Beginning, Middle, and End

By:  Dan Barto, Director of Player Development, PTC and The Basketball Academy

Each player in our Academy is has a different body type.  Players have movement patterns that are individualized.  Kids visualize their scoring moves in an opposing light to what the coaches see.  Knowing this we spent an hour each day breaking down the variety of moves and movements that are required to get shots of both in the rack zone and in the drop zone.

We want players to improve on creating angles, initiating/taking contact, make team enhancing scoring decisions, and use a variety of finishes in both zones.  

We have rules on when putting the ball on the floor in half court offense.

1.)   Go middle. 

No matter how much of and angle the defense give our players in one on one all the way to five on five, we want our player to probe to get the defender in a position that opens the middle drive.

2.)  If you go baseline you have two choices.

                      A.)   Dunk or finish over hand off of one leg

                      B.)   Pitch to the opposite corner

 Against high level competition this is crucial.  Baseline drive lead to a high percentage of turnovers, deflections and low percentage shots.  Those three things lead to 3-4 players being below the block at the time this occurs.  In turn the offensive transition is at a greater numbers advantage.

Below are the things we worked on both mentally and skill wise.

October 22, 2007

Theme: Offensive skill work with move progressions

Station 1           Combos to create space off the catch                “Beginning of the move”

                        Jab

                        Shot fakes

                        Stutter jab

                        Step off

Emphasize getting to the middle of the floor

Attacking the top foot

Hip power on drive

Creating contact

Station 2           Changes of speed off the dribble           “Middle of the move”

                        Footfire

                        Stepback

                        Snap back

                        Hang and drop

                        Pull back

Let player go both ways with foot work

Power and control

Create space to get angles to use speed or power

Inside shoulder give up

Station 3           Footwork finishes                                 “End of the move”

                        Spin

                        Fake spin

                        Up and under

                        Outside in

Over hand finishes

Protect the ball from the defender

Use the contact to determine the read

Keep the defender in jail for last second seperation