Tennessee 5-Out Circle Motion Offense Guide PDF

“TENNESSEE” A Guide to the 5-Out Circle Motion Offense By Coach Matt Hackenberg [email protected] [email protected]  The 5 Out Circle Motion Offense “Te...

“TENNESSEE” A Guide to the 5-Out Circle Motion Offense By Coach Matt Hackenberg [email protected] [email protected]  The 5 Out Circle Motion Offense “Tennessee” WHAT IS THE CIRCLE MOTION? BASIC ACTION ADDING MOTION DECISION MAKING WHAT ARE THE SCORING OPPORTUNITIES? CORNER OPTION ATTACKING VS PRESSURE DEFENSE ATTACKING VS SAGGING DEFENSE ATTACKING VS SWITCHING DEFENSE KEY FUNDAMENTALS WITHIN THE OFFENSE QUICK HITTING SETS OUT OF CIRCLE MOTION VARIATIONS FLOWING FROM A 5 OUT BREAK HOW TO DRILL COMMON PITFALLS TERMINOLOGY MY STORY PROMOTIONS Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 2 [email protected] WHAT IS THE CIRCLE MOTION? The Circle Motion is a 5-out, open post offense with completely interchangeable posi- tions. Although the offense is interchangeable, we generally want shooters in the cor- ners, cutters/finishers on the wings, and a screener at the top of the key. That is the optimal alignment, but as we cycle through the offense, players will find themselves in every spot. This makes having skilled players very important - they will all be handling the ball and making decisions. It is an equal opportunity offense that will make each player on the court feel involved. The strength of the offense is geared around ball movement (cutting, screening and ball reversals) although there are some opportunities to penetrate with the dribble. Hard cuts make the offense work. If players jog through the cuts, the offense will not be as successful as it could be. For that reason, the offense can be physically demanding to run - three players sprinting through the action on every ball reversal. For the same reason, the offense is difficult to guard. The offense can be initiated from the top of the key or from either wing, but the basic series of screening and cutting takes place any time we pass the ball from the top of the key to the wing. We used a sideline 5-out break so we initiated from the wing, which I preferred because we could double reverse, shifting the defense from side to side, into the first series of cuts and screens. We also used our 5 position at the top of the key, so he would become the first down screener in the offense, which I preferred. Using your 1 to initiate from the top of the key has the advantage that the ball can be entered to either side. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 3 [email protected] BASIC ACTION The core movement of the Circle Motion is a three player bunch action. This means three players converge together and use each other to cut and screen. It occurs any- time the offense passes from the top of the key to the wing. The terminology we use to describe each position is down screen, butt cut and long cut. The down screener is screening near the outside edge of the lane, about one step towards the baseline from the elbow. He is screening for the long cutter, and the butt cutter is cutting off the butt of the down screener. If the down screener can screen the butt cutter’s defender, effectively making contact with two defenders on his down screen, that is optimal. The long cutter wants to walk his man in a few steps before making a hard cut, changing pace, to come off the down screen. The basic action can be effective as a set play used sporadically throughout a game. The action is fairly monotonous, and can be scouted by a diligent opponent. Against undisciplined teams that do not jump to the ball, this action will work consistently. Against well-principled defensive teams, it can be used effectively as a change of pace, but I would not recommend using this as a base offense all throughout the game. We will get into some of the features that make this offense a viable base offense that can be used in any amount throughout the course of a game, but before that, let’s examine how we get back to our 5-out shape to continue the offense. We are looking to move the ball to an open cutter to score or collapse the defense. If no scoring option is present, we need to reverse the ball and run the action again on the other side. To do that, we need to get back to our 5-out shape. The long cutter has come to the top of the key off the down screen. He will fill the position at the top of the key and become the down screener after the ball is re- versed. He may need to pop out towards half court if he is not open at the three point line. The down screener flairs out to the wing. He will become the passer when the ball is reversed. The butt cutter fills out to the corner after curling to the rim. