At the beginning of this series we introduced three things effective basketball players do:
1. Make open shots.
2. Don’t let the opponent get open shots.
3. Create open shots for their teammates.
As a player, it is incredibly important to understand the big picture of basketball. Offensively, your team’s goal is to put players in a position to use their strengths. If there is a knock down shooter on your team, you need to work to get that shooter open shots. If there is an effective post player on you team, feed the post on the block.
This week we will unpack three simple ways you can create open shots for your teammates:
1. Sprint the Floor
2. Catch to Shoot
3. The Law of 2
Sprint the Floor
You may have noticed that sprinting the floor has been the number one point over the last three weeks. This action cannot be stressed enough. One of my favorite movie quotes is from “The Miracle”. Herb Brooks tells his US Hockey team, “The legs feed the wolf.” When you sprint the floor, you put the defense in scramble mode. While in scramble mode, the defense is spread out and out of position. This allows the offense to attack them. Never settle for anything besides a wide open 3 or a layup in transition. When guarded on the catch, shot-fake and create an open shot for a teammate.
Catch to Shoot
Every single time you catch the ball, catch it like you are going to shoot. This does two powerful things. One, it simplifies the game for you. Your first read is am I open? If the answer is yes, shoot the ball and know that is what is expected of you. This eliminates doubt and when players shoot without doubt, they make more shots. Two, catching to shoot makes you a threat to the defense every time you catch the ball. The defense is forced to closeout hard to take away the shot. When a defensive player sells out to take away the shot, the offensive player can easily drive to the basket forcing a help defender. Drawing a help defender leads us to our third point, The Law of 2.
The Law of 2
Simply put, the Law of 2 is when two players are guarding the ball. If two players are guarding the ball one offensive player is wide open. If the ball is in your hands and two players are guarding you, you must be able to deliver a clean pass to your open teammate. In most cases, the person the help defender was guarding is open. At this point your team has the advantage. To capitalize on your advantage, make the first easy play. Making the first easy play is simply passing the ball to the first open teammate you see. When an entire team operates this way, the result in an open shot.
#skilledhoops #GreatTeammate #SprintTheFloor #CatchToShoot #Lawof2