Jim Boeheim: Syracuse Transition and Early Offense

[Orangeyes]

 

[Coach Orange]

For those that don't know, this clip is actually part of a DVD of Coach Boeheim's presentation at a coaching clinic. In this segment, he is walking through a drill that he runs (at that time, at least). It is used to get players working on motion offense principles, such as pass and screen away, pass and cut, pick and roll, and shuffle cutting, which is shown here. Later in the DVD, he covers the plays we actually run against man-to-man and zone.

The plays that the DVD shows are mainly the NBA-styled isolation sets that we still run. It also shows our numbered fast break. Since it was made, he has added much more pick and roll as the primary scoring play of the offense, though he does repeatedly say in the DVD that pick and roll can be run as a second option if the plays don't lead to shots.

Edit: I should add that the DVD also presents the double high ball screen that we run (called "Double Fist"), and the screen-the-screener play that we ran to get Cooney some nice looks at three-pointers early in the season. For some reason, we went away from the latter play as the year progressed. I have a feeling it is because the play worked more effectively with Coleman setting the screen for Cooney than Christmas or BMK.

 

[SmilinBob]

Cool...now have the guys actually go through picks the correct way and brush shoulders with the guy setting the pick and not run by him and give space to the defensive player to run through as well. Use the pick CORRECTLY or it's basically useless.

 

[Coach Orange]

Cool...now have the guys actually go through picks the correct way and brush shoulders with the guy setting the pick and not run by him and give space to the defensive player to run through as well. Use the pick CORRECTLY or it's basically useless.

You mean execute proper fundamentals? Let's not get too crazy…

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

For those that don't know, this clip is actually part of a DVD of Coach Boeheim's presentation at a coaching clinic. In this segment, he is walking through a drill that he runs (at that time, at least). It is used to get players working on motion offense principles, such as pass and screen away, pass and cut, pick and roll, and shuffle cutting, which is shown here. Later in the DVD, he covers the plays we actually run against man-to-man and zone.

The plays that the DVD shows are mainly the NBA-styled isolation sets that we still run. It also shows our numbered fast break. Since it was made, he has added much more pick and roll as the primary scoring play of the offense, though he does repeatedly say in the DVD that pick and roll can be run as a second option if the plays don't lead to shots.

Edit: I should add that the DVD also presents the double high ball screen that we run (called "Double Fist"), and the screen-the-screener play that we ran to get Cooney some nice looks at three-pointers early in the season. For some reason, we went away from the latter play as the year progressed. I have a feeling it is because the play worked more effectively with Coleman setting the screen for Cooney than Christmas or BMK.

are all of his drills 4 on 4?

 

[SWC75]

Where is the part where he just rolls the ball out there and lets the players figure it out?

 

[Coach Orange]

are all of his drills 4 on 4?

Nope. He actually starts out 3-on-0 for the first drill, where the players practice pass-and-cut and pass-and-screen-away skills. Then, he adds three defenders. Eventually, the fourth player joins each team.

Coach Boeheim also dictates or limits what the players can do each day during the 4-on-4 drills. For example, some days the players can't dribble more than once. Other days, every possession starts with a pick and roll. Gregg Popovich does the same with his motion drills. Many coaches do; I know that's how I teach motion principles, too. It provides the players practice on the skills while they are actually playing the game instead of the arbitrariness of some drills. Additionally, it provides a level of competitiveness to the drills, building that mindset for them.

Something I picked up from Coach Pop is to only allow defensive stops to count as scores. In essence, if the offense scores, the players' reward is to switch to defense. If the defense gets a stop, they score a point, which is the only way to score. The players then play to seven points. This emphasizes the importance of playing excellent defense (players are motivated to win, so they want to play defense), building a defensive mindset. At the same time, it allows the players to work on offensive execution since they want to return to defense since that is how they can score points.

Hope this helps answer the question.

 

[RF2044]

Nope. He actually starts out 3-on-0 for the first drill, where the players practice pass-and-cut and pass-and-screen-away skills. Then, he adds three defenders. Eventually, the fourth player joins each team.

Coach Boeheim also dictates or limits what the players can do each day during the 4-on-4 drills. For example, some days the players can't dribble more than once. Other days, every possession starts with a pick and roll. Gregg Popovich does the same with his motion drills. Many coaches do; I know that's how I teach motion principles, too. It provides the players practice on the skills while they are actually playing the game instead of the arbitrariness of some drills. Additionally, it provides a level of competitiveness to the drills, building that mindset for them.

