Hoops Companion

Transition Offense

- win first 3 steps
- outlet deep as possible or dribble blast w/ rebounder
- 3 to baseline ASAP (corners + rim)
- THROW IT AHEAD
- if no throw, cross w/ bounce or pass
- if nothing, play through trail (PNR, screen away, rugby toss, etc)

SPRINT SPREAD SHARE

A good question to ask yourself - in life, coaching, business, etc:

Is this activity ADVANCING my life/team/program in a positive way?

If not, steer clear. If yes, do it.

Things we don’t practice enough but should:

- picking up loose balls instead of dribbling
- saving to a teammate
- ball faking and passing
- pivoting
- going after 50/50 balls

Last week, we started the Hoops Companion JUNE Transition Series by talking through 10 questions coaches should answer before building their transition offense.

The point of that post was simple - before you start installing drills, teaching a secondary break, or telling your players to sprint harder, you need to know what you are actually trying to create.

Because “we want to play fast” is not enough.

This week, we take the next step into figuring out just how to install our transition offense.

Here is how I would think about it.

1. Start With Spacing, Structure, And Roles

Before we even worry about drills, we need to know what we want our transition offense to look like.

Where are we running? Who’s allowed to push the ball? Who runs wide? Who is the rim runner? Who trails?

Do we run to corners or flow into 5 out or use a two-side break or transition right into our half-court offense?

Are we looking for quick 3s, to get our guards coming downhill early, using the trail, or trying to get post touches?
There isn’t a simple and cookie-cutter answer for every team.

You’ll have to decide what works for your group of players. But you have to figure this part out first.

2. Decide What You Are Trying To Create

After we have our structure and vision in place, we need to figure out the type of shots we’re trying to create. Again, this is going to be based on your personnel.

You can not be looking for throw-ahead 3s if you only have one shooter on the floor. Just like you can not be playing out of the trail if your trail man isn’t a playmaker. You get the point.

This is going to shape what your team works on every day.

And, depending on how committed you are to your transition game, it should be an obvious part of your practice plan and skill development plan each day.

Your daily vitamins/skill work in practice should connect to the shots and actions you are actually trying to create in games. We’ll get there next.

3. Pick A Few Bread-And-Butter Drills

Once you know what you are trying to create, choose a few transition drills that become part of your team identity and that you do almost daily.

You probably need two or three that you can teach really well and fit your team/what you need to work at.

The drill is important, but not that important. What’s important is what you’re teaching, how you’re teaching it, and how you use drills to get better at whatever you’re working on.

For example, you might use a 4-on-4 transition drill where it starts as 4-on-3, with the fourth defender trailing into the play.

That can be a great drill, but only if you’re teaching it well and emphasizing what needs to be emphasized via constraints, the way you score the drill, consequences for not executing, etc.

If you just roll the ball out and say, “We are doing 4-on-4 transition,”…you’re not going to get better at anything.
Pick 2-3 drills that you love (here are some ideas) and make them a part of your daily routine.

4. Make Transition Part Of Your Mentality

If you want to be a team that runs (and runs well), you cannot treat transition like a part-time thing. It has to become part of your team’s mentality and DNA.

That does not mean every shot has to come in the first seven seconds Phoenix Suns-style. Or that your players have a permission slip to be reckless or that you want to play fast just to say you play fast.

But it does mean that transition offense has to matter and be talked about consistently. And that players and teams are held accountable if they don’t reach the transition standards set within your team/program.

If your players only hear about transition occasionally, they will probably only value it occasionally.

If you want it to become part of who you are, you have to keep bringing it back into practice, film, and games.

That is how it becomes part of your DNA.

5. Keep The First Version Simple

When you first install transition offense, I would keep it simple.

Really simple. Like, stupid simple (to you and your coaches anyways).

Give your players two or three things to master.

For me, I’ve always liked the idea of SPRINT - SPREAD - SHARE.

Sprint the floor, spread the defense by getting wide, and share the ball so we get a great shot.

If your team is doing those things every time and with effort, good things are going to happen in transition.
And then you can add layers, triggers, secondary actions, “what if” situations later.

But if you add all of that before your team has mastered the basics, you may just create chaos.

Players need a foundation first and to feel comfortable before you give their brains too much information to work with.

Once that foundation becomes a habit, then you can build.

6. Take It Into Live Play

At some point, your transition offense has to work against actual defense. All of htis planning and framework stuff and coming up with ideas is great.

But you have to be able to do it against actual humans.
Obviously, this means you need to take it into scrimmages, 4-on-4, 5-on-5, JV versus varsity segments, summer league games, preseason scrimmages, and eventually your actual season.

Then you go through the recursive learning process: try it, make mistakes, attempt to correct mistakes, watch film/get feedback, see what’s working and keep doing that, see what’s not working and stop that, figure out how to fix issues, repeat.

Sometimes something looks good in your head, but it does not fit your team.

Sometimes a trigger makes sense on paper, but your players cannot execute it at game speed.

Sometimes a secondary action clogs your spacing instead of helping it.

Sometimes you realize your team is better when you take something out.

This is all part of coaching. Experiment, tinker, and see how close you can get it to what you see in your head as effective.

7. Evaluate And Adjust

Once you get into scrimmages and games, you have to evaluate your transition offense by more than points.

Scoring obviously matters, but you also have to be checking for the important things that need to be happening within your transition offense.

Are we sprinting? Are we wide? Are we moving the ball? Are we playing north-south? Are we putting pressure on the rim? Are we taking good shots? Are we flowing and creating advantages?

You do not need to track everything…but track some of the things you think are most important. If you want to truly evaluate, you need actual data and information in some capacity.

Final Thoughts

If I were helping a coach install transition offense, I would not start with a huge package. I would start with clarity, figuring out the goal of the offense and what it will look like, how to build it daily, and then constant re-application.

I’d also keep it as simple as possible for as long as possible.

Next week, we’ll talk about some of the little things that can make your transition offense better, and after that we’ll get into some favorite transition drills you can use with your team.

Small wins every practice/workout/film session = sustained growth and success

Get jusssssst a little bit better each day and you’ll start compounding growth, improvement, development, and…hopefully…wins!

What are your Big 3?

250 Shot Workout - get in, get out in under an hour

50 finishes around the rim
50 dribble move pull-ups
50 3 pointers
50 free throws
50 free choice/extra work/something you want to add to your game

This takes about 45 minutes to complete and will change your game.