Early Offense Philosophy Into 21/Pistol 🔫

Coach ,

Every coach wants to create easy scoring opportunities for their teams. 

There are a variety of ways to get the ball down and in an organized manner. For many coaches, the challenge is finding a system that fits their talent, especially at the high school level. 

One of the most popular NBA actions that has trickled down into the college and high school level is the Pistol or 21 Action. Developed by Mike D’Antoni when he was in Phoenix, it has become a staple not only in the NBA, but also with college teams such as Michigan State.

21 is designed to create a 2 on 1 advantage for the ball handler and the screener in transition. 

It has a variety of basic actions as well as special options you can run from it based on your personnel. It can be run as a primary transition offense off made baskets or off free throws. The spacing of the offense allows you to get into a 5 Out attack, which has also become popular in recent years because of its utilization in the NBA.

Coach Massey during his virtual clinic presentation Early Offense Philosophy into 21/Pistol Action goes into how to build an effective early offense attack and flow into 21 action.

Coach Massey discusses

• The value of scoring early from an analytics standpoint
• How you can use 3-3 to teach the main components of the offense and drill it daily.
• Utilizing a player who is not a strong shooter within the offense.
• The basic 21 actions such as Chase, Keep, and Nash.

Here is a clip of Coach Massey demonstrating how the offense gets into 5 Out/Delay actions if the initial 21 action is not successful.

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One of the biggest emphasis that I had not heard before was the importance of early pitch aheads (EPA) in this system. Getting the ball across half court quickly leads to open 3’s in transition as well layups vs. some systems that have players dribbling down the floor quickly.

Thank you Coach Massey for sharing these clips taken from your Early Offense Philosophy Into 21/Pistol clinic.

Always be Growing,

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