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Coaching Guide
Create an advantage. Keep it. Turn it into a high-value shot. A conceptual offense gives players shared principles for spacing, transition and attacking the defense, with freedom to find their own creative solutions.
The key question is what prompts the next action.
An automatic movement
In a pass-and-cut pattern, the pass tells the player to cut. The same movement can happen whether or not it helps the offense attack the defense.
A decision based on the defense
In a conceptual offense, players use the defense to decide what comes next. A cut can exploit an opening; holding space can leave a teammate room to drive.
Shared principles give the team structure. Players learn to recognize when an action will create or keep an advantage.
Read the full comparisonAn advantage might be a 2-on-1, a defender recovering on a closeout, or a matchup your player can attack. We call playing with that advantage “dominoes.”
Use three principles to keep the advantage:
Zero seconds
Shoot, pass or drive before the defense recovers. Holding the ball gives time for the defenders to get back to neutral.
1 can’t guard 2
Find space where one defender cannot guard you and a teammate. That might mean a drift, lift or cut.
The floor is lava
After driving or cutting, get back out to space quickly so a teammate can attack the paint.
When a drive draws help, the players without the ball need to give the ball-handler options.
These cutting principles allow a team to either maintain or convert a dominoes sequence. These are merely options based on spacing templates and the strengths and weaknesses of your players.
Corner cut
On a middle drive, the corner player can cut behind the help toward the basket.
Cut and slide
Against heavy help at the nail, a teammate slides into the vacated corner. The ball-handler can finish, find the cutter or pass to the corner.
Diagrams: Conceptual Offense Playbook, p.13The Conceptual Offense Playbook
After a rebound, the player with the ball can push or pass ahead. Teammates sprint to create space for the next decision. Filling a corner and the wing on the same side creates a two side: two receivers the defense must account for.
If the defense loads toward the ball, a skip to that two side can start dominoes. If no advantage appears, flow into a trigger from where the players arrive. There is no need to stop and move everyone to a prescribed starting spot.
Practice constraint: Make scores within five seconds of gaining possession worth double. Watch whether players find an early advantage and still choose a shot within their range.
Flatten
Free-throw two side
Diagrams: Conceptual Offense Playbook, p.26
A trigger is an action that creates the first advantage. Start with actions that suit your players, then develop solutions to the way the defense guards them.
1-on-1
Space the floor and attack a matchup. This can be the main trigger for an U12 team.
Pick and roll
The action creates different opportunities against different coverages. A pocket pass against a show can create a 4-on-3.
Get / handoff
Pass to a teammate and follow your pass into a handoff. A keep or pitch-and-slip gives the offense other ways to attack.
Knowing the action is only the beginning. Players also need to recognize how the defense is guarding it.
Reject
If the defense opens a path away from the screen, the handler can attack it. The player is looking for an opening, not rejecting on command.
Short roll
Against a show or blitz, the screener can become a receiver behind the two defenders. The next decision depends on where the help comes from.
Read the tag
If an off-ball defender helps on the roller, a teammate becomes available. Without that help, the pass to the roller may be open.
Coverage solutions differ based on how you are trying to punish or prevent certain coverages. Just some basic examples of coverages in a pick and roll include drop, under, down, switch, show or blitz. The offense should have an answer for every type of coverage with clearly defined coverage solutions.
Crack angle
Reject
Diagrams: Conceptual Offense Playbook, p.64
Use Mike MacKay’s ROB: in Range, Open and Balanced. Prioritize rim finishes and open catch-and-shoot opportunities within each player’s range. For younger players, that may mean a shorter shot rather than a three.
The one-opportunity constraint
Play any format from 3-on-3 to 5-on-5, with the offense constrained to running one, or multiple, triggers. However, the offense only has one opportunity to create dominoes from the initial trigger. If they are still neutral after running the trigger, this means they were not intentional enough with using a coverage solution.
Start with shot selection, dominoes and one trigger that suits your players. You can build from those foundations without introducing every action at once.
Define Your Shot Quality
Use the ROB concept described above, or gold, silver, bronze medals. Gold = a rim finish or FT, silver = a catch and shoot 3PT, bronze = a non-rim two or off the dribble 3PT.
Play with an advantage
Use temporary advantage games (e.g. 3-on-2+1) which allow players to refine dominoes habits: zero seconds, 1 can’t guard 2 and the floor is lava.
Choose one trigger
For an U12 team, 1-on-1 may be enough to begin with. As players develop, explore how their chosen action works against different defensive coverages.
Four resources to help you teach it.
Article
Bring the principles into your team’s practices.
Read article: How to Introduce Conceptual OffenseArticle
Explore actions and the coverage solutions behind them.
Read article: Common Triggers for a Conceptual Offense
Podcast
EP7 · Alex Sarama
Rethink automatic movement and play with an advantage.
Listen to episode: Why You Shouldn’t Run Pass and Cut OffensePodcast
EP30 · Alex Sarama
Give players shared intentions and room to adapt.
Listen to episode: What Are Principles of Play?Free
Shared principles to help your team create, maintain, and convert advantages.
$49 USD
Take the Starter Kit onto the court. Alex explains how to teach shared principles, triggers and coverage solutions through game examples and small-sided games.
$499 USD
Go deeper into teaching dominoes, creating advantages and developing your offense through small-sided games.