line), resulting in situations where at times they seem to be playing 4v4. Play too far off the offensive player, usually a skilled ballhandler, in the Big Spacing area and the player is seemingly shot out of a cannon to get downhill with an on-ball screen or 🔗 Stampede the catch.

Of course, teammates need to recognize the situation so they can space appropriately. Here the screen is a little lower, but the recognition by the ballhandler takes place just past half court. The pace, spacing and movement creates an advantage that quickly puts the defense in a tough position.

3v3 Big Spacing Continuous

Here's one way you can start building this spacing concept into your practice and teach players to seek the early advantage. This is a Small-Sided continuous full-court drill based on an Australia possession offers players the chance to use your actions and principles of play just past half court. In this case you might start 3v3 and then build the numbers up from there.

SOME CONSTRAINTS

• 3 offensive players must be in the designated Big Spacing Area at the same time. They must run an action in this area before they can shoot. Missing a player and/or no action in this area = turnover.

• All 3 defensive players must pick up full court and defend in the Big Spacing Area. (Lose a point if they aren’t guarding in this potential point of attack.)

POTENTIAL ACTIONS

• Drag Screen

• Double Drag Screen

• Away or Flare Screen

• Ghost Screen

• Chase Action

• Dribble Pitch

POTENTIAL PRINCIPLES OF PLAY TO FOCUS ON

• Closest Takes It Out

• Time Across Half Court

• Quick Into & Out of Actions

• Play Through the Paint

🤔 Thought Starter: Mauricio Pochettino

“Whenever you arrive at a new team, a new country, a new club, you must adapt and understand the culture,” he said. “It’s grounded in respect for what already exists. Respect for the history. Respect for the symbols. Respect for what was achieved before. And, of course, respecting every person in the organization on a human level. Respect for players is a given. But that concept, respect, isn’t always easy to put into practice. People always talk about the need for respect, but you have to be consistent with it.”

But Pochettino said people often “confuse the human side of respect with the professional side.”

“The human aspect has to be impeccable,” he insisted. “Professionally, respect means constantly pushing the player, really working with them so they improve, improve, improve. Not making life easy for them, but pushing them.

“Often, the coaching staff and I find ourselves in delicate situations; for instance, the way to show respect to a player who perhaps isn’t getting playing time is to make sure they train hard. Some might say, ‘Well, the player who didn’t play is upset, so let’s not push them to train.’ But that would actually be disrespectful. Respecting him means training him hard so that when the opportunity comes, he can perform and challenge the starter. That is vital for us.”

- Inside Mauricio Pochettino’s mind and methods with USMNT || 🔗 TheAthletic.com

Slices of the Game w/ Drew Dunlop

It’s been a busy year for Drew Dunlop. A development coach in Wisconsin, Drew is about to release his first book, Slice of the Game, and recently joined the team at Slappin’ Glass.

Since we first connected in the spring of 2024, I’ve looked to Drew for help when it comes to player development. A true student of the game, I admire his work ethic and his ability to investigate all aspects of the game in designing environments for his players to find answers that stick. Drew is always learning, always tinkering and always willing to share what he’s discovered in his Wisconsin lab.

In the latest episode, we have a great discussion on what Drew has learned since our last conversation. The episode is a great resource for coaches looking to coach through an ecological lens.

In this clip from our conversation, Dunlop provides the ‘REPS’ method coaches can use to help players solve problems.

In this episode, coaches will also learn:

• What decision density means and how to layer more decision-making opportunities into drills you’re already using

• The difference between a drill that looks game-like and one that actually feels like the game — and the specific elements that close that gap

• How to use coverage solutions from your own league to design more relevant practice scenarios

• How to rep emotion and pressure in development settings without crowd noise gimmicks

• The most common mistake coaches make when first applying CLA principles — and how to avoid it

• Why the design chain from film breakdown to floor work matters for transfer to games

The episode closes with a look at Drew’s new role with Slapping Glass and their Practice Lab — a video library of quick, actionable ideas coaches can plug directly into their systems.

Take a listen …

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Summer Small-Sided Games

I used to spend hours hunting the internet and buying videos searching for the perfect drill. And what I’d find is that even “great drills” often didn’t teach what I actually needed MY players to learn. So now the first question I ask myself is: what’s the skill I’m trying to teach?

From there, I think about building a representative environment — a practice setup that mirrors a real game situation, so the decision-making transfers directly to competition. Small-sided games are the best framework for that when you shape the environment to fit exactly what your program needs.

Say we’re emphasizing the second side trigger in our principles of play. I’ll build a small-sided game — three-on-three, half court — and script the first action to force the ball into the post. Then I’ll add a constraint: the post can’t shoot, only pass back out. Now every single rep, the team has to find the second side trigger to get a good shot.

You can script parts of the game, you can create constraints, or you combine both. The more you practice building games this way, the more you’ll start creating your own. And the less time you’ll spend on the internet looking for somebody else’s.

Here are 2 drills we’ve used this summer to teach our concepts.

Other Half 2v1

This warm-up activity is opposite of what we typically preach on the perimeter — space away after a pass. But that’s why I emphasize living in the grey when it comes to basketball.

The Why? We run some Chase action that’s been effective for us at the varsity level. This framework is used to introduce the concept at a youth camp. However, we didn’t require the Chase — players were encouraged explore.

Constraints: The passer was allowed to space wherever they wanted — It just had to be on the ball side of the Help Line. It didn’t take long for players to start using Pitch and DHO’s. Even saw a few Ghost screens.

- We also included a one dribble per touch constraint. This was more of a challenge, because we didn’t call

Transition Blood Drill (Advantage)

The plan for next season is to identify some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the 4 phases of the game. This is a good way to measure aspects of your Principles of Play. When it comes to offensive transition, for example, you could measure aspects like inbound speed after an opponent’s make, the time across half court or Early Pitch Aheads (EPAs). From there, you can really hone in on building a practice plan specific to your team.

The Why? We want to transition into offense quickly, so this summer we’ve been using a lot of Blood Drills. (This works really well when you have limited numbers.) A 3v2 → 3v3 framework allows us to work on several aspects of the game we think our important. An example is with 3 offensive players, we can work on building and playing out of a 2-Side.

Constraints: The biggest one here is the advantage — 3v2 advantage for the offense (Team A) to start. But we don’t typically send the extra defender (Team B). Instead, we will “leak” Team B’s player out early from the half-court line to encourage the EPAs and get Team A immediately back into defensive mindset.

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When you watch a great conceptual offense, I’m drawn to the engineering of the system. How do the coaches and players recognize the solutions and flow seemlessly from one action to another, causing the defense to always look wrong? When I see this “flow” work in a possession I can somewhat understand the state of total consciousness Bill Murray’s character in ‘Caddyshack’ will receive as a tip after caddying for the Dalia Lama. Gunga Galunga, friends.

As they say, luck doesn’t just happen. It’s often the combination of when preparedness meets opportunity. Our job as coaches is to provide these ingredients for our players.

The latest episode focuses on how you might gift Gunga Galunga to your players. (Theory: This could explain UConn’s dominance the last few years.)

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Wesley Brooks is entering his third year as a head coach at Utah State. Prior to that, he’s a distinguished career as an assistant, include coaching stops at Texas, Michigan and Ohio State. Brooks started as a graduate assistant for John Beilein at West Virginia.

Brooks was giving of his time and resources. The interview is broken up into two parts — an audio podcast and this exclusive video for newsletter subscribers.