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 4 [email protected] ADDING MOTION DECISION MAKING The offense to this point is fairly straight forward. It requires little thinking on the part of the offensive players. The ball is passed from the point to the wing and the three play- ers on the weak side engage in the circle motion cutting series. Once this action is mastered, additional decision making can be layered on top. This is where the offense becomes interesting, and can cause the defense fits. Giving the players options to vary their cuts will provide unpredictability, but requires the offensive players to be able to make reads, and react to their teammates decisions. Back Cut (Butt Cutter’s Decision) The first cut we implement when adding decision making to our cutting is the ability to back cut as the butt cutter. When the defense tries to jam the cut or gets caught on the high side, a sharp, violent cut before the butt cutter reaches the down screener can create a layup, or at least cause the defense to help on the cut, which will increase the chances of another offensive player being open. This develops quickly, so the passer must anticipate this action, and be ready to fire a strike if the cutter is open. L-Cut (Butt Cutter’s Decision) The second cut to implement when adding decision mak- ing is the L-cut. This is also a decision made by the butt cutter. When the defense is going under the down screener to meet the cutter on the other side, the butt cut- ter can L-cut to the top of the key. This is particularly effec- tive against sagging defenses. The L-cut is the third option for the butt cutter. In most basic version of the offense he is going to hard curl, and then progresses to have the ability to read the defense and decide to back cut or L-cut. It’s not always clear what the correct cut is to make for the butt cutter, so we, as coaches, teach them to be deci- sive and prepared to make the right choice. Cut hard; it’s not the worst thing in the world to make the wrong cut, but whatever cut you make, it needs to be a hard cut. The L-cut requires a reaction from the other cutters. Once the decision has been made to L-cut by the butt cutter, the down screener should slip to the rim, and the long cutter should L-cut to the wing. This will keep optimal spacing for the offense, and opti- mal stress on the defense, having a cutter finishing his cut at the top of the key, the weak side wing, and at the rim. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 5 [email protected] Naked Butt Cut (Butt Cutter’s Decision) The final cut that can be made by the butt cutter, is what we call a naked cut. This is an attempted face cut made by the butt cutter before the down screener has arrived in screening position. In all honesty, it was never a cut that we taught, but a player in our program started doing it, and it was effective. We let him keep making this cut and it became a legitimate op- tion. When the defense is expecting to be working around a screen and all of a sudden they are facing a speed cut, it can catch them off guard. It is a worthwhile variation to the offense. Like the back cut, the naked cut requires no reaction from the other cutters in the bunch action. This cut can be made in front or be- hind the defender, with the most important factor being the speed of the cut. Slip (Down Screener’s Decision) Prior to touching on the slip, all the previous cuts that have been described have been decisions by the butt cutter, with the L-cut requiring a reaction from the other cutters, and the other cuts not requiring a reaction. The slip is a decision made by the down screener and requires the other cutters to react. The slip can work well against switch- ing defenses and teams that screen hedge off the ball screens. When the down screener’s defender gets above his screen, he can plant his outside foot and snap his head around to slip to the basket. When this happens, the butt cutter must L-cut and the long cutter also must L-cut. It’s the only way we end up with the spacing we desire; one cutter finishing at the rim, one on the weak side wing, and one at the top of the key. If the down screener slips and the butt cutter back cuts, we now have two cutters going to the rim. In all liklihood, neither player will be open because the spacing will allow one defender to essentially defend both cutters. Even poor defensive teams can get one out of two defenders to appropriately defend one of the cuts to the rim; there- fore the down screener slipping requires the butt cutter and the long cutter to L-cut. The slip should be made behind the down screener’s defender, usually in a pocket be- tween the down screener’s defender and the butt cutter’s defender. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 6 [email protected] Naked Face Cut (Down Screener’s Decision) A naked face cut by the down screener is an option to try to catch the down screener’s defender by surprise. If the cut is unsuccessful, it puts little stress on the defense. The naked face cut requires the butt cutter and the long cutter to both L-cut, so no actual screening will take place. This cut allows for more variation in the offense and has the potential to stress pressure defenses. This cut needs to be made in front of the de- fender, not behind him. If this decision is made, the offense has essentially become a pass, cut, and fill action. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 7 [email protected] WHAT ARE THE SCORING OPPORTUNITIES? Let’s take a look at where we find shots within this offense: Attacking from the top of the key Attacking from the top of the key is probably the most common scoring option, not only for the shot at the top of the key, but also as a dribble attack point. The dribble attack point is a closeout to attack, or a defender trailing on the down screen leading to a drive to the same side from where the pass is coming from. This comes in the form of the long cut off the down screen as well as the L-cut from the butt cutter. Catching the ball at the top of the key is most likely a spot to reverse the ball, but when we attack from this position, it can be an end point to the offense with a jump shot, or a point of creation with a dribble attack. Once we penetrate within the offense, we don’t want the ball to stop, using the advantage we gain from breaking down our defender to score or create another closeout for another teammate to attack. We want to keep possessions in an advantage state instead of getting back to neutral, and that’s from any spot we are penetrating from in the offense, not just the top of the key. This spot on the offense has even more potential if players can learn to read their de- fender as they come to the top of the key. If the defender is trailing the screen, a slight curl can aid the chances of turn the catch into a drive down the lane. If the defender tries to shoot the gap, the offensive player can fade slightly for a better chance to shoot behind the screen. The little nuances of reading a defender can make a big difference to find shots. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 8 [email protected] Cuts to the rim Cuts to the rim are the most efficient scoring option in the offense. They happen less frequently than attacks from the top of the key, but when they do, it is usually in the form of a close interior shot, and sometimes in the form of uncontested layups. We also draw a lot more fouls on shot attempts that come from cuts to the rim. These cuts are essentially our post touches in the offense, having the ability to collapse the defense on the catch for kick out opportunities. Scoring attempts from cuts to the rim come in the form of hard curls and back cuts from the butt cutter, as well as slips from the down screener. When we catch passes on these cuts, we usually only need to finish, or read the help to move the ball - usually little to no creation is needed when we pass to a cut- ter going to the rim; it is an end point to generate offense. Off the reversal pass There are some opportunities to score as the player receiving the reversal pass, the pass that triggers the Circle Motion action. Sometimes the player receiving this pass is open for a shot as the defense is shifting from side to side with the ball moving from the wing to the top of the key to the wing. This may be a closeout to attack with dribble penetration as the defense can be recovering from help to defending on the ball. If this player is going to drive, he needs to do it immediately on the catch while the defense is recovering because once he’s dribbled, he’s lost most of his effectiveness as a passer, being consumed with the dribble rather than reading the defense. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 9 [email protected] Skip pass The skip pass can generate shots from time to time, especially against sagging de- fenses that aim to clog the paint and overload help side. This pass requires recognition by the passer, and it requires the down screener to vacate in a timely manner after screening to for the long cutter. It can also happen on an L-cut to the wing if the butt cutter has chosen to L-cut to the top of the key. A lot of the passer’s attention will be placed on reading the top of the key and rim, but he needs to be trained to know that when he sees extra bodies in the paint, usually a skip pass is available. Throwing this pass from time to time will keep the defense more honest in how they defend the other cuts. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 10 [email protected] CORNER OPTION I posted a basic video about this offense years ago on Youtube, and by far, the most common question I received from inquiring emailers was: “What happens when the ball is passed to the corner?” To be honest, we’ve still never settled on a firm option, changing from year to year. So in this section I’ll present some options. If you’re using this offense as a sporadic set, I wouldn’t worry about it much, and bypass the option altogether. If you are going to use this as a base offense for your team or entire program, you will certainly need rules for when the ball goes to the corner. Tilt The tilt option is purely running the Circle Motion pattern on the wing to corner passes, just like a team would on a pass from the top of the key to the wing. The spacing is a little different but the concept should be easy to remember since it is consistent with the rest of the offense. Cut, post and fill This is the option we’ve used the most through our years of running the offense. It has served us well but I’d change the rules if there was something I liked better or fit our per- sonnel better. Simply, we are going to pass to the corner, attempt to face cut our defender, sit down for a post up, and then fill to the weak side. This sparks the rest of the perimeter players to fill up, with the player filling from the top of the key to wing making an L-cut if needed to be open. This is less of an attacking option, and more of an option to get the offense reset after some movement. Pass and follow ball screen A pass and follow ball screen allows for the screener to roll down the baseline and the ball handler to attack a double gap. The rest of the perimeter player would hold for spacing purposes, or the weak side could interchange to distract the help defenders. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 11 [email protected] ATTACKING VS PRESSURE DEFENSE When playing against defenses that are designed to deny and disrupt the offense, we want to build in some techniques and strategies to help alleviate the pressure and make that pressure work against the defense. Being a 5-out offense, the basket is open and spacing is built in to attack pressure in a variety of ways. Using a spread of- fense and a system that always has a cutter going to the rim is a good start to attack pressure and denials. With the defense denying, we are more likely to be open, and not have help, if we make a successful cut to the rim, whether it be a butt cut, back cut, or slip. We are also more likely to be able to get to the rim attacking closeouts off the dribble as the defense is trying to get to denial position instead of help, so we want to explore attacking out of the penetration spots within the offense. Rule #1 - If denied, don’t stand or seal, just basket cut or down screen With the offense being interchangeable, we don’t need a certain player in a certain spot at any given time. We can run the offense with any player in any spot. Sure, we would prefer to have certain players in certain spots, but it is merely a preference. When players are denied on the wing, they have the option to basket cut or down screen. These options don’t take us out of what we are doing, the players just trade places. With a basket cut, the player in corner would fill to the wing. Most defenses can’t or don’t deny two passes away, so on the basket cut, the player in the corner is in a foot race to get to the wing with a defender that should be going from help to deny. After the basket cut, the cutter should fill to the corner, replacing the player that just lifted to the wing. The second option is to down screen for the player in the corner. Against teams that fight through screens, this should be especially effective. After screening down, the player simply replaces the player he screened for. Against switching defenses, the down screener wants to try to screen his own defender while on the way down to screen for his teammate in the corner, essentially trying to stop his defender from jump switching into another wing denial. An important note on this: players should only basket cut or down screen when the passer is looking at them and are not open. We want the passer to be able to see and read the action as it unfolds so that he can pass on time and on target. If the passer is reading one side of the court, the players on the other side of the court should hold. If the basket cut or down screen action doesn’t pro- Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 12 [email protected] duce an open player on one side of the court, the passer should pivot to read the other side of the court. Rule #2 - Use L-cuts when filling If a pass is going to be contested within the offense, particularly at the top of the key or on the wing, we want to use L-cuts to create more space to be open. An L-cut is a sim- ple cut - it’s a sharp cut off of the inside foot to pop out, the same cut we use to pop to the top of the key as the butt cutter in the offense. This cut can happen at various points within the offense as a weapon to get open. If the long cutter gets to the top of the key and is denied, he can freely L-cut towards half court to create space to reverse the ball. If the ball is on the wing and the player at the top of the key has used a basket cut against the defense, the player on the opposite wing should fill using an L-cut to get open. On our corner option, we fill from the top of the key to the wing using an L-cut. The L-cut provides extra separation and an opportunity pass away from the defense which should lead to safer passing. Rule #3 - When dribbled at, go backdoor, and fill from behind with an L-cut Another way to attack pressure is to dribble at the player on the wing from the top of the key. This is a slow crab dribble, keeping the ball protected. In theory, this could be used as an option read to either accept a dribble hand off or cut back door, but we never progressed to the point of using it in a true read and react concept to hand off, but I think it could be a great option. The teaching would be a read line based on the defender coming to the ball: backdoor if the defender is on the line, and DHO if the de- fender is in the gap. Off the crab dribble, the ball handler should be able to throw a pocket pass if the back door cutter is open, all while being able to see in his peripheral vision the next player who should be filling up behind the backdoor cut. If the pass is completed to the back- door cutter, we likely have a layup. At a minimum, the backdoor cut should loosen up the defense to allow the cutter filling behind a better chance to be open. If we hit the cutter filling behind, we would cut underneath of the ball to fill, while the backdoor cut- ter would fill out to the weak side. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 13 [email protected] Using a dribble clear out A dribble clear out is a technique used from the wing to flatten the defense and create a lot of movement for the defense to defend. From the wing, the ball handler will drib- ble at the player at the top of the key, forcing him to go backdoor. He will continue his dribble towards the player on the opposite wing, who will also set his man to go back- door. If either of the opportunities create a backdoor layup opportunity, we should take advantage of that. The player in the corner will now lift up the sideline to receive the pass. This technique creates backdoor opportunities and has a safe place to release the ball to, since the corner defender should be in help side and is has his attention drawn by the backdoor cuts. If neither backdoor is there, we hit the player in the corner lifting to the wing, and the passer fills the strong side corner. Using sets within the offense for designed backdoors As described in the chapter on set plays from within this offense, there are a few good options for backdoor plays to capitalize on defenses that deny in the passing lane. Please refer to that chapter for the specific plays. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 14 [email protected] ATTACKING VS SAGGING DEFENSE The Circle Motion can be used effectively against various styles of man to man de- fense, but we’ve found different styles of defense tend to produce different kinds of shots. Against denial styles of defense, we tend to get more shot attempts at the rim - open cutters to the basket, backdoors, and penetration. Against sagging styles of de- fense, we tend to get more jump shots, specifically the shot at the top of the key and the skip pass to the down screener vacating to the weak side wing. With that in mind, let’s look at some thoughts on using the Circle Motion when attacking a sagging de- fense. Be patient Sagging, gap style of defenses are more about outlasting the other team than provid- ing pressure to get steals or disrupt the offense. As an offense, we need to understand and accept that. Therefore, we need not be in a rush. We need to be willing to work the ball from side to side to find a good option. Considering we aren’t at risk of a forced turnover against these styles of defenses, we need to be willing to wait for a break down in the defense to exploit instead of forcing the issue. Give yourself up as a cutter Against sagging defenses, they are going to have bodies in the paint protecting the basket. There are ways, whether by design or accident, that contribute to the de- fense being congested to the point where it’s hard to stay with cutters or closeout. For example, if a butt cutter makes a back cut before curling off the down screen he may be able to run in the path of, or even run into, the de- fender of the player making the long cut. This increases the chances of the long cutter being open but less likely the back cut will be there. This is an example of playing unselfish and giving yourself up as a cutter to better the chances of someone else getting open. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 15 [email protected] ATTACKING VS SWITCHING DEFENSE Over the years we’ve found this offense to be effective against defenses that switch off the ball screens. The three player bunch action requires great communication by the defense to switch correctly, especially if the offense is varying their cuts on each rever- sal. Slip the down screen Slipping the down screen can really work well against switches. Teams are usually switching the down screeners defender onto the long cutter, to jump out and deny at the top of the key. We teach that when the down screener’s defender gets above the down screener, we want to slip to the basket. Their is usually a tight window to slip into in between the long cutter’s defender and the butt cutter’s defender. We want to snap our head and show our hands right into this space between the two defenders. This pass requires anticipation from the passer, so he needs to make his read and throw an accurate pass. Back cut the butt cut Back cutting the butt cut can cause confusion to the defense if they are anticipating the to switch the butt cut. If they are anticipating a screen taking place, and no screen hap- pens, they will have to sort it out in a split second, leading to confusion. On the back cut, sometimes both defenders will go with the back cutter, sometimes leaving the long cutter open at the top of the key. The defense is going to want to make sure the cutter to the basket is taken away because that player can shoot a high percentage shot close to the rim. The defense will tend to overreact to the cutter to the rim if there is confusion. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 16 [email protected] KEY FUNDAMENTALS WITHIN THE OFFENSE Within any offense, the details are going to make a big difference. I’d like to touch on some of the details in terms of fundamentals that will enhance this offense. Passing from the wing This offense relies on getting the ball to the wing, and then making a series of cuts and screens. If the wing passer cannot be strong with the ball and read the defense, it doesn’t matter how good the cuts and screens are. There are some CRITICAL details related to passing from the wing in this offense: 1. Try to receive the wing entry pass as close to the three point line as possible. As we try to throw passes from the wing to the interior of the defense to cutters from this posi- tion, we want those passes to be as short as possible. Also, if we are going to drive the ball against strong ball pressure, we want that drive to be concise to rim. If we are 30 feet away from the basket, we can’t make short drives or short passes. 2. Upon receiving the ball, square up to the basket instead of dribbling. We cannot make the passes we need to make off the dribble. The dribble should only be used to attack pressure with a downhill drive to the rim or in one of our designed pressure relief concepts like a dribble at backdoor. Players must catch the ball, get in a strong bal- anced position with the ball protected, and read the defense. The cuts develop quickly, and require fast recognition. Cutters may only be open for a split second. Often times, if we are not anticipating these openings, it is too late to throw the pass, so we need to square up. Use jump cuts We teach jump cuts as a way to change pace and change direction. The act of jump cutting is to raise onto your toes so that when you land you can explosively change di- rection and go from slow to fast. Instead of planting one foot to go the other direction, use the jump cut to disguise which direction you will travel depending on which foot you distribute your weight. Pass away from the defense When moving the ball within the offense, we need to recognize if a pass we are trying to complete is going to be defended or not, meaning whether there will presser on the Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 17 [email protected] receiver when the pass is on the way to them. If the pass is uncontested, we want to pass into the shot pocket of the offensive player so he has the ability to catch the ball and shoot or drive. This is a direct pass to the body of our teammate. If the pass is going to be contested, with a defender right with our teammate, we want to pass the ball away from the defender. This makes the pass less vulnerable to be stolen or deflected. It may take away op- tions for the pass receiver in terms of being able to shoot or drive directly off the catch, but it will keep the passes safe. We never want to throw passes into the defense, meaning the ball arrives be- tween the pass receiver and the defender. If the defender is anywhere near the pass receiver, he has a good chance to steal or deflect these types of passes. Dribble with a purpose As mentioned before, we cannot just catch the ball and immediately start dribbling without a purpose. If we have a closeout to attack on the catch, that is a good purpose. If we are holding the ball and getting pressured so much that we can attack downhill, that is a good purpose. If we are reading denial coverage, and would like to engage our teammate in a dribble at, that is a good purpose. If we need a dribble to create and angle to make a pass, that is a good purpose. Other than the aforementioned exam- ples, we should probably not be dribbling within the offense. Don’t fight denials When players are denied, we don’t want them sealing or juking to try to get open. We want them to be trained and comfortable using our designed pressure releases. We need to form the habits; if the passer is looking at a teammate and that teammate is denied, the denied player needs to go backdoor or down screen automatically. Sealing just makes for highly contested passes being received outside of where we want to catch the ball, and juking often leads to the passer being juked out and making a bad pass. Cut with a sense of urgency We want sharp, violent cuts within the offense. We want players to read the defense, but not at the expense of pace. Often times, players try to go slow so they can get a better read of the defender. We want snap decisions to be made and trusted. Whatever cut a player is going to make, we want it to be made quickly and we want that decision carried out. We want players to trust what they see, then cut as hard as they can. Even if they are not open, the hard cut will occupy at least one defender, increasing the odds for another cutter to be open. