The Princeton Offense, Part 2: The Genius of Rick Adelman & the Democratic Offense

To piggyback on the previous entry on the Princeton Offense, I just wanted to take a moment to highlight Rick Adelman who employed a version of the Princeton offense in the NBA.  I enjoyed watching Rick Adelman's teams play.  I enjoyed the free flowing way they played offense.  In a nutshell, the principles of Rick Adelman's system is: all five players must be engaged, move the ball quickly, be aggressive in the read and react.  The Rick Adelman system also allows players to make decisions and be creative.

Rick Adelman

As shared in the ESPN.com article "The Book on Rick Adelman:"

Adelman isn’t looking for one specific shot in a possession. He imagines a range of positive outcomes and has created a framework for achieving one of those objectives, which we know generally as the corner offense.

The corner isn’t so much a system of play calls as it is a systematic way to promote ball and player movement through smart reads. Multiple players are involved in just about every possession, which keeps offenses humming and players happy.

At its most basic, a corner set will feature three players on the strong side -- at the wing, corner and a big man at the elbow who has the instincts and skills to facilitate offense on the fly, players such as Chris Webber, Vlade Divac or Brad Miller. Offensive players size up the defense, then choose an action that best exploits what the defense surrenders.

In short, read and react.

In my research of the Princeton Offense I found another article on Rick Adelman, this one by Jonathan Feigen, which I thought I'd share excerpts from.  If you're a motion offense guy like myself, some of the points raised will get you thinking about the beauty of a democratic offense that gets everyone involved.

It has been called the Princeton offense. But despite some similar backdoor cuts, it is often far different from the offense Pete Carril took from his 29 years at Princeton to Adelman's Kings staff and the Hall of Fame.

The term "motion offense" has been tossed around, and there is a lot of motion. But a college motion offense does not go against a 24-second clock that rules everything in the NBA. And Adelman uses far more "two-man game" with more post-ups than any college motion offense.

It is basically a movement-based, read-and-react NBA offense. When run well, Adelman will resist calling plays, instead letting his players determine where the ball goes based on what they see in the defense.

Wing players cut to the basket. Centers and power forwards often play outside and pass toward the basket. Every cut is followed by more movement to maintain spacing and create open shots if defenders overreact to the cuts.

"Basically, it's a series of three-man game and two-man game," said Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner, a six-year assistant with Adelman in Sacramento. "If the three-man game doesn't work, you flow into a two-man game. And at the right time, it's one-on-one.

"As a general rule, we allow our players some freedom to show their skills. We believe the spontaneous creativity, things that happen in the spur of the moment based on what the guy in front of you does is the hardest to guard because you can't prepare for that.

"It's exciting to watch and it's exciting for the guys to play in. If you have the ability to play, we allow you to do that."

Adelman said his best offensive players…will still be put in position to do what they do best. But players rave about the democracy and freedom in the offense so much, they might as well be running for office.

"It's a free style," guard Mike James said. "Coach wants us to figure it out for ourselves. He understands that in the game we're going to have to figure it out…One thing about the offense, it's constantly flowing. Everybody is touching the ball. You use your teammates to help you get open to get shots.   It's not like one person is creating, and everybody else is standing. It's constant movement all the time, and everyone is touching the ball.”

There's no understating the influence of Rick Adelman whose offensive schemes have influenced basketball coaches on all levels of competitive basketball.  His Corner Set offense can be found throughout the NBA. Coaches on any level can look to it and study it and see that it's a perfect balance of structure and freedom.  It's a system of basic rules, but is also a system in which players are free to operate within them as they see fit…a truly democratic system that any player would love to play in.

The Princeton Offense & The Art of Unselfishness

I am a fan of Pete Carril's Princeton Offense.  What I like about the Princeton Offense is its spacing, constant motion, flare screens and screens away from the ball, all elements that I try to incorporate into Team Hurricane's motion offense.  Of course, its hallmark is the back-door cut for lay-ups, as well as the hitting open 3-point shots.  

