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Top 5 Favorite Small-Sided Games
Five games to adapt for your next practice.
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Coaching Guide
Basketball Coaching Resources
The most useful basketball coaching resource is one you can apply to a specific need. A practice plan can help with organization, a small-sided game can emphasize an interaction and an explanation of the approach can help you decide which constraint to change.
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Start with what your players need to work on, then choose a resource that helps you address it.
I Need a Practice Starting Point
Use the U12 or U14 practice-plan template to examine the activities, scoring and rotations. Check which activities fit your players and the baskets available. Adapt the conditions for individual players rather than assuming everyone of the same age needs the same challenge.
Read the guide: U10 Basketball Practice Plan
Read the guide: U12 Basketball Practice Plan
Read the guide: U14 Basketball Practice Plan
I Need a Game for a Specific Interaction
Use the 21 small-sided games resource or Battleship template to select an activity for your intention. A 3-on-2 gives the offense an existing advantage. A trigger game against a neutral defense requires players to create one. Choose the game based on which situation your team needs to experience.
Read the guide: Small-Sided Games in Basketball
I Want to Understand Why I Am Changing Practice
Use the constraints-led approach and skill-acquisition guides to examine how a defender, teammate or change of space influences a player’s decisions. Apply one idea to an activity you already use and observe the difference.
Read the guide: Skill Acquisition in Basketball
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21 SSGs for Your Next Practice
21 small-sided games you can run and adapt at your next practice — representative, game-like activities built around the Transforming Basketball approach.
Behind the methodology
About Alex Sarama
Alex Sarama is the founder of Transforming Basketball and Head Coach of the WNBA's Portland Fire, where he earned WNBA Coach of the Month honors in May 2026, the team's inaugural season. Previously, he served as Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His wider experience includes NBA Europe in Madrid, Paris Basketball in the EuroCup and the Rip City Remix, the Portland Trail Blazers' G League affiliate. Alex has delivered clinics in over 40 countries and has written three books on the constraints-led approach in basketball, including the Amazon bestselling Transforming Basketball (2024) and A Constraints-Led Approach to Coaching Basketball (2026).
The book
Transforming Basketball
The Amazon bestselling book on applying a constraints-led approach to basketball performance — the methodology behind this guide, in full.
View the book on AmazonKeep developing your coaching.
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