There was a lot of “Aha” moments for me in this interview, especially in regard to the framework Brooks’ uses for spacing concepts and the idea “Reverse Engineering” to teach offense. Here’s some of the other topics Brooks touches on.

• Why the low man is often the most important defender on the floor.

• Using spacing to eliminate tags and create offensive advantages.

• Reverse-engineering offense: teaching players how to play after the play instead of relying on set plays.

• The importance of floor geography, interior spots, and clear offensive language.

• How Utah State teaches players to attack help through concepts rather than memorization.

• Using 0.5 basketball.

• Integrating concepts through shooting drills and small-sided games.

• Offensive triggers from interior touches, including X-cuts, post splits, Laker cuts, and Punch actions.

• Practice design, film study, and the six performance metrics Brooks tracks every day.

‘What’s my role?’

I’ve been thinking about a player I’ve been working with this spring. He’s entering his sophomore year and his whole focus is on not being on the C team again.

This player probably won’t end up making an all-league team, but he loves basketball, competes hard in practice and games, and brings real value to our program. However, he is very fearful of stagnating as a player. He’s even pointed to another kid in the program and said ‘I don’t want to end up like him.’ And what I’ve noticed is that fear is almost holding him back more than anything else.

We’ve had a lot of conversations the last month about continuing to work hard, trusting the process of development, and not comparing himself with other players. But here’s what I’ve been sitting with: what he’s really asking — underneath all of it — is “what’s my role, and how do I matter to this team?”

And the more I thought about that, the more I realized that every player in the program is asking that same question. They just aren’t all saying it out loud.

That’s been an aha for me this spring. If I can answer that question for each player — here’s your role, here’s how you contribute, here’s how you matter — then accountability and buy-in can start to form.

My 4 attributes of teamwork

Attributes I appreciate when working with someone ...

• Positive Attitude

• Continuous Effort

• Willing Learner

• Team Player

Zoom as a Framework

Triggers get determined in three ways. Some are predetermined — based on the scouting report, we know going in which actions fit what we’re likely to see defensively. Some are called — a player or coach makes the call at a dead ball based on what the game is showing us. And some happen organically, which is ultimately where we want to get. An organic trigger means a player reads the defense mid-possession and initiates the right action on their own. That’s the system working.

In practice we introduce what I refer to as “complex actions” — layering two or more triggers together — and court geography. An example would be our Heavy action, which incorporates a Pass to the Second Side -> Chase -> Ghost -> Pass & Chase to Flashing Player -> Handoff. As players become more familiar with an action and geography, we then change aspects such as the defensive coverages so they start finding different solutions.

Out of our 5-out Zoom framework, for example, we’ll sometimes see the ball handler skip the handoff and pass to the wing instead. This creates a Chase opportunity that can turn into a Ghost or Handoff opportunity. That’s not going off script — that’s reading the defense and picking a better tool. We tell players as they grow more confident with the structure: if you see something better, do it.

The structure tells you where to start. The triggers are the tools you use to beat whatever the defense gives you.

This summer I’ve used our Team App as a video classroom. The short videos are intended for players, especially since we don’t see some of the multi-sport athletes that often in practice. But the videos are also for the benefit of parents so they can learn and (hopefully) appreciate the concepts we play out of.

Here’s an example of a post …

Summer Principles of Play

Summer basketball is a sandbox. Last weekend I tested a two-document system built around our principles of play.

The first document went out before we played two games on Saturday. This was a principles of play sheet identifying our major priorities for the weekend. What are we focused on? What do we want to get better at? Simple, specific, and short.

After Saturday’s games I put together a follow-up focus sheet based on what I interpreted from our play. We lost both games — one in an overtime, the other by 20 points. We missed some free throws down the stretch that would have won the first game, while in the second game, we struggled in transition defense and that allowed a player on the opposing team some clean looks from 3-point range. I think he hit 5 or 6 in the first half.

The reality for Sunday is that we only had about 5 minutes to talk as a team before stepping on the court for a short warmup. Our schedule also had us playing back-to-back game. Where were the areas we needed to improve on going into Sunday? The second document laid out the area of focus for our adjustments in our final two games.

A guiding philosophy behind both documents is load capacity. I wanted players to have two or three focal points for each side of the ball and some things to think about in regard to their mental approach. So everything on those sheets had to earn its place.

One player hadn’t looked at it before I pointed him to it, and he absorbed it quickly. That’s exactly what the document was designed to do.

Both sheets went out through our player and parent communication platform. The system worked in a lot of ways, and I’m excited to build on it going into the winter season.

Pre-Game Talks

Our pre-game talk during the regular season is usually pretty simple on the X’s and O’s side, and that’s by design. When we can, our intent is to front-load the game plan in the 48 hours before tip-off — not deliver it at tip-off.

We do that through film breakdown, a principles of play document specific to the opponent, and practice time on coverage solutions. In our conceptual offense we carry three or four entries across the season, and we’ll identify which ones fit what we’ve seen on film and how we want to attack their defensive coverage. This happens in practice and through our Team App.

By the time we’re in the locker room before the game, the talk is a reminder of what they already know. Maybe a motivational word if the moment calls for it.

\But my focus is to keep the talk short. Players are amped up right before tip-off, and honestly I’m not sure how much of what I say in that moment actually carries over. So I keep it simple and trust that the work we did the day before is what they’ll actually play with.

Front-load the game plan. Keep the talk light. Trust the preparation. As a mentor coach used to say to me before games, “The hay is in the barn.”

Practice plan responsibilities

Three responsibilities that I lean on when identifying activities for a practice plan.

• Build: Be the architect of relevant drills

• Learn: Create an environment of discovery and development

• Compete: Incorporate a spectrum of healthy competition in each drill

Anatomy of a Possession

Here’s another example of a post to our Team App …

2v2 Screen Across

This started as a toughness drill to improve our screening. Players start at the elbows and one has to screen across for the other.

We make it physical with the screen focusing on back pocket screen. After a few reps, we change the defensive coverage and allow the offense to work on solutions.

The drill turned into a baseline inbound play for us. (BLOB is at the end of the video.) So far, it’s been incredibly effective.

Frequently Asked Questions: Conceptual Offense

What is a conceptual offense?

Most offenses tell players what to do. A conceptual offense teaches them how to read the defense and react to it. While people often compare it to Read and React, the mindset is different — we’re specifically training players to recognize defensive coverages and respond to them.

We use a constraints-led approach, meaning our drills are designed to mirror real game situations. Take an on-ball screen — instead of running a set drill, we show players the coverages they’ll see and teach them the right read for each one. There’s real structure here; it’s not just letting kids freelance. But within that structure, there’s freedom. And when players get there, they’re not doing what the coach told them to do — they’re playing the game.

A conceptual offense is unique to each team and usually based on a Principles of Play guide.

Why do you run a conceptual offense?

The reason we moved to a conceptual offense is that you can’t scout adaptability. When teams run continuity offenses, opponents can build a defensive plan around their primary actions — and then you’re spending practice time on counters to your own offense.

What we do instead is teach players to run triggers from anywhere on the floor, against any coverage. If they take away our primary action on one side and we are in “neutral” — a no advantage situation — then we teach players to initiate a trigger from the other. For example, if the defense is switching everything, players can call “Mouse” and attack the mismatch.