Pete Carril

"We pass, we cut, we shoot the ball well and we look for good shots.  The main thing is to get a good shot every time down the floor.  If that's old fashioned, then I'm guilty."

"I don't recruit players who are nasty to their parents.  I look for players who realize the world doesn't revolve around them."

It's a beautiful offense to watch with its precision and crisp passing. What I love most about the Princeton Offense is that is all about being unselfish:

The strength of the offense is about being unselfish and the fact that everyone touches the ball. You can tweak the offense as much as you want to tweak it, but it helps everyone succeed. It has a lot of movement and even if one player is scoring, the other four players play a huge role in helping that process.

(http://www.mensbasketballhoopscoop.com/store/basketball-offenses/nba-princeton-offense-playbook-learn-the-princeton-offense-from-the-nba/).

My motion offense is basically a 3 out 2 in, and I love the symmetry that this set affords me.  But the basic set for the Princeton offense can be 4-out with 1-in (either at the high post, or low post), a 2-3 high set, or a 1-2-2 (5-out) set. To run an effective Princeton Offense, a smart post player with good passing skills is key. It also requires players with a high basketball IQ and good perimeter skills... passing, dribbling, shooting, cutting, etc. While I embrace the concepts of the Princeton Offense, I do realize it may be difficult for youth teams to run when you have limited practice time.And like any good offensive system, there are certain concepts that you can incorporate into the offense that you run.  Look at the Terrific Twenty and see what applies to the offense you run.

The "Terrific Twenty" Rules for the Princeton-Style Offense 

(http://www.freebookez.org/pdf/27343507463/)

1) If you can pass, dribble, and shoot well, you will always dictate to the defense what they do. If you can't and are not fundamentally sound, they will dictate what you do.

2) You must always see and think on the court, in that order.

3) Don't ever become stationary(stop moving) for more than one second, even if you have the ball, unless you are in the post. Think continuous movement.

4) If overplayed by a defender, don't wait to burn him- go backdoor immediately.

5) If defense is playing you inside, go outside. If the defense is playing you outside, go inside.

6) Hard cuts to the middle will open up the perimeter - cut with conviction!!

7) Make sure you look at the ball when you cut -- be ready for a pass.

8) If you cut through and don't receive the ball, get outside to the perimeter as quickly as possible.

9) Do the opposite of whatever the defense does. :

10) The purpose of the dribble is to get a defender out of position, so dribble with a purpose and in one direction.

11) If you are dribbled at by a teammate, look to go backdoor if played tightly.

12) Be ready to roll back or to the basket on all screens -- go opposite of wherever the cutter goes. 

13) Keep good spacing (15-18 feet).

14) If you see there is weak-side help on defense, look to skip opposite and make them pay.

15) Don't go to the ball when closely guarded--go backdoor.

16) With few exceptions, cutters should go opposite of where they came from when going through.

17) Lay-ups and three pointers are what we want to get, in that order. 18) It doesn't matter who scores, as long as someone does.

19) Shots are missed because they are bad shots or the shooter doesn't think they can make them - take good shots!

20) Work hard to make things easy.

Here are some old clips of the way the Sacramento Kings ran the Princeton Offense.  At the time Sacramento ran this offense, Pete Carril was an assistant coach under Rick Adelman  I'm a big fan of the corner cut after a pass to the pinch post as a way to initiate a variety of actions.

Clip 1 - Back Door Cut, Multiple player movement

Clip 2 - Shuffle Cuts, Screen Away Actions, Hand Off

Here is the college level Princeton Offense being run, Post-Carril, but still incorporates the key elements of constant motion and a spread offense, screening, etc.

Clip 3 - College Level - Back Door Cut

Whether on the Pro Level or College Level, the unselfishness of the Princeton Offense can not be denied.  Some will say it's old school basketball, but being unselfish, wanting to see your fellow man succeed, and willingly play a part in another's success, is a life concept that NEVER goes out of style.