I’ve had an opportunity to review Don Kelbick’s excellent book, How to Develop a High-Scoring Motion Offense. If you’re coaching a youth basketball team, I highly recommend you check it out at BreakThroughBasketball.com.
I’m coaching a 6th-grade girls’ team, with most of the players returning from the 5th-grade team that I coached. Last year, we introduced some of the principles of a motion offense from a 5-wide set to the players, and this year, it’s our primary half-court offense focus.
Coaching A Motion Offense
As 5th graders, our team generated most of its points from aggressive defense, and players were usually able to score effectively. We had a few set plays that, in most cases, worked very effectively. Our set plays usually only involved 2 – 3 players, with the other players scrambling to get into the best rebounding position.
Our set plays proved less effective against better defensive teams, especially after teams adjusted to seeing them the first time or two.
After reading Don Kelbick’s book, we’ve incorporated many of his principles into our offensive and practice strategies this year. Here are a few things I like about the motion offense approach compared to having a few quick hitter plays: More players are involved in the half-court offense.
Like the one that Kelbick suggests, a motion offense involves all players. It’s a much more interesting game to watch when all players are involved, not just a couple. With all players getting more touches, you can see player improvement.
Drill and Kill vs. the Motion Offense
In a patterned play, less time is spent helping players understand where and when they should move. The educational equivalent of a patterned play is learning vocabulary or times tables. There’s a reason they call it “drill and kill.”
Teaching a motion offense is more like teaching someone how to write. It has some generally accepted rules, but it’s more open-ended. Players learn to follow directions when they run a patterned play.
When players learn how to run a motion offense, they learn how to play basketball. Skills learned from running a motion offense will more easily translate to players’ future teams. Principles learned from understanding a motion offense include court spacing, give-and-go, cuts to the basket, setting picks, and finishing drives.
Skill Development
These are the types of skills that nearly all coaches like their players to have a good handle on. How you practice is how you play. Kelbick has done a fantastic job of providing practice suggestions to get players up to speed on the motion offense. Players will pick up on the concepts by incorporating some of the fundamentals of motion offense into their drills.
You might find yourself eliminating traditional basketball drills like the 3-man weave, in favor of 3-on-3 drills with players practicing pass-and-break to the basket or pass and screen away. You’ll practice some concepts with no defense so players can understand the movements and build up to full, aggressive man-to-man defense against the offense.
There are lots of variations on Kelbick’s motion offense. You can start from different sets, e.g., 5 wide, 4 out and 1 post, or 3 out and 2 posts. In player huddles, you can switch the direction of the offense by changing a rule or two. For example, in the first quarter of a game, you might instruct your players to pass and break to the basket.
In the second quarter, you might ask them to pass and screen away. If you have a player with a post advantage, one of the rules might be that the post player must touch every third pass. There are lots of options as a team progresses with this offense. I think the key is to start slow, get players comfortable with some of the principles, and slowly add new wrinkles.
Encouraging Results
It’s very early in our season, but the results are encouraging. Granted, our players are a year older, with increased size and strength, but we’re putting quite a few more points on the board, and our scoring is more balanced. The quality of shots we’re getting is very high, including many uncontested lay-ups. More importantly, the players are learning the right type of skills that will develop their games for future teams.
Don Kelbick’s ebook costs $29.95. You can purchase it at Break Through Basketball. It contains everything from the overall philosophy to an explanation of different sets and rules, step-by-step drills, and practice suggestions. I think the principles work best for 5th-grade and above teams.
Lastly, one of my favorite things about Kelbick’s motion offensive philosophy is how quickly you can implement it (at least at a basic level). To truly learn all the sets and variations would take a team some time, but understanding the core principles and some simple rules can be done in as little as 2 practices after you’ve read the book.
Also, the book is a quick read, with many diagrams explaining positions and drills. I read it in one sitting but find myself returning for more as the season progresses. You may, too.
By Mike O’Halloran
O’Halloran has written four books on coaching youth basketball.
The Youth Basketball Coaching Special
10 Things A Basketball Coach Should Do Before The First Practice