We install a number of triggers that can be layered together to create new actions. The foundation — spacing, off-ball movement, and trigger recognition — works against any defense because it’s proactive by design. They can scout what we run. They can’t scout what we read.

What’s the underlying Philosophy behind a Conceptual Offense?

The underlying philosophy is simple: seek advantage, then exploit it.

We start by teaching players what an advantage actually looks like — a size mismatch, a skill edge, a defensive mistake. Then we scale it. What if one player can’t create an advantage alone? What does it look like when two players work together to create one? Three? From there we introduce dominoes — once the first advantage appears, we keep pressing. One domino falls, then the next, then the next. We call the progression SABA — small advantage to big advantage.

The offense might look different from possession to possession, but everything comes back to the same thing: create the advantage, exploit the advantage.

How do you use Principles of Play?

When it comes to Principles of Play for offense, we organize everything into three color-coded categories.

• Green is transition — we’re pushing for a two-sided fast break.

• Yellow is when the defense has slowed us down and we shift into action quickly, such as a Zoom or an on-ball screen action.

• Red is reserved for dead-ball situations, especially after timeouts, where we can run something more structured.

The intent of this framework is to simplify how we coach, sharpen our focus on what we actually want to accomplish, and provide players terminology and concepts for learning a contemporary approach to the game.

What’s an example of a principle? How can I use it as a coach?

Principles of play are really about team identity — what do you want to be known for?

An example for us, it’s playing through the paint. Paint touches can come from post feeds when you have bigs who can work around the basket, or from perimeter players who can drive and get to the rim. We emphasize it every day in practice around two questions: how do we get into the paint, and what do we do when we can’t finish?

That second question is where protection plans come in — players keep their dribble alive rather than picking it up under pressure, which preserves options. And when the other four players are moving and using their off-ball reads, that one paint touch can start the whole domino chain.

What role do “Micro-Principles” play in a team’s Principles of Play?

Within each phase of our principles of play, we have Micro-Principles — specific teachable behaviors that give the bigger concept its teeth.

In our Green phase of offense, for example, we have several micro-principles that we use to guide our transition. This includes things like our preferred spacing — we want to build a two-sided fast break, with two players opposite the ball at the corner and wing. Another example is how we teach defensive rebounding. We want players to Grab & Turn when they are landing so they are already in position to already see the court.

Most of the micro-principles relate to tempo. After a made basket, the Closest Player Outlets the basketball, not a designated player that you traditionally see. We also want off-ball players to Bolt down the court, as in Usain Bolt, because we want immediate speed down the floor. We also track Early Pitch Aheads, EPAs, to measure it.

Finally, there is a Clapback — we want to score within six seconds of the opponent’s made basket. That can mean a straight clapback, a clapback into dominoes, or a clapback into flow depending on what we read.

The Micro-Principles are what turn a philosophy into something players can actually execute.

What initiates the phases of a possession?

Our principles break a possession into three phases — green, yellow, and red — and each has a specific trigger.

Green is transition. We run a two-sided fast break and push the pace hard, because that’s where we get our easiest advantage situations and start the dominoes falling.

The trigger into Yellow is recognition. When the ball handler sees we’re in neutral — no advantage available — that’s the cue to initiate a trigger. That might be something simple like a pin-down or wide screen, or something more structured like Zoom or pistol action. The goal is the same: tip the first domino.

Red is triggered by a dead ball — any referee touch that stops play. That gives us a chance to set something more complex, whether it’s an inbounds play or a set we call during a stoppage.

What is a Trigger?

A trigger is an action used to create an advantage on offense. We use triggers when we’ve hit neutral — no advantage is available — and we need to generate one.

They come in basic forms. The simplest trigger is a mismatch. If the defenders switch and we get a big on a guard, we call ‘mouse’ and attack the post. Triggers can also come in the form of screening actions — pin-downs, flares, wide screens. This is great for younger players learning the system because they’re easy to read and repeat.

And then there are combined actions, where we chain two triggers together — a flare into a Get, for example — which we’ll name so players can call it themselves.

The goal is always the same: move from neutral to advantage, and start the dominoes.

What does a typical possession look like from inbound to shot attempt?

A typical possession starts at inbound with us calling an action — something like Zoom. In our 5-out system, that could mean down screens on both sides, giving the ball handler a choice. When he picks a side, we can continue through the down screen and then the handoff. Depending on the coverage, players are provided solutions intended to attack the defense.

What we’re looking for is an advantage — and at first, it’s usually small. We’re not getting a layup off the opening action. So the off-ball movement and screening that follows is designed to take that small advantage and grow it. We call it dominoes. Get the first one to fall, and each read that follows opens up something better — from a contested three, to an open three, to maybe a cutter getting to the basket after penetration. That’s a possession.

How do you teach players the difference between Green & Yellow?

The biggest reason players skip Green is that most of them come from systems where the coach dictates every decision. Transition requires them to read and react on their own — and that’s a new skill for a lot of kids. So we address it directly in practice.

We spend time specifically on recognition — what does an advantage look like in transition versus neutral? We use our two-sided fast break as the structure, but the emphasis is on the decision: are we pushing, or are we settling?

When players can answer that question in real time, skipping green stops being a problem because they understand what they’re giving up. Green is where the easiest advantages live. Once they feel that, they don’t want to skip it.

How long can it take for a team to buy in & execute the concepts?

What I tell coaches is this — it’s going to take time, and it’s going to look sloppy. That’s not a warning, that’s a promise.

A conceptual offense isn’t something you install in one practice. Players have to internalize green, yellow, red — the triggers, the off-ball reads, what neutral looks like, what an advantage looks like. There are no hard and fast rules, and that’s exactly what makes it hard.

You’re giving players freedom within structure, and learning to operate in that space takes repetition. Parents won’t always understand it. Players will look lost at first. But if you have a clear principle of play and you hold firm, the buy-in comes — because players feel the difference once it starts working. I can guarantee that. The ones who struggle are the coaches who bail before it clicks.

😎 Summer: Less Practice, More Intention

The beauty of being a life-long learner as a coach is that you always have an excuse to learn and grow. After Year 1 in my new basketball job, this spring has been one of heavy reflection and learning. Missing a trip to the state tournament by 4 points will do that to you.

In Idaho, we have full access to our players after the spring high school season ends. This week, we had three 90-minute practices available to players in our program as we prepare to play in 3 or 4 tournaments over June.

I do appreciate the constraints that the summer brings. Less practice. Ever-changing lineups. Opportunities for young players to compete at a higher level.

Most of all, you have to be intentional when the “season” is about 6 weeks, practices are minimal, and you are typically playing a couple of games per day at tournaments. A coach really has to identify what is important, especially as you build for the winter season. It’s also interesting to see what players retained from the previous season.

Summer is short and a bit chaotic, but it’s an awesome environment for teaching concepts. Here’s a 4 areas of focus for me as I work through the gap between Year 1 and Year 2.

Coaching Philosophy

An area I’ve reflected on a lot since the end of the season was my approach to practice. When I wrote down what I hoped to accomplish in a practice, three words stood out.

• Build

• Learn

• Compete

Bingo! I had found the framework for our approach toward practices and my philosophy on coaching.

What I like about these words is that each one is applicable to multiple aspects in developing a program. These concepts are versatile and ground me in all of my responsibilities as a coach.

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Coaching Commandments

Another area of focus has been my approach to coaching during practices. After I attended the Portland Fire practice earlier this month, I decided to identify some goals on how I wanted to coach practices this summer. Watching their methods and how the coaches communicated made me look at my own habits.

