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Transition

  • Posted by jnolte on March 15, 2019 at 7:58 am

    I just finished watching the video and am wondering what others have done to teach these concepts. Do you do them during full court trips? How do you teach your outlet to stay on the move? Do you designate one player as the preferred outlet?

    I would love to hear how coaches train these habits.

    Brent Schwan replied 4 years, 6 months ago 4 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Coach Rick

    Organizer
    March 15, 2019 at 10:19 am

    I would love to hear from other coaches as well! Personally, I would train as much as I could in Full Court Trips, but some of the situations would have to be set up. I have found it difficult to gain a quick advantage on the defense is I have a designated outlet – except on made shots and certainly on FTs.

  • jnolte

    Member
    March 17, 2019 at 8:23 am

    So do you just have the closest to these spots fill them? I am thinking wide outlet, 2 sidelines and a rim runner

  • Nelson Handel

    Member
    March 30, 2019 at 12:51 pm

    I’ve given this issue a lot of thought, seeking to implement a transition strategy that meshes seamlessly with the R&R, and employs the same sort of thinking–positionless, principled, spacing, opportunistic. I ran Roy Williams’ North Carolina break for a couple of years, which is basically what you describe: outlet to the side, pass forward to a player sprinting up the wing, and send a rim runner. At the youth level, this would often result with either a pass to the rim runner at the rim, a drive from the wing, or an early tres.

    But i found this a bit too predictable and structured for my tastes, so this last year, as a HS varsity coach, I started running a modern two-side break, which I learned from Coach Chris Oliver.

    You start with a spacing template, instructing your runners to fill the two 90s (baseline spots) and one 45 (wing) spot (teach them to break to the sideline and then look over their inside shoulder, then teach everyone never to pass to anyone looking over the outside shoulder). Anyone can fill any of these spots, so the break is positionless.

    The rebounder first looks to pass forward to the “one side.” The next principle is “early and opposite.” As soon as the ball goes forward, we look to IMMEDIATELY skip the ball to the “two-side.” This crosses up the defense, which is either running to the outlet side or the paint, looking at the ball. We then play out of the two-side, either with an early and open tres, a catch and pass to thwart a close-out, a drive from the 45, or a bam-bam (pass and pass back). All of these simple actions cross up the transition D and usually result in early offense.

    On any break, the other two players trailing the play read, and react, either by filling the point spot or rim running. They simply see the play ahead and find some way to contribute or exploit.

    The break has other options as well. If the rebounder cannot advance the ball to the one side, he can advance it to the two side, and they skip it early and opposite. If the one side can’t skip early and opposite, he can attack to draw D and then look to two side, or hit a trailer. If no advance pass is available, they push the ball with a dribble (“point guard push”), attacking the one side and making the D stop them. If they get stopped, we teach a “Genobli” pass, the overhead hook pass to the two side, which usually catches the D in a desperate closeout.

    If nothing works, we simply flow into the R&R. It’s a very simple scheme that yanks the D all over the court, creating early advantage, and works seamlessly with R&R principles.

    Directly to your question, I train it in layers (one option at a time) using a 4v2 full court drill. 4 guys circle the basket, 2 set up on D at the other basket. I miss a shot. One RBs and the other three break. They get one shot. Then two of them stay on D while four more are in place for the next rep. very active. Very games-based.

    Long answer, I know, but important to integrate the transition off moment into the half-court off moment with flow. I found complicated systems or overly structured secondary breaks hampered performance.

    Hope this is of use!

    cheers

  • jnolte

    Member
    April 1, 2019 at 3:45 pm

    So are you saying that the 2 runners to the baseline are your initial outlet for your rebounder or is your rebounder advancing the ball with a dribble? I am trying to understand what you mean by outlet the ball to the one side or the 2 side.

  • Nelson Handel

    Member
    April 1, 2019 at 4:44 pm

    Great question, and sorry if I wasn’t perfectly clear. Our first option is to have the rebounder pass forward to the “one side,” meaning the sideline to which only one player sprinted. We want to advance the ball with a pass if we can as our first option. The other side is the “two-side,” where two players sprinted to fill the 90 and 45 spots (baseline and wing).

