Unusual Suspects - Finding Motion Offense Inspiration In Most Unusual Places

In seeking out inspiration in the designing of plays necessary to run an effective Team Hurricane offense, it's easy to assume that one should merely turn to the usual suspects like: Spurs, Thunder, Heat, Mavericks, Clippers and Trailblazers. Why wouldn't you?…they make up some of the more successful teams in the NBA  But in my never-ending quest to develop an effective and productive offense, I leave no rock unturned.  I continue to examine the many different offenses employed by teams, whether they be in high school, college or the NBA.  What I find fascinating is that some of the less prominent teams in the NBA run very imaginative offenses.  They run offenses that I personally find appealing because they contain some of the key elements I find important to motion offense basketball:

• screens away from the ball
• misdirection
• utilization of the UCLA cut
• constant ball & player movement

I like how many of the teams below are using such creative ways on offense to compete against more talented teams.  So lets salute these underdog teams for the imagination they use to score.  

Charlotte Bobcats

I love the UCLA cut and therefore enjoy the way the Charlotte Bobcats utilize this renown cut in their offense.

Utah Jazz (Post Jerry Sloan)

The Jazz of the post Jerry Sloan era use a slice cut/diagonal screen and constant screening in a very effective way.

Atlanta Hawks

I've always used the "thru action" (cut to corner) on the strong side.  But here the Hawks use the thru action to the weak side.  I like how this offense gets the ball moving from side to side to side and its player movement.

Philadelphia 76ers

76ers do nice job of using the "thru action" on the strong side and continue with shuffle cut action.  The shuffle cut is something I would like to explore more in the future.

As you can see, these underdog teams use a variety of creative ways to get quality shots.   Just as great to see...motion offense is alive and well in the NBA!

Offensive Philosophy - The Motion Principle (Part 3)

I'm back from a brief time out to discuss point guard play and now I want to return to talking about the Hurricane Motion Offense. In a build up to presenting what Team Hurricane does through a "virtual playbook", I'll first present some basic concepts of what inspires me offensively and show a few clips of some basic actions we like to do .  So, let's hit the court running….

As discussed in an earlier entry, nearly everything we do flows out of a 3-2 set.

Nearly all our movements are designed to get our players to one of those 5 spots.  And it's from those five spots we look to score, either via the dribble drive, jump shot or lay up from the post.  The other spots our motion will get us to is the Pinch Post (which is affectionately known as the Kill Zone).

Our man-to-man motion offense is broken down into what we like to call "series."  These series are as follows:

1) "LA" Series

2) Motion Series

3) Princeton Series

4) Pro Series

Today we will focus on the first two series, "LA" and Motion, as these are our two principle series that we run the most.  And our "LA" and Motion Series morph into each other on any given possession.

"LA" Series

Our "LA" series features:

• UCLA Cut
• Principles of the Utah Jazz

What I like about elements of the UCLA (High Post Rub) Offense:

• It is viable for teams that don't have a low post presence.
• Takes advantage of post players who are good passers.
• Players can exchange positions.

The key element to starting our offense is the renowned "UCLA" Cut.  In our system the UCLA Cut is triggered when the point guard/perimeter player picks a slot on the right or left and passes to that side's wing.  The player on the strong side block moves from that low post to the pinch post while the ball is the air.  The point guard cuts off the high post player and all actions (motions) ensue.

Example 1

This "LA" Series is best seen in the way Utah Jazz under Jerry Sloan ran their offense.

Also, check out this clip at 1:00 to 1:44 mark:

Now, here is a brief clip of how my youth program uses the UCLA Cut.  Very basic at this stage of development, but they're getting the hang of it.  One of the LA cuts we employ is the stagger screen action that was inspired by the Utah Jazz.

"Motion" Series

Our motion series features:

• pass and screen away on the perimeter.
• pass - flex cut screen.
• pass - diagonal pin down
• pinch cut

Team Hurricane runs a slight variation of the following pattern listed below.  We simply don't begin out of the box set.  We keep it wide wide with players at the elbow extended:

Here is a clip of the Golden State Warriors screening action that leads to scores.  I like how that the initial screening action gets players into simply playing basketball.

Now, here is how my young youth program in Bermuda runs some basic motion.

While I'm at it let me share an early incarnation of my motion offense with my youth program in Brooklyn, Emmanuel Warriors.  Many of the principles that I have shared were being developed then. The actions were pretty basic & vanilla.

With both clips you can see our motion offense in its most basic form.  I hope to be able to show more nuances to the system as we move towards creating a virtual playbook to share on this blog.  Suffice to say our offense philosophy is a work in progress.  It's a offense that seeks to create shot opportunities at every turn.  This is not a probing/set play style offense with a required number of passes needed to be made in order to get a specific shot.  What may be strange and contradictory, but it's a system offense but one which gives its players a great deal of freedom to make plays.