Summer is a great opportunity for coaches to grow too. With the condensed nature of summer basketball, I know practices must be intentional and educational. They also need to be enjoyable for the players and myself.

These goals have framed a cluster of Coaching Commandments that I’m using to guide me in my coaching during practice. I’m filming most of the practices, so I will have the opportunity to gather data on how I did.

Reaching Players Beyond Practice

The reality for my program is that practices can be a revolving door of players, especially in the last few weeks of school. The kids have so many opportunities that a summer practice is almost always conflicting with something — an early practice falls during football, while club baseball meets later in the evening. Or some players have to work or might have a big test the next day.

I could write a lot about this, but ultimately, I support young athletes playing multiple sports. As a result, I have to use other methods to disseminate information.

This includes regularly posting short videos on our program’s messaging platform. The videos are typically about a minute long and identify a concept from our Principles of Play. But they can also be just a few seconds. Earlier this week, I posted a 2v2 possession where the offense identified an awesome coverage solution against the defense.

To promote players watching the videos, I offered a donut during the school day to any player that could tell me which team was featured at the end of the video. Some ate donuts, others just heard about their teammates enjoying a treat when we met that afternoon. But I’m guessing that more players will show when I do something similar next week.

Practice Emphasis: Coverage Solutions

Now let's get into what we're actually teaching. Among other things, we’ve been installing some basic Zoom action this summer. A big teaching point is identifying solutions for different defensive coverages. This approach is the heart of implementing a conceptual offense.

Breaking down Zoom into its parts allows us to focus on 2 areas — an away screen and a dribble handoff. In both cases, we started with a 2v1 framework to work through different coverages the players might see. We scripted to begin and then moved to Bursts. (A Burst is when the same group runs through a drill several times in a row. In this case, the Burst was 3 — one time through each defensive coverage. We encourage the defender to mix up the coverage.) We continued to build up from there.

As we continue through the summer, we are using a variety of 2v2 coverage solution drills as part of our warmup.

The Redhawks didn’t lead any category, but when you compiled some of the key stats together, it was clear that this was a team that must have had a great season.

Digging a little deeper revealed that they did. A 28-7 record. Eighth in offensive field goal percentage. Sixth in defensive field goal percentage. An appearance in the NAIA Final Four. A coach who was named the Don Meyer National Coach of the Year.

There are so many good coaches at the NAIA level, including in my home state of Idaho, that I knew this was a coach I wanted to ask some questions.

The latest episode features Benedictine Mesa’s Frank Woodford talking about offensive and defensive efficiency. In the conversation, Woodford shares some of the aspects that led to his team’s special season.

It was a fun conversation that will give coaches a peak into what Woodford has done to establish the program’s identity. Here are 5 takeaways I had from the episode.

Keep it Simple

Somebody could give me this advice 1,000 times, but I still need to hear it — especially when it comes to running a conceptual offense. Woodford uses the words “simple” and “simplify” several times throughout the interview and shared how cutting back has led to success.

Use Sticky Ideas & Language for Concepts

• “Field goals over turnovers”

• “Be selfish with your field goal percentage”

• “Uncontested shots are a no-no.”

These were examples of the “sticky” language Woodford used when talking about concepts in his program. Simple phrases — there’s that word simple again — to reinforce what players should focus on throughout the possession.

What are the key principles of your program? Take some time to create player friendly language for these concepts that is easy to remember.

Intentional Use of Non-Conference Games

What are you trying to accomplish in your non-conference schedule? Or a summer basketball season? Or a youth level season?

“We get 12 non-conference games, which is awesome, because that’s a big sample size. And I tell guys all the time, I don’t mind if we start 0-12, as long as we’re prepared for conference.”

A clear philosophy and intentions in this type of competition are an important consideration for any program. For example, Woodford said it’s about Game 8 or 9 of the non-conference schedule when they hone in on defined shot profiles for players.

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Flow Out of a ‘Stalled’ Possession

What comes after the initial action or when a possession stalls is a scenario all coaches deal with. The answer I’ve heard repeatedly is creating scenarios in practice where players have to deal with it.

Woodford said this something players struggle with early because they often look to him to call a play. Woodford doesn’t want to reset, so Benedictine Mesa has actions including DHOs, Flares, and Slips that players flow into if a possession stalls.

In practice, they will use a :20 second shot clock to help recreate these situations.

Attacking after a defensive rebound

Woodford said Benedictine essentially runs two different offenses. Typically a motion team, players are encouraged to push on turnovers and defensive rebounds. They have options based on ball and player positioning, but the main point is to incentivize players to defensive rebound.

“(After a) defensive rebound, they don’t have to even look at me or listen to me … they just get to go off and run one of secondary break actions,” Woodford said.

Liz is the team psychologist for the Portland Fire, but at this moment, the task was to defend a 3-point shot from the corner in a shooting session involving some of the top basketball players on the planet. The accolade Liz earned for the speedy closeout came from first-year WNBA head coach Alex Sarama.

“How many teams have their psychologist help with shoot-around?” Alex casually asked as we continued our conversation at the conclusion of the Fire’s first practice in the Moda Center. The expansion team was preparing for its first home pre-season game against the Los Angeles Sparks.

I had no answer for Alex’s question — I’m not sure how many team psychologists help with shoot-arounds for professional organizations. But it doesn’t take long to realize that there are not many walls separating the different branches of the Fire organization.

As the players took their seats for the first of three short film sessions during the practice, seemingly every person associated with the Fire gathered around the big-screen TV stationed on the sidelines of the brand new court to watch Alex coach through the clips. With two rows of seats close to the TV, the players had the best seats in the house. But it was clear this wasn’t an exclusive activity — the coaches wanted all of the staff to be prepped for Sunday’s game strategy.

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The 2-hour practice that followed was competitive and educational. Between the film sessions and the on-court activities, not a moment was wasted. Drills were intentional, but allowed the coaches flexibility to coach when and where they saw an issue. Even from our second-row seats, you couldn’t help but to be engaged.

During early-practice shooting drills, coaches were like Liz, jumping in-and-out of drills to help contest shots. Scout players were deep in conversation discussing the particulars of the actions Los Angeles could run and what Kelsey Plum might do in the next day’s game. Small-sided games were used to teach and reinforce key concepts on both sides of the ball. Players were constantly asked questions to see what they recalled from a previous session or what they had learned during this practice.

And there were smiles. Lots of smiles from players, coaches and support staff (and the observers) over the practice.

Here are 4 quick takeaways from my time at the practice.

Look to “un-silo” your program

Who are the people like Liz in your organization? Strength and conditioning coaches? Administration? Parents? Donors? Teachers? Fans?

How can you create a program that strengthens relationships, rather than keep stakeholders in their silos? Maybe invite your athletic director to participate in a shooting drill or hold an open practice for parents or have players from your feeder program sit on the bench during games.

Making film more practical

The Fire broke down what would have been a 30 minute film session outside into 3 separate “mini-clinics” where the longest lasted 10 minutes. The film sessions served double duty as water and rest breaks for the players.

More importantly, players watched film and then immediately started activities related to what they just saw.

In addition, a staff member recorded each one of these mini-clinics by the coaches for future use. This is a great way to archive practice commentary and see your growth.

Game planning with 3v3

The Fire used small-sided games to help install the game plan against Los Angeles for both the offense and defense.

