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THE 'WHAT' AND 'HOW' OF BASKETBALL
There are two questions coaches should be able to answer. ‘What’ things do players have to do to play basketball, and ‘How’ should players do the things they have to do?
LEVELS OF PLAY
The ‘What’ of basketball can be divided into three levels of play: individual, one-on-one, and team. Each of these levels consists of a number of tasks, movement on the court, play options, and decision making.
Individual level tasks include skills such as pivoting, stopping, shooting, dribbling, and passing. Because these individual tasks are a prerequisite to proficient one-on-one and team play, they are also called ‘readiness skills’.
Play at the one-on-one level involves one player directly confronting and interacting with an opponent, as, for example, when a player with the ball attempts to dribble past an opponent who is trying to stop that from happening.
At the team level, players must integrate and co-ordinate their movement, actions, and decision making while directly confronting and interacting with opponents. For example, when a player executes a perimeter shot, a teammate whose task is to rebound should be ready to rebound. However, to do this effectively, the player with the ball should shoot only when the teammate is ready to rebound and, to be ready, the rebounder should have a pretty good idea when the player with the ball is likely to shoot. To do this during each moment of play, teammates should have an idea what is likely to happen next. This knowledge helps them to integrate and co-ordinate their movement, actions, and decision making. The vehicle for this integration and co-ordination is a ‘conceptual framework’.
A conceptual framework is a mental picture of how offensive and defensive team play is organized. Teammates can then share this mental picture. Sharing it makes it possible for them to play with discipline, that is, integrate and co-ordinate their movement, actions, and decision making. The framework helps teammates know what is likely to happen next. For example, teammates without the ball will know which one has priority to receive a pass, and will call for it only when the player with the ball is ready to pass.
However, playing within such a framework also frees players to play with imagination, creativity, and spontaneity. Rather than running predetermined patterns or set plays on offence, players can exploit oppotunities to gain an advantage in play. For example, should an opponent guarding a screener fall, the screener should immediately cut to the hoop, not run the play.
Players can also adjust to changes in the tactics of the opposing team (e.g. a sudden switch from one defence to another, such as man-to-man to a zone or a half-court defence to a full-court press).
A SYSTEM OF PLAY
To answer fully the ‘How’ question, coaches must develop a coherent overall system of play that explains how to perform at the individual, one-on-one, and team levels of play. How should a player, for example, hold a basketball (a readiness skill)? When a player who is closely guarded while close enough to the basket to shoot receives a pass, what is the most effective way to execute a passing, shooting, or driving play option (one-on-one play)? How does that player integrate and co-ordinate one-on-one play with teammates who do not have the ball (team play within the framework)?
To be most effective, the system must be coherent, that is, logically consistent, so that the various parts fit together and work like the parts of a well-designed and built clock. For example, the technically sound movement pattern for passing should relate directly to how a player is expected to play within the team’s offensive framework; that is, knowing ‘when’ to pass (playing within the framework) is as important as knowing ‘how’ to pass(readiness skill) while being guarded (one-on-one play).
The information that follows focuses primarily on an approach to designing a conceptual framework to help players integrate and co-ordinate their movement, actions, and decision-making, it does not address the other equally important aspects of a system of play, such as readiness skills and one-on-one play.
As one section is necessary to understand fully the following, the sections should be read in a particular order, starting with a Conceptual Framework. The order of the sections dealing with offence is Offensive Sets, Full-Court Play, Mid-Court Play, and Front-Court Play.
The order on defence is Defensive Sets followed by Defensive Play.
Vic Pruden
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