Something I picked up from Coach Pop is to only allow defensive stops to count as scores. In essence, if the offense scores, the players' reward is to switch to defense. If the defense gets a stop, they score a point, which is the only way to score. The players then play to seven points. This emphasizes the importance of playing excellent defense (players are motivated to win, so they want to play defense), building a defensive mindset. At the same time, it allows the players to work on offensive execution since they want to return to defense since that is how they can score points.

Hope this helps answer the question.

Brilliant.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Nope. He actually starts out 3-on-0 for the first drill, where the players practice pass-and-cut and pass-and-screen-away skills. Then, he adds three defenders. Eventually, the fourth player joins each team.

Coach Boeheim also dictates or limits what the players can do each day during the 4-on-4 drills. For example, some days the players can't dribble more than once. Other days, every possession starts with a pick and roll. Gregg Popovich does the same with his motion drills. Many coaches do; I know that's how I teach motion principles, too. It provides the players practice on the skills while they are actually playing the game instead of the arbitrariness of some drills. Additionally, it provides a level of competitiveness to the drills, building that mindset for them.

Something I picked up from Coach Pop is to only allow defensive stops to count as scores. In essence, if the offense scores, the players' reward is to switch to defense. If the defense gets a stop, they score a point, which is the only way to score. The players then play to seven points. This emphasizes the importance of playing excellent defense (players are motivated to win, so they want to play defense), building a defensive mindset. At the same time, it allows the players to work on offensive execution since they want to return to defense since that is how they can score points.

Hope this helps answer the question.

How much would you charge for a practice plan to use with my 8th grade CYO team? Seriously. I know I can teach defense well enough, presses, rebounding and shooting, but a motion offense has been the hardest to apply over the years. I can easily teach picks and rolls, and a numbering system for which player picks which defender, and I tried a motion/triangle drill I found this year but it didn't translate well. Teaching team offense in the half court set has been my biggest challenge.

 

[Coach Orange]

How much would you charge for a practice plan to use with my 8th grade CYO team? Seriously. I know I can teach defense well enough, presses, rebounding and shooting, but a motion offense has been the hardest to apply over the years. I can easily teach picks and rolls, and a numbering system for which player picks which defender, and I tried a motion/triangle drill I found this year but it didn't translate well. Teaching team offense in the half court set has been my biggest challenge.

$1,000,000.

Seriously, though, teaching motion can be quite difficult. Players often struggle to understand what they should do when, especially early in the season. This leads to confusion, lack of cohesion, and missed opportunities. However, motion offense can work well if you are patient and develop the offense slowly.

A few questions that I would ask to get you started:

• Are you teaching a pure motion offense, or are you teaching a structured motion/continuity?
• Are there specific skills/options that you want to stress in the offense, such as dribble drive, flare screens, down screens, post-ups, high-low plays, etc.? If so, do you run breakdown drills that teach these plays?
• Do you use the "layering" technique to teach the offense? If not, that's what I would recommend trying.

Based on your answers, I'd be happy to help you out as best as I can with some ideas.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

A few questions that I would ask to get you started:

• Are you teaching a pure motion offense, or are you teaching a structured motion/continuity?
• Are there specific skills/options that you want to stress in the offense, such as dribble drive, flare screens, down screens, post-ups, high-low plays, etc.? If so, do you run breakdown drills that teach these plays?
• Do you use the "layering" technique to teach the offense? If not, that's what I would recommend trying.

Based on your answers, I'd be happy to help you out as best as I can with some ideas.

• I'd be looking for pure motion to start with, a way to get all 5 involved in the passing and cutting to get the best open shot near the basket. The structure or plays focused on the strongest ball handlers and best shooters I would look to add later.
• I really like to use high/low plays in an offense to help introduce that 3rd scoring option from one of the skilled forwards in addition to my guards, dribble drive not so much. I think that concept is easy enough to teach, I also refer to it as the secondary fast break and instruct players to just fill their lanes aside the penetrator.
• Yes to the layering.

Thanks Coach, your check is in the mail.

 

[GardenOrange]

Where is the part where he just rolls the ball out there and lets the players figure it out?

Thats only during games