It’s early in the season, so realistically a practice like Saturday’s probably won’t be an option for a WNBA team in July or August or for back-to-backs. But the approach has benefits for coaches at all levels to consider, such as installing concepts against what players will actually see and the opportunity for players to develop their skills.

Portland used a lot of 3v3 activities to fine-tune offensive actions and off-ball movement as well as their defensive coverages such as close-outs and traps. They were limited to two baskets, but each end of the floor worked as a station each with a certain focus. They did run some different 5v5 situations against the scout team, but most of the coaching happened in the 3v3 activities.

Questions to consider: What concepts in your system could you isolate in a 3v3 setting? What two or three actions from a main rival could you turn into a 3v3 SSG?

Individual scouts

The Fire placed velcro on some reversible jerseys, with each one having a different Sparks’ players’ photo on the front.

This might not be practical at lower levels, but another coach who was watching the practice suggested having the opposing team’s jersey numbers printed to velcro on. We have several different colored pinnies so we can identify different players.

🤔 Thought Starter: Leadership Paradoxes

“Leaders play a huge role in building culture. That is easy to acknowledge. What is much harder to see is how leaders manage two key paradoxes that always emerge within a culture: the chorus paradox and the harvest paradox.

The “chorus paradox” requires a leader to balance the tension between singing from the same song sheet while enabling distinct voices. When can we act as one, and when do we leverage the fact that we are many different people working together? The “harvest paradox” requires a leader to balance the tension between harvesting results today and cultivating the soil for tomorrow. When do we focus on the future, and when do we focus on the present?”

- Spencer Harrison, 🔗 TheAthletic.com

⛹️ The Drill Isn’t The Point

NOTE: The following is part of a series on conceptual offense I’m developing for coaches in a feeder program.

Success in an invasion sports like basketball relies on the ability to make correct decisions … quickly.

Take a second to think about the potential questions a player could face in a drive for a layup attempt against help defense. Literally, just take a second, because that’s how long the player might have to identify, process and decide what to do in these situations. A layup attempt is not so “simple” when defense is added to the equation.

When I frame it like that to coaches I work with they see why decision-making should be prioritized.

It’s incredibly important to be an architect of decision-making situations at lower levels. Besides developing players at lower levels, college and pro coaches want players that are elite at decision-making.

“I hope (high school coaches) continue to diversify the skill set of their players. They allow them to make the right reads within their offense, …. they can transition into any system.” Idaho men’s coach Alex Pribble told me in a recent episode. “It’s a little bit harder if they’re just running one set every time down the court.”

This is why nearly all the drills we do are underpinned by making decisions. We need players who won’t freeze when something unexpected happens during a game. We need players who are problem-solvers on the court. And we need a team of players who can dribble, pass and shoot at every position.

So how can you incorporate decision-making skills into the development of your players? Here are a few ideas.

1. Determine the ‘Why?’

A simple question that can get overlooked by coaches when it comes to drills is “Why?”

Write down the drills that are part of a recent practice plan and next to each explain the why behind each activity. Then, deconstruct the decision-making scenarios players face. Could the drill be slightly modified to include more choices a player might see in the actual game?

Something you might find is the drill isn’t the important tool. Development happens in the decisions a player faces within a drill whether they should shoot, pass or move. New decisions form for players off the ball. A Constraints-Led Approach is based on the idea that skills emerge in scenarios that meld a variety of constraints, including task (action), environment (geography), and individual (ability).

Slight variation by the defense from rep to rep is more representative of the game.

Application

A method you can use at any level to add a read is attacking closeouts into a layup. A simple decision to incorporate is changing how the defender closes out. They decide whether to force right or left on the closeout after tossing the ball to the offensive player.

Add more variability by constantly changing the start point. Increase difficulty — and decision making — by adding a “help” defender around the basket. Evolve the drill by adding a shooter opposite.

2. Defensive Coverages as the Teacher

Defensive coverages are an incredible tool when it comes to developing a player’s decision-making abilities. As mentioned above, giving a defender the ability to force the offensive player right or left dramatically changes the nature of the situation.

“Guided defense” gives a specific look so offensive players can practice against a coverage, rather than just a “dummy” defense. Consider giving the defense two coverages in any drill to work with. We will often have the defense meet briefly before each rep to determine which one they will run.

One of the first coverage we introduce deals with how the opponent might deal with off-ball screens. Will they stick with their man through the screen or switch? You will hear “screen your own” in a lot of practices when are prepping for a team that’s likely to switch off-ball screens.

Application

Knowing which actions an opponent is likely to switch is one of the most valuable pieces of game-planning information you can give your players — a point Eric Fawcett made to me in an episode of the podcast.

Once you’ve identified the probable defensive coverages, build “coverage solutions” into your practice. At lower levels, think about the most commons defenses you face.

For example, a simple warm-up drill is a 2v2 Dribble Hand-Off on the perimeter where the defense switches coverages. This creates an environment where the offensive players have to read the defense, make a decision, and improvise with actions such as a Keep (not handing the ball off) or Back Cutting before receiving the ball.

3. Coaching through Constraints

The use of constraints is such a powerful tool in player development, especially when it comes to a skill like decision making. Utilizing a CLA approach goes hand-in-hand when incorporating a conceptual offense.

The important idea for coaches to remember is all the forms a constraint can take.

“A CLA emphasizes how basketball skills emerge within the interaction of the three constraint categories:

• Task Constraints: The rules of small-sided games, the points system, the space that can be played, etc.

• Environmental Constraints: Factors like court conditions, crowd noise, or lighting, in addition to sociocultural constraints and “forms of life.”

• Individual Constraints: A player’s physical, mental, and emotional characteristics. For instance, their height, weight, wingspan, mood, fatigue, etc.

Rather than isolating techniques in drills, a CLA requires coaches to design practices that mimic the complexity of the real game.”

- Source: Transforming Basketball

A small-sided game scenario, for example, might restrict players from dribbling to encourage the defense to pressure the offense. Or it might reward an extra point if player finishes off 2 feet in the paint against help. Or it might have a “big” go against different-sized players in a dribbling drill.

Constraints aren’t punishments, they are an important tool in building your team’s Principles of Play. It’s your job as a coach to constantly monitor the situation in an effort to add, drop or adapt constraints throughout a practice. When done correctly, this creates practical learning environments and initiates engagement for players and coaches alike.

Application

Constrain players to one side of the court when working on your transition attack. We use a 3v3v3 continuous format where players are restricted from the sideline to about 5 feet on the other side of the key. The drill is typically 5-8 minutes and incorporates a make-it, take-it rule.

To emphasize decision-making, We include scoring constraints (added value) if the team scores out of specific actions, such as a Flare screen. We also regularly have 3-second back-court violation and 10-second shot clock to encourage pace.

The team that makes better decisions across a game wins. It’s that easy. But decision-making is skill that needs to be worked on at all levels — early and often.

If you are new to this approach, start small. Pick just one drill from your next practice plan. Write the why next to it. Then ask yourself what decision a player in your program is actually making.

Build from there using different defensive coverages, tighter constraints, and higher stakes. Remember, drills are more effective in teaching your concepts when they include decision-making situations for players.

If you are a more veteran coach, design an entire practice around a trigger with each drill incorporating decision-making aspects from warming-up to the finish.

