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Front Cut vs Back Cut
Hello I’ve got a team of 10 yr old boys, low “A” level, and we’ve been feeding them a constant dose of R&R for the 1st half of the season. We are keeping it very simple and not touching post ups. I’ve been trying to encourage front cuts, but they seem to naturally gravitate to back cuts. We use a lot of dribble-ats, not a lot of east-west passing, and the crew are not good at processing read-line violations. The lack of east-west passing and the poor read-line recognition go hand in hand. Because dribble-ats are the main thing, they have got conditioned to back cuts, and front cuts are coming hard. Also, I’m having a hard time getting them to execute quality cuts, the are watching the ball-handler and not breaking away from their defender.
Question 1: How much emphasis should I place on forcing the front cut?
Question 2: Do I get them to front-cut on dribble-ats (to break the habit), or stick with back-cuts?
Question 3: Any suggestions on how to encourage more aggressive cutting?
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Coach Graham -
2 Replies
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The Front Cut is open when the defense does not take it away. The best way to explain it is to draw a line from the passer to the goal. If the defender is on the line or on the weakside of the line, take the Front Cut. If the defense is positioned on the ballside of the line, then take the Rear Cut.
Dribble-Ats usually create Rear Cuts, so I would not force the Front Cut on a Dribble-At.
The reason your players are choosing Dribble-At’s instead of Passing & Cutting is they might feel like passing is unsafe – especially if the team is not using the Read Line. Place your SPOTS about 4 feet outside the arc (the corner spots are the exception – not much you can do about them). Show them that if the defender is inside the arc that they cannot steal the pass – even if they know it’s coming. (If they can steal it, then move your SPOTS out further. Show them, teach them, drill them that a Pass creates TWO opportunities at the same time: (1) the Cutter to the goal and (2) the teammate filling the empty spot has the best chance of a Read Line Rear Cut, Curl the Puppydog, Open Shot, and Momentum Move. (See the best drill on this subject in Layer 1 under Filling the Empty Spot.
There is not easy way to encourage hard cutting. It takes every trick in your book, both positive and negative. Stroke the kid who cuts hard. Punish those who do not. Make playing time a function of hard cuts. Keep a “Hard Cut” chart and reward and praise the leaders. Emphasize that EVERYONE can be a hard cutter TODAY. This is not a skill like shooting or dribbling that takes a lot of time to create. In the Read & React, cutting sets up everything else. So I don’t care if we only score a handful of points on a Pass, Cut, Lay-up. CUTTING HARD is the circulation system for a healthy R&R offense. It dies without it.
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This is excellent feedback, thanks for taking the time.
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Coach Graham
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