Blog Youth Basketball Motion Offenses, II
November 24th, 2007When I think of good offensive teams, I like Rick Adelman coached teams. The video below asks if the Rockets’ offense is a “Princeton offense.” I actually think Adelman’s offensive system is more Triangle than Princeton.
In Issue #47 of the Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletter, I wrote about teaching skills through a motion offense. Adelman’s system provides a good foundation to teach many different tactical skills.
Adelman’s system starts with a 3-man game and flows into a 2-man game on the ball reversal. As Rockets’ Assistant Coach Elston Turner explains:
“Basically, it’s a series of three-man game and two-man game,” said Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner, a six-year assistant with Adelman in Sacramento. “If the three-man game doesn’t work, you flow into a two-man game. And at the right time, it’s one-on-one.
“As a general rule, we allow our players some freedom to show their skills. We believe the spontaneous creativity, things that happen in the spur of the moment based on what the guy in front of you does is the hardest to guard because you can’t prepare for that.
“It’s exciting to watch and it’s exciting for the guys to play in. If you have the ability to play, we allow you to do that.”
In the first clip, the ball enters into Yao Ming in the high post; McGrady uses a screen to cut backdoor, receives the pass from Yao Ming and finishes with the dunk.
In the second clip, the same set-up ends with a dribble hand-off from Yao Ming to McGrady for a jump shot. People label it a Princeton offense because it utilizes dribble hand-offs and backdoor cuts. However, just because it ends with the same types of shots does not mean it is the same offense. The two systems have similarities, but how they achieve their objectives are different, especially with the difference between the 35 and 24-second shot clocks.
The third clip shows the two-man game with a hand-off into a pick-and-roll-like situation with McGrady feeding Yao.
At the 1:00 mark, the clip shows a variety of the 3-man game using the two posts and Battier in the middle of the floor. This illustrates one of the differences between the systems: Adelman runs a variety of set plays while the Princeton offense reverses the ball over and over, using the shot clock, until the defense makes a mistake and they get the shot they want.
As with the original “Youth Basketball Motion Offenses” article, from a youth development perspective, the difference is the ability to teach the basic principles while training technical skills like shooting, passing and ball handling. However, each of these systems provides a good foundation to develop a series of progressions which teach tactical and technical skills together which enhance the players’ overall development.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Hello Again,
I find the Offense used by Yao Ming’s team still restricted but is basically a motion except for the post players. I find the Motion run in the previous article creates more movement by everyone, espeically the post players which clears up the middle. All shots were jump shots nothing was created to get the ball inside with either a lay-up, except for the first option run in the video. By Keeping the posts on the elbow the key is still congested. For every dribble and step byt the player with the ball all other players should be adjusting by the same, maybe a little less for the posts.
In short I would not say it is a Princeton kind of offense even though a lot of options have the back door cut as a possible reaction.
Gman