This is it. 

It’s July, we are all watching the film and trying to figure out what offense are we going to run.

We love motion offense, and we want to find the best and most effective ways to penetrate to the rim, throw the defense off and make our shooters open.

What we will focus on today first is mastering the fundamentals of having great movement without the ball – the ability to read the off-ball screens and use them the right way. 

After that, we will explore how to immediately take advantage of the pin-down and set the ball screen early, so the big has either the ability to roll or step out for a pick and pop. It is crucial to immediately read the situation and for the big to set the screen the right way and at the right speed. 

One of the most important things in motion offense is the ability to read and react and let the offense flow, and we are lucky to have a legendary college coach Jim Boone to demonstrate how he develops his motion offense and progression he makes in the learning process.

Many coaches make the mistake of having their players blindly follow the system and play it over and over until a shot opens up. This approach works, however by having our players play like robots, we can miss out on some major opportunities that open up if we let the offense flow. 

Attacking the Pin Down:

The key to developing great motion offense is to build fundamentals and be able to move without the ball. Until our players know how to move without the ball the right way, we will not be focusing on any ball screens at first. 

It is extremely crucial that the big/forward is in sync with the guard who’s coming off the pin-down. Let’s take a look at how Coach Jim Boone breaks down the pair alignment off the Pin Down in the video below: 

Pin Down Fundamentals

Like Coach Boone said, there needs to be a tight cut around the screen and the cutter needs to go towards the ball until he receives the pass. The key is in fundamentals – if we get the fundamentals right, we will get open! 

Attacking the Ball Screen after Pin Down: 

After we mastered our movement without the ball and we are confident we can move our offense without any ball screens, now we can actually set the ball screen and attack the rim, look to kick It out or pass the ball to rolling big.

Let’s take a look at how Coach Boone breaks down pair alignments on ball screens:

Incorporating Ball Screens on Pin Downs

Let’s have a fruitful offseason and always keep improving.

-The Coaches Clinic Community of Coaches helping Coaches

PS. Coach Boone’s The Blocker-Mover Masterclass is 5 hours of one of the best teachers in basketball breaking down everything you need to know to master the offense.

 It’s a steal today at 60% off till midnight today.