📓 Playbook: Southwestern U SLOB

I found this sideline inbounds play from Southwestern University was watching some games from the NAIA Men’s National Tournament. It’s not nearly the action, but the way they get into the action. If you are looking for something a bit different, check it out.

I spent a season filming practices for the men's basketball team. The head coach was Joe Cravens — and if you've ever heard him on a basketball telecast, he talks exactly like that in person. 🔗 Check it out. He was genuinely good to me.

I enjoyed the experience, though as they say, some of us take longer to mature than others. Not quite mature enough to recognize the opportunity in front of me — or the importance of going to class — I moved on to other things. But as a North Idaho kid, I've always followed Vandal basketball. (Orlando Lightfoot was the GOAT.)

So it meant a great deal to sit down with Alex Pribble for the podcast this week. Pribble has done remarkable work in Moscow over the last three years. By most measures — KenPom and NET ratings chief among them — Idaho is the most improved Division I program in the country over that span. Led by a roster built largely from Idaho talent, Pribble took the Vandals to their first NCAA Tournament in 36 years.

That kind of success, combined with today’s college basketball landscape, makes this time of year incredibly demanding for coaches. I appreciate Pribble making time during the portal recruiting period to appear on the show.

There's a lot to take away from this episode. The video below clips two sections. I asked Pribble about rebounding — Idaho made remarkable strides on the boards last season, finishing among the top defensive rebounding teams in the country. I paired that with his thoughts on transition offense. The Vandals prioritize early pass-aheads to attack before a defense can set, and as any coach knows, securing a defensive rebound is usually what opens the door to get out and run.

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Most coaches emphasize actions. I believe the best coaches focus on principles — especially for players off the ball.

We can get caught up in the triggers of a conceptual offense. Don’t get me wrong, they are important. But it’s the decisions from the players not involved in the trigger that drive the success of a conceptual offense.

Do your players understand the importance of creating a two-gap for a dynamic ballhandler who has just received the ball? Can your players Push and Pull in tandem on a drive? Which player should cut off the ball when the drive stalls out on the block?

Helping players find the answers to these questions is where good conceptual coaches live.

Conceptual offense isn’t a system that comes in a neat-and-tidy hour-long video that you can buy for $29.99. It’s more of a shared language of principles that is malleable to ever-changing situations. It’s the responsibility of a coach to be an architect of these situations so that players in their program can internalize, demonstrate and adapt in game-like scenarios.

With that said, a high school coach in Arkansas asked me a great question last week. If I was introducing a conceptual offense to a ninth grade team, where would I start on Day 1. Here’s my attempt at a neat-and-tidy $29.99 video answer.

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1. Spacing / Gap Creation

Players recognizing and understanding the importance of floor geography is an important aspect of building your offense (and defense). A coach once said that this knowledge is the driver of meaningful communication. “Knowing where I’m at, where my teammate is at, and where the ball is at” becomes a pathway for meaningful dialogue.

Meanwhile, gap creation is about players spacing the floor with intention. Show players the difference between a single gap and a double gap. Follow that by asking players the ways purposely expanding the size of a gap can hurt the defense. A couple answers you might look for: Creating a driving lane and developing a decision window.

A key teaching point is that gaps aren’t static. Off-ball players need to read the defense and often move before the trigger — whether it involves one player or more. Recognize, then move.

3-Player Gap Walk-Through: A fun drill to start with is to have 3 players a gap apart come up with ideas for creating a double gap. Start with 3v0, but quickly add a defense. As a coach, watch, analyze, and then start to constrain. Also, consider having the offense meet for 10 seconds to determine their method for gap creation.

2. Push-Pull Movement

Penetration reactions is where I believe you need to focus a lot of time.

Let’s say the ballhandler uses the double gap to drive into the paint. What happens for the other perimeter players? In a Day 1 practice, I would start with Push or Pull reads to help with movement and spacing that will challenge the defense.

Push = A drive toward an off-ball player “pushes” the player away from the ball.

Pull = A drive away from an off-ball player “pulls” the player toward the ball.

A key teaching point is that reactions are not just based off the offensive action. Off-ball players need to work on reading the defensive positioning and the spacing situation. In some scenarios, a better solution might be to back cut.

2v1 Drive-Kick: Have 2 players on the perimeter with one as the driver. The on-ball defender will open up right or left to initiate drive, with the off-ball player either pushing or pulling. The defender stops the drive before the paint to force the pass and shot.

3. Protection Plans

There’s nuance in a conceptual offense because the environment will be different in every situation where there’s a paint touch. “They can do whatever they want” is not the right answer.

This is where coaching conceptually becomes much more than rolling the basketballs out. This is where concepts come into play and you become an architect designing game-like environments.

It’s important to start with teaching the driver protection plans such as Barkley’s or Nash’s if a drive is stalled. A dead dribble limits options. A Barkley or Nash keeps the dribble alive, allowing for offensive options. Attacking out of these options is what you should be teaching.

One concept we teach is getting to “Home Base” — a concept from Doug Novak — where a player dribbles to the front of the basket, with shoulder to rim and toes facing the sideline. From here, the player has an option for a delayed attack or look for a teammate on a second-cut read.

A key teaching point is that protections plans should be taught to every player. A Barkley stays near the paint for a post-up while a Nash can create distance to reset a possession. All players need to know both.

1v1 Barkley or Nash into Home Base: A simple 1v1 is a great way to start with Protection Plans. Script the first part, so the defender forces the offensive player into a Barkley or Nash. The offensive player needs to get to Home Base and play from there. A couple of delayed-attack options to teach include a chin fake + shimmy (quarter back pivot) into a shot or a step-through.

4. Second Cut Reads

Along with delayed attacks from Home Base, this is where you should start to introduce Second-Cut Reads when a drive attracts other defenders.

Second-cut reads such as a cut or a lift help when a drive is stalled, but they also become intentional strategic actions to disrupt assignments as defensive coverages become more intricate. For example, if you know where a double team is coming from, you might have the help’s man cut off the post.

Another second-cut read we teach is a Kill Cut. This is a weakside action — usually from the slot or wing — where the off-ball player cuts toward the basket on baseline drives.

A key teaching point is that there are a lot of options here. As a coach, be wary of introducing too many options all at once. Keep it simple, but create an environment where players need to make decisions in these situations.

3v2 Barkley into a Second Cut Read: In this 3v2 advantage game, have one defender act as help, meeting the driver to force a Barkley. The drive initiates Push-Pull reactions by the other two offensive players. The second defender will then guard one of the perimeter players, creating a big advantage shot or drive.

5. Let Them Play

Finally, we would let them play 5v5. Script the starts so that the possession starts with a drive. Move the initial drive to different spots on the floor.

This is where you need to be patient — it probably won’t look great — but that doesn’t mean you are not coaching. An approach to consider that I picked up from an online FIBA clinic by Guy Molloy.

• I have to show them what I want

• I have to tell them what I want

• They have to show and tell me what they learned

Give them 5 minutes to show what they’ve learned so you can diagnose where they are struggling and then implement constraints — both positive (an extra point for any score off a second-cut read) and negative (a turnover if a player doesn’t create space on the drive).

Use the weaknesses to guide your next practice plan. Perhaps your players struggle with pivoting, you now have the framework for some development activities the next day.

In my experience, players almost always show understanding and improvement with this approach — faster than you’d expect.

Good offense is not necessarily about running plays. It’s about consistently producing the right shots.

