Coach,

Once we have our offensive and defensive system down, we could use at least a couple of actions that we can use to score a quick basket, especially when we need to get a quick shot open late in the game. 

Today, we have a college coaching veteran Jeff Rutter, who has been coaching college basketball for over 30 years, as an assistant and a head coach. His most successful stops were with Northern Iowa and Iowa State, where he also coached alongside Fred Hoidberg. 

Let’s take a look at some ATO actions that Coach Rutter collected during his rich coaching career. 

The 3 Pointer

Whenever we need a quick 3 and have a guard/forward who knows how to get open off off-ball screens, we can create an easy shot opportunity for him by opening up the baseline. 

The first down screen is basically a decoy cut before the back screen is set. Then our guard needs to read his defender and see where he can get the best bang for his buck to get open. 

Once he sees the lane open, he cuts preferably to the corner. We also want the big on the strong side to roll to the basket and demand the ball - either on the cut, or post up back to the basket. Watch Coach Rutter break down the play below: 

The 3 Pointer

False Motion DHO / PnR

These actions can be great to use against a team that is pretty much set on hard-hedging our ball screens and DHO’s, especially after a time-out. 

Both of the following actions show great ability by our guards to read the PnR defense. 

In the first action, I want you to pay attention to the player receiving the ball after DHO. He sees the hard show and is not forcing the attack to the right lane, instead, he let’s the defender over exaggerate on the DHO defense for a little longer and the big man does a great job on reading the hard show, he rolls hard to the basket and it’s an easy layup. 

Second action - this time, the big man defender is too late to close the gap, leaving the left lane wide open, our guard is able to reject the ball screen and get another easy layup. 

Let’s take a look at Coach Rutter breaking down False Motion DHO and PnR plays. 

False Motion DHO / PnR

54 Triple Slip - BLOB

This particular play is designed for a specific scorer who we want to get the ball to. In this schema, we are trying to get the ball to player 2. We set a triple stagger in the paint with players 4 - 3 - 5 from the left. Once 2 goes off the stagger, all three of them roll. This play can be very effective late in the game, but even if we don’t get a shot, it offers a lot of continuity options after the ball is in. Watch Coach Rutter break down this play and other 2 BLOBs here: 

54 Triple Slip - BLOB

54 Triple Slip - BLOB

Always great to have another great BLOB as well as a great 3 Pointer action when the game is on the line. 

Never get outcoached,

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