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 18 [email protected] QUICK HITTING SETS OUT OF CIRCLE MOTION Let’s take a look at some quick hitting sets that can evolve directly from the Circle Mo- tion Offense. Using the offense as a disguise, it can be easier to catch the defense napping on these quick hitters because they’ve become accustomed to defending the pattern, and all these sets develop like we are in our normal Circle Motion pattern. “Titan” Lob In this set, we are going to design a back cut to lob on the back side, going against the natural flow of the ac- tion. This works well with a talented shooter receiving the lob against a team that has scouted the offense and therefore will be prepared for the normal action. “Volunteer” Dribble at Backdoor In this set, we coordinate a dribble at backdoor, setting up the defense after cycling through the normal offense one time. Of course, if we have a quality before the back- door, we want to take it, but everyone is on the same page that we are going to dribble at backdoor at the spot where we would normally reverse the ball “Vandy” Double Flair (Or Gate Screen) After cycling through the offense one time, we now have brought a shooter to the top of the key. He can enter to either side and we will double flair on the back side. We teach that the player receiving the screens should posture and motion like he is down screening, just like the normal pattern, before breaking off the flair. We’ve ran this as a flair over the top, and also as a gate screen going between the two screeners. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 19 [email protected] “Basic” Ball Screen In “Basic” we sprint a big man as the long cutter all the way to the ball to set a spread ball screen. From here, we are looking to create a screen and roll with a back side lift and spacing to facilitate pene- tration on weak side. “Chattanooga” Dribble At Double Backdoors This action gets a little complicated. We initiate from the top of the key in this set of dia- grams and run the Circle Motion action one time through. At that point we will run a dribble at backdoor with the option to hit the first backdoor cutter if he is open. If not, want him to pin his man, taking him out of help for the next action. We then continue the dribble to the player lifting from the corner. He reads his man and reacts to his posi- tioning. If he is on the line, we will run a second dribble at backdoor in the space pro- vided by the first backdoor cutter sealing his man. If his defender is sagging off, he will accept a dribble hand off. He can attack the gap if he is open, or take it on a dribble at towards the weak side wing to see if we can get another backdoor opportunity. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 20 [email protected] “Knoxville” Dribble Hand Off to Flair In this action, we run the Cir- cle Motion one time through. If a good opportunity presents itself, we should take it. On the reversal, we dribble at the wing, executing a dribble hand off. We take the dribble hand off and dribble at a sin- gle flair screen we are setting on the back side. “Cleveland” Curl, Curl, Pop This action is a variation of our normal pattern to attack teams that use the down screener’s defender to bump our cutters. Usually we would not want two players finishing their cut at the rim, but this action is designed that way. While the down screener’s defender is busy bumping cutters, we are going to pop him back to the top of the key for a shot, or a closeout to attack. The action is two players curling, and then a pop. “Strong“ Curl, Post, Hi/Low This offense doesn’t allow for much traditional post up play, so if that’s something you want, you may want to sup- plement with sets. In this ac- tion, we can have the desired post player seal after curling, and then again look for the ball on a high low as it is reversed. The possibilities are endless! All we want to do is be able to break away from the pat- tern of the Circle Motion at certain points to create unique scoring possibilities. It may take some configuring by the coach to get the right players in the right spot to run the actions for preferred players, but all the actions will be masked behind the Circle Mo- tion offense. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 21 [email protected] VARIATIONS A variation to the offense is different from a quick hit set. Variations change the pattern slightly, but allow the offense to continue flowing without diverting from the pattern. A quick hit set, however, breaks from the pattern to generate an opportunity for a specific action, usually for a specific player. Let’s look at some variations that could be made for preference or to better fit personnel. Speed The speed version of this offense keeps the 5-out align- ment, but changes the down screen to a blur cut. This al- lows the offense to run quicker and allows for the skip pass to be more widely used. The down screener simply runs through the weak side elbow instead of stopping and screening. Any contact by the offense with the defense is largely incidental. The long cutter wants to make a sprint cut to the top of the key, rounding the arc, instead of walk- ing his man down to use the down screen. The butt cutter should sprint immediately instead of using a jump cut. 4 Out, 1 In The four out, one in version