A previous post looked at some ways college coaches use a simple spectrum to develop their approach to producing the right shots. It can be more nuanced than this, but a basic Shot Spectrum might place the highest value on Advantage Shots Around The Rim → Free Throws by Good Shooters → Paint Kickout 3’s.

In developing your offensive identity, something like Play Through The Paint could be included in your Principles of Play. From here, you can start to build an offensive approach that seeks to create advantages that produce shots derived through paint touches.

Further defining what Playing Through The Paint means can help develop the structure to your offense, including the Triggers you might use to create an advantage. (As I like point out, this is when a Less-is-More mantra is an important guide.) More important, however, it will help you create concepts the players can incorporate when the action goes “off script.”

The most common triggers involve 2 or 3 players, but it’s important to remember that solo triggers (i.e. 1v0 through pace in transition or 1v1 against a poor defender) might be the easiest way to create a paint touch in some situations. From here, you can start to build out what a possession could look like and the create activities and scenarios for practice and development.

Here’s an example if the offense creates an advantage in a transition situation.

• Kick-ahead pass finds a player at the opponent’s wing

• Small-Advantage drive creates a paint touch

• Help stops rim attempt, initiating a protection plan like a Nash

• Perimeter players run second-cut options on the drive

• Kick-out from driver to open man on perimeter

• One-more pass for shot

Here’s an example of how you might deconstruct a principle such as Play Through The Paint to help develop the concepts of your offense. In this case, there 5 areas of focus that can help development and practice planning.

1. Fight for the Rim

Players should attack the paint relentlessly with the intent of creating layups or forcing help defense.

METHODS

• Create and drive gaps

• Cut behind help

• Roll hard in ball screens

• Post seals on drives (Gortats)

ACTIVITY: Here’s a rim-run transition drill we’ve worked on early in a season to teach the idea of an early post or seal.

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2. Play Inside-Out

Paint touches should lead to player and ball movement if no advantage rim shot. This can produce open catch-and-shoot 3s or lead into another trigger.

Playing inside-out means you will need to teach players Protection Plans and how to read Double Teams from the defense.

Rules in practice might include:

• No perimeter shot without a paint touch

• Drive → kick → extra pass

• Post touch → inside-out

ACTIVITY: Umbrella 4v3 is a drill we’ve used a lot to teach off-ball movement with paint touches. University of Windsor head coach Chris Cheng shared this & it’s great for reinforcing your spacing concepts on a drive.

3. Chase Space

When the ball enters the paint, players must relocate to open passing windows. The purpose is to create clean passing angles and uncontested shots.

Examples:

• Drift

• Lift

• Exchange

• Cut off post

ACTIVITY: Here’s the structure for a “Chase Space” drill that Skyline High School’s Ty Keck shared with. This particular activity stressed cutting off a post touch, but perimeter spacing can easily be incorporated.

4. Shot Discipline

Players must know which shots belong to them. This requires player self-awareness i.e. “What’s my role?”

Coaching points

• Great shooters shoot open 3s

• Non-shooters attack closeouts

• No contested pull-ups early in clock

• Learn to move from OK shots to good shots to great shots

• Develop understanding and awareness of the shot clock

The goal: Players think about the process of offense. One way to do that is track shot quality in practice.

Methods

• Shot grading (Gold/Silver/Bronze)

• Practice scoring based on shot value

• Video breakdown of possessions

• Substitutions for poor decisions

5. Defensive Applications

Understanding shot value also helps build a defensive strategy. Simply put, the goal becomes to takeaway the shots you are trying to get on offense, and force your opponent into low-value shots.

Here some principles to consider on the defensive end.

• Protect the Rim

• Eliminate Paint Touches

• Force “Surrender Shots”

• Control the Three Types of 3s

• Turn Misses Into Offense

ACTIVITY: Here’s a 3v3 version of a “No Paint” drill we’ve used with both the boys and girls. The offense has 10 seconds to drive the ball into the paint, but they can only catch the ball outside the 3-point line. Point goes to offense for getting 2 feet in the paint, point to defense for stop or turnover.

I’m fortunate that he’s just down the road from our program … and even more fortunate for his openness. He shares ideas, tells the truth, and even opens up his gym so other coaches like myself can grow. That kind of generosity sharpens everyone, which is a core principle for the Idaho Basketball Coaching Podcast.

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That’s why his team’s upset over top-seeded Owyhee in this year’s Idaho 6A state championship mattered beyond the result. After the game, Anderson pointed to Owyhee’s sustained success — both in Idaho and nationally — as a force that’s pushed programs like his to improve. I’ve felt that same effect firsthand watching what he’s built on both the boys and girls sides.

After that win, there was no better coach to open our 2026 podcast series.

Conceptual Defense

As long-time listeners know, most of our episodes live on the offensive side of the ball— but every couple of years, we’re “contractually obligated” to talk defense. 🤣

This is one worth your time.

Anderson’s group played elite defense throughout their state championship run, and this conversation digs into what feels like the next wave of defensive thinking. One idea that stuck with me from the episode: if you want to disrupt conceptual offenses, you have to meet them with a conceptual defense.

In this episode, Anderson breaks down several of his core defensive principles and shares practical ways to teach them—especially when it comes to developing peel switching within your system.

In the clip below, he walks through a few of those key concepts in action.

These principles create a roadmap for both the coaching staff and players throughout the season. Without them, a team can feel like it’s driving off-road, bouncing through trees and streams in search of the destination. Clear principles provide a path. It may twist and turn at times, but it’s paved and marked with landmarks and mile markers that help everyone understand where they are and where they’re going.

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This past season, “Play Through the Paint” was the cornerstone of our offensive Principles of Play. Nearly 60 percent of our shots came from the key, with the majority occurring at the rim. (I still need to sort through our data to determine how many of those shots were generated directly from paint touches.) Establishing quality paint touches was something we emphasized early in games, and it was the principle we consistently returned to throughout the season.

More importantly, this principle helped define how we practiced and which actions we emphasized. The art, beauty, and sometimes frustration of coaching is that there are many ways to accomplish a principle like Play Through the Paint. What that looks like will vary from team to team. One program might rely heavily on ball screens and drives, while another might emphasize post touches, cutting, or transition attacks.

Your job as a coach is to determine the best way to achieve that principle based on your unique situation, such as your coaching background, your players’ abilities, and the environment you’re working in.

For coaches interested in building a concept-driven offense, one piece of advice is to embrace the idea that less is more. If you try to emphasize everything, you’ll likely execute very little at a high level.

So how do you start defining and incorporating a principle like Play Through the Paint?

There are many ways to approach it, but a recent series of stories by Michael Cohen of Fox Sports offers some helpful insight into how several Division I coaches think about offensive principles. (Shout out to George Vaz — 🔗 Beyond the Playbook and Transforming Basketball — for pointing me toward the series.)

One of the stories focuses on the 🔗 “shot selection revolution” happening in college basketball. he article is structured as a collection of quotes from coaches discussing the topic. Here are six takeaways from the article (with an assist from AI) that can help you think about your program’s shot spectrum as you prepare for next season.

1. High-Value Shots Are Clearly Defined

Most coaches referenced a shot hierarchy. This is based on shots that generate the best points per possession (PPP).

Highest value shots

• Dunks / layups at the rim

• Free throws

• Open catch-and-shoot 3s

Todd Golden: Rim 2s and catch-and-shoot 3s.

