Category: Coach Vic's Instruction and Advice
Type: Philosophy
PLAYING WITH FLOW
When teams and individual players execute their tasks smoothly, continuously, and quickly, they are playing with flow. Flow applies to team play and a range of one-on-one play options and individual skills.
Flow and Team Play
Phase transition. During a game, changes in ball possession are frequent and sudden. At one moment, a team is on offense, the next on defense. Each change from one phase of play to the next is called phase transition. If teams are playing with a high degree of flow, they will begin organized team play the moment they anticipate phase transition. For example, teammates of a player who is getting a defensive rebound should begin playing team offense the moment they anticipate the defensive rebound, not after the rebound. The same should be true of the players on defense.
It should be self evident that players who can begin organized team play the moment they anticipate phase transition will have a significant advantage over players who cannot play with a high degree of flow.
Set transition. Well-organized teams will have a formation or set for each part of the court (the court grid). For example, such teams, usually after a defensive rebound, will use a full-court set to fast break. When the fast break ends without a shot, the players must begin play in their frontcourt set. The time interval between the end of play in the full-court set and the start of play in the frontcourt set should be as short as possible.
Unfortunately, over the years I have seen too many games in which both teams did not begin organized team play until the point guard dribbled the ball from the back court into the front court. Whenever the point guard got a rebound or received a pass from the rebounder, he/she began to walk the ball up the court, while teammates and opponents ran up the court to occupy positions in their respective front and back court offensive and defensive sets. It was not uncommon to see such teams demolished by teams that played with flow.
Flow and One-On-One Play Options and Individual Skills
The tasks that make up these options and skills are chained or linked in a particular order. For example, executing a penetrating pass after ending a drive consists of a number of component parts. The player must stop and end the dribble simultaneously while maintaining good body balance, go through set position, read the defense while initiating the pass, and, as he/she completes the initiation, decide whether or not to pass. If 'yes,’ he/she must execute the pass so that the ball and the receiver arrive at the moment and place the receiver expects it; as occurs when a player ends his/her cut to the hoop with a leap, receives the pass at the peak of his/her jump in a location to easily slam dunk the ball. For maximum flow, the time interval between each component part should be as short as possible.
Submitted by: Coach Vic
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