of this offense takes the player in the corner and puts them on the block. There is more help on the curl cut and less room for a back cut, but shortens the cut by the long cutter. It also provides a little bit more clutter for the long cutter’s defender to get through on his way to chasing his match-up to the top of the key. Flair Continuity Using the general theme but varying the basic pattern can get us to a dribble at flair screen continuity. On the wing pass, we butt cut, then morph into a dribble at flair/slip action on the back side. Getting back to our 5 out shape is a little different, having the butt cutter fill strong side, and the passer as- suming the position at the top of the key. This can be a good counter to teams jamming the midline to stress them horizontally with the flair. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 22 [email protected] FLOWING FROM A 5 OUT BREAK If the circle motion is just a wrinkle in what you do offensively, you can run it out of whatever alignment you like. If we only ran this a couple times a game, I’d probably just center the ball and put my players in the spots that fits them best. If it’s going to be your base offense, and you are going to plan to flow into it naturally on each posses- sion, it would be wise to coordinate your transition directly into the offense. We use a 5- out break that is perfect for flowing directly into Circle Motion, but I wanted to demonstrate how we get right into the offense from our break, off a miss or a make. Acquiring the Ball Off of an Opponent Made Basket (“Primary”) The 2 position in our system inbounds the ball, grabbing it out of net on 0 or 1 bounces out of the net, clears the backboard to inbound, and trails the play on the weak side by 2-3 steps. The 5 position waits between the top of the key and the center circle, and aims to stay even or behind the ball as it advances. The 1 position gets his literal butt to the sideline in either outlet box, but never in the dead zone, to start the break. We run our break through the 1 position. On a make, the 4 position sprints the left rail to the corner and 3 sprints right rail to the corner. If the outlet is denied, the 1 would ba- nana cut back to the middle to get the ball, and would then run the break on the other side, with the 2 position filling the opposite wing of the 1. We want 1 to pitch ahead if he can so we can play in transition. We would take advan- tage of a numbers advantage if it’s there as opposed to always needing to flow the Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 23 [email protected] break into our Circle Motion. Acquiring the Ball Off of a Rebound or Turnover (“Fire”) Several things change when gaining possession from a rebound or turnover. On a made basket, 2 always in- bounds the ball; we can control that. On a miss, anyone on our team can get the rebound; we can’t control who gets the rebound. So on a miss, 1/2 get to the outlet box and 3/4 sprint the closest rail. If it's the same rail, the sec- ond wing down will push the first wing through to the op- posite corner. We should have both corners filled and a side of the court with a corner and wing/trailer. 5 still hangs back to set a ball screen or handle a reversal. Non-handlers should treat the change of possession like it's an inbound after a made basket; Find 1 or 2 in the out- let box and then proceed to their role in the break. If a handler rebounds, he should execute the concept of “Be Your Own Outlet,” meaning the ball handler will act as the primary ball handler and 1 will take his place following FIRE rules. While executing this concept, we want to use common sense; we don’t want to pass up an advantage situa- tion down the court in order to organize. We should be trying to play basketball first, and then get organized if we don’t have an advantage Flowing into Circle Motion Through these rules, if we haven’t pitched the ball ahead to play in transition with an advantage, we should arrive down the court in an organized fashion, with 1 and 2 filling the high wings, 5 in the middle, and 3 and 4 in the cor- ners. From here, we can reverse the ball and we are in Circle Motion. We also use a dribble entry into the offense by waving the center away, sparking the Circle Motion movement without an entry pass. With these rules in place, there is no organization needed when arriving for a neutral possession to the run the of- fense. All we need to do is reverse the ball or make a hand motion to trigger the pattern. “Away” Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 24 [email protected] HOW TO DRILL We use these five drills as our staple drills to teach the offense. All of these drills were creations from scratch to help our players learn the offense in different phases and in- grain the habits we want them to form. As a coach, creating your own set of drills to teach your schemes is a key skill. It will help your players understand the nuances of the things you do, so be creative. 3v3 Small Sided Games We use this drill as a starter drill for the offense and mostly in the off-season. All we do is have a coach pass from the wing, and a 3 on 3 