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OffenceAREASOFEMPHASISGUIDELINES FOR COACHES• Team offence is based on conceptsand principles and is the priority forputting the individual skill into the teamcontext. Team offence is more than thesum of the parts. The key concepts arespacing, movement of the basketball,movement without the ball combinedwith the timing and vision to use theseskills movement and principles. The Teamoffence master checklist summarises theconcepts and principles for Britishbasketball coaches• The modern game is played at a fasttempo with fast break and transitionplay being crucial to a team’s success.The first team offence is the fast breakoffence. It is based on principles of lanerunners, man ahead passing and drivinglane passing lane for dribblepenetration. It is priority for all Britishteams but is dependent on effective teamdefence for its existence. Individualoffence must extend to full courtsituations. Early passing ahead to a lanerunner on offence or the “man aheadprinciple” is a key principle of fast breakbasketball. The ability to deliver long tothe wings with the chest or baseball passor over the top of the defence to amiddle lane runner is an importantindividual offence skill.• Half court offence philosophies willvary but are common in terms of theprinciples. There are many sets oralignments designed to try and capitaliseon defensive position in and defensiveprinciples. The national systemrecommends that coaches and juniorteams progress team offence bycontinually developing the fast breakand then using motion principles as amethod or process for developing teamoffence. This can stay with the playerwherever they may progress as asenior player.• Motion (movement) team offencewith and without the ball, is the bestmethod for coaching juniors teamoffence concepts and principles. Thetactical use of passing builds on theindividual skill and will greatly define thequality of team offence. The use ofreceivers principles, together with tacticalprinciples of use of passing such as manahead principle, the use of the posttriangle, ball reversal or changing thepoint of attack, and finally movementusing screens are all componentprinciples for team offence. These shouldbe understood by coaches andspecifically what is best at the junior levelfor the individual player to develop.Selection and deployment of theseaspects ultimately determines the type ofoffence employed by a coachor team.• Keeping team offence simple. Oftencoaches make the mistake of selectingset offences observed at seniorprofessional level and then apply thesame offence to junior players who haveless understanding and less skill. This canbe very ineffective because of thedifference in the respective cumulativetraining hours and experience.108