Sean Miller: Free throws (by a good shooter) → dunks at the rim → open 3s by the right shooter.

2. Paint Touches Create the Offense

Several coaches emphasized the paint as the engine of offense.

Kelvin Sampson:

• Paint touches force help defense

• Help creates kickouts

• Kickouts create open 3s

This produces the classic inside-out offense. Ben McCollum described the sequence clearly: Spacing → Layups → Kickout 3s … Not the reverse.

3. Early Offense Opportunities

Ryan Odom highlighted transition as a prime scoring window because:

• Defense is not organized

• Matchups are not set

• Closeouts are late

Teams that attack early possessions often get cleaner looks.

4. Not All Shots Are Equal

Coaches are teaching players to recognize contextual value. Factors affecting shot value:

• Shooter ability

• Degree of defensive contest

• Time on shot clock

• Game situation

• Pass sequence (extra pass vs forced shot)

Example from McCollum: A contested layup may be worse than an open kick-out 3.

5. Bad Shots Are Treated as Turnovers

Brad Underwood emphasized this strongly. Examples of unacceptable shots:

• Contested midrange early in clock

• Contested 3 with time remaining

• Isolation pull-ups with no paint touch

Some teams even substitute players out for poor shot decisions.

6. Teach Shot Selection Explicitly

Many staffs treat shot selection like a curriculum. Examples:

• Illinois: “Olympic medal” grading system (Gold / Silver / Bronze)

• Virginia: “Cav Score” Daily grading of shot quality for players

• Duke: Classroom-style shot selection teaching

• Louisville: Higher point values in practice for great shots

• Iowa State: Players call bad shots “Surrender!”

Offensive Principle to consider: “Play for the best shot, not always the first shot.”

🤔 Thought Starter: Paradox of Involving

In the early 2000s, two organizational management professors, Majken Schultz and Mary Jo Hatch, were studying the corporate branding of the LEGO Group when they came across what they called the “paradox of involving.”

Every organization in transition faced a tension between “cultural heritage and contemporary relevance.” New leaders usually want to make their mark, to push in a direction that felt distinct from the past. But was it possible to use the past and still move forward?

“No culture is completely new,” said Spencer Harrison, a professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD in France. “It is always layers of history building upon each other like layers of sediment.”

- Rustin Dodd, TheAthletic.com, 🔗 The Seahawks didn’t just win the Super Bowl. They did something even more challenging

🗣️ End-of-Season Feedback

I just wrapped up my first season in a new program, and it was a great learning experience. As a coach, I really appreciated the way our players adapted to a new system and a different coaching style. They competed for each other and kept working all the way to the final buzzer. Unfortunately, we came up just short in a state play-in game and didn’t get to extend the season.

Now that the season is over, it’s time for some honest reflection. Like most coaches know, the list of things to improve seems to grow a little every day once you step back and evaluate the season.

One thing I’m trying to do is involve our players in that process. If we’re going to build the best program we can, both on and off the court, their perspective matters. I’m asking them to help us shape the roadmap for where we go next.

To do that, I shared a Google Form with our players to collect feedback about the season. The questions are loosely based on a questionnaire our school’s football coach uses with his team.

The form has only been open for a couple of days, but it has already produced some thoughtful feedback. It’s optional for players, but I’ve also given my supervisor access so there’s transparency in the process.

I’m excited to use what we learn from this as we head into Year 2 and continue growing the program, and honestly, to help me grow as a coach too.

Below is the bulk of the form. For those of you who survey players at the end of the season, I’d love to hear on what you’ve found works and what doesn’t. Also, how have you specifically used player feedback to help improve your program?

1. SELF REFLECTION

➡️ On a scale of 1-10 (10 being highest), how would you rate your experience during the 2025-26 season.

➡️ What are you most proud of this season and why?

➡️ What was the hardest part of the season for you and why?

➡️ If you could change one thing from this season, what would it be and why?

2. VISION

➡️ What type of program do you want Sandpoint Basketball to be known as both on and off the court?

➡️ What type of basketball player do you want to become?

➡️ If a teammate described you at your best playing basketball, what would they say? How might they describe you in regard to being a teammate?

➡️ Who do you want to become outside of basketball? What kind of teammate, student, worker, son, or friend do you want to be known as?

➡️ What habits do you have to support your identity as a basketball player, teammate, and the person you want to become?

3. SELF ASSESSMENT

➡️ Rate yourself 1 to 5 (5 being an All-State level) in the following areas:

Skill

• Shooting consistency

• Finishing through contact

• Ball handling under pressure

• Passing and decision-making

Basketball IQ

• Off-ball movement

• Defensive positioning

• Understanding team concepts

• Film study habits

Physical

• Strength

• Speed

• Conditioning

• Durability

Mental

• Response to mistakes

• Communication

• Practice intensity

• Coachability

➡️ What are the Top 2 limiting factors for you? How do you intend to fix these?

4. PLAYER-CREATED ACTION PLAN

➡️ What are 2 basketball skills you will prioritize this offseason? How will your growth in these areas help the team?

➡️ How often each week will you work on them? What will the development look like? (Be specific.)

➡️ Describe how will you personally track your development in these 2 skill areas.

5. SUPPORT

➡️ What specific feedback do you want from Coach Knowles this offseason?

• Technical (skill breakdown, film study, shooting form)

• Tactical (decision-making, defensive reads)

• Mental (confidence, consistency, response to mistakes)

• Leadership (communication, voice, presence)

➡️ What type of coaching helps you improve the most?

• Direct and blunt

• Guided questions

• Film-based feedback

• Skill demonstration

• Written evaluation

➡️ Elaborate on how I can help you reach your development goals through the feedback

➡️ What accountability structure do you want from me?

• Weekly check-ins

• Monthly performance review

• Workout log review

• Strength goal tracking

• Text reminders

➡️ How can I support you in life?

• Do you want help with college planning

• Career exploration

• Leadership growth

• Time management

• Communication skills

➡️ Are you willing to be part of a month-long leadership book study this spring? This would include reading 2-3 chapters a week with approximately 4 group discussions.

➡️ Any additional thoughts or ideas that were not included in the previous questions that you would like to suggest or share.

🎥 Penetration Reactions

Playing through the paint was one of our core principles this season, so we spent a lot of practice time working on penetration reactions.

One way we built this into practice was with a start-of-practice progression off a slot or point drive. Most of the time the protection plan was a Barkley, so we began with a simple kick-out for a shot based on a second-cut read.

From there, we progressed to a drive off the kickout where players had to react to the second drive with proper spacing or a Gortat seal.

We finished the progression with 3v3 live play, where the offense kept the ball if they scored. It was a simple way to reinforce paint touches, spacing, and decision-making in a competitive environment.

📓 The Playbook: BLOB

I spent most of Saturday watching the Idaho state championship games. There were a lot of great X’s and O’s throughout the day, including this baseline out-of-bounds action from Lewiston.

It was a great call by Coach Brooks Malm, especially considering the personnel he had on the floor and the way Bishop Kelly was defending the inbounder. It’s a good example of adjusting a set to take advantage of what the defense is giving you. If you have access to the NFHS Network, I’d encourage you to take some time and study what Lewiston is doing on the offensive end.

By the way, congratulations to Bryan Chase at St. Maries and James Anderson at Lake City for winning state titles. In addition, Andy Harrington from Owyhee finished as a runner-up. All three coaches have episodes on the podcast that I encourage you to listen to.