    There is no assignment–the guys defending on the perimeter just sprint to the closest sideline and then look over their inside shoulder as they break. Usually there are three up there, and usually they split 2 and 1.

    If the ball cannot be advanced with a pass, we shift to “point guard push,” which means the rebounder dribbles up with the idea of attacking the basket, or making a help defender stop him. not being able to pass forward usually means the defense is spread on our released players, which means the middle of the floor is open for a single player to beat his man 1v1. When/if he draws help, he then kicks to the two side (from which help usually comes), or to a trailer.

    The goal, of course, is an early advantage gained by spreading the floor and tangling the defense (early and opposite forces them to change direction). You must be comfortable living with early three point shots, as these will often be available to you. If not, then train your perimeter guys to drive off the catch and everyone else circle move, so you can flow into the R&R. This acts almost like a secondary break action, further confusing the defense.

    Is that clearer? If not, feel free to reach out. I can probably find a teaching video for you somewhere.

    cheers.

  • jnolte

    Member
    April 3, 2019 at 2:29 pm

    So what I am hearing is that you really don’t have an outlet to pass to, it is more of a pass ahead to someone running the sideline. I think that sounds great if you have a rebounder who can dribble. My concern is, what if you have a rebounder who cannot handle the ball in the open floor. How do you safely get the ball out of their hands and continue to get an advantage.

    Apart of my question comes from the fact that many of our opponents double the rebounder to try to slow down the break, which is great for us if the rebounder can dribble not so great because it really slows down our outlet if they can’t.

  • Nelson Handel

    Member
    April 3, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    Great points.

    First, I’d remind us all (as Rick is fond of saying) that nothing works all the time. We don’t get a break on every RB or possession change. Sometimes the defense wins.

    As to the 2-side break, yes, we don’t have an outlet who then advances the ball. I had that when I ran the North Carolina break, and it was fine. RBer would outlet to the wing, who would then push the ball either by passing over the half line to the sprinting wing (option #1), dribbling center and reversing with a pass to opposite wing (Option #2), or push with the dribble. The 2-side break eliminates that extra pass, moving the ball forward more quickly.

    If they are doubling a RBer who can’t break the pressure, you’re going to have to train that guy to beat a trap, or train him to get the ball to a guard who can. I train my bigs in the pound-step-hop, which allows them to execute a very low risk, two-handed pound dribble to blast out of traffic or a trap. This usually gives them enough space to make the pass to the guys on the break.

    Remember too that most of the time you’ll have 3 sprinting, 1 RBing, and another who also crashed the boards and is behind the break. If I was worried about traps on a dominant RBer with poor handles, I might designate another player to stay near him if he snags a RB. This gives him the option of the short, quick pass to an “outlet,” and probably lessens his anxiety.

    I think the fundamental difference in running a modern break like the one I describing is how well it thwarts traditional transition D. Most D runs to the paint. Filling the perimeter spots, kicking it wide, and then going early and opposite just confuses the hell out of the D. Like the R&R, it simply opens up the floor. You can then live with early open 3s, or attack desperate close-outs when they inevitably come.

    I just realized that Chris post this for free consumption. Probably would have saved everyone time if I had just posted it and shut up 😉 https://basketballimmersion.com/modern-basketball-two-side-fast-break/

  • Nelson Handel

    Member
    April 3, 2019 at 3:03 pm

    reviewing that blog and film, I see it suggests hitting the two side. That is of course an option, but in practice, hitting the one-side as a first option and then going early and opposite is more effective for younger players.

  • Brent Schwan

    Member
    September 30, 2019 at 7:41 pm

    Run read and react from the get go with the rebounder basically at the “top” sending two players to the “wings” and two more to each “corner”. Outlet to wing, cut through middle and fill. If wing is covered they should read line to middle and that place gets filled by”corner”. Best press break ever. No new concepts to learn. We also use it to inbound as well. First day of practice video is an awesome resource for all this.

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