Wooden: Principles of Offensive Success Part II

6) Flexibility: Mechanical offenses where players are forced to follow set patterns are easily defended. To encourage players to be resourceful, the offense must be flexible enough to provide a sufficient number of options to counteract all possible defensive maneuvers. Individual innovation must take place within the guidelines of proper spacing, ball movement, etc.



7) Timing: Creating a smooth-working unit is an ultimate goal of any offense. For any play to work effectively, ball movement and player positioning must be coordinated and timed to near perfection. A late or early pass or cut will likely result in missing a scoring opportunity and stagnate the offense.



8) Equal opportunity: Every player on the court must be a contributing member of the offensive attack, even if a player's contribution is mostly by passing, cutting, and screening to allow the main scorers to get good shot opportunities. As a result, unlike team members who view themselves as simply supporting actors for star players, they are fully engaged in the effort to help their team score every chance they get.



9) Rebounding balance: Offense does not end until the other team gains possession; rebounding balance consists of 3 players forming a rebounding triangle in the paint, one long rebounder at the free-throw line area and one protector going back towards half-court (if the shot is taken from the outside, the shooter will always become the rebounder).



10) Defensive balance: If the opponent obtains the rebound, the rebounding balance alignment also serves as defensive balance. The long rebounder is in position to defend a player who receives the first pass (outlet) because they know they have help from the protector. The protector defends any long pass or will serve as basket protector until the posts arrive.

It is the cumulative effective of doing alot of little things correctly that eventually makes a big difference in competition.

Without the ability of all players to quickly an properly execute the fundamentals of basketball at high speed and without conscious thought, following the principles of effective offense won't make much difference. All of these principles are dependent on fundamentals: quick, timely and accurate passing; aggressive receiving; sharp cutting; proper pivoting; skilled dribbling; and quick shooting.


The attention to details- such as faking without the ball, developing perfect timing on the backdoor pass, making sure all players handle the ball and have scoring opportunities, insisting the outside shooter goes to the free throw line area to become the long rebounder, and teaching definitive penetrating cuts- can be the difference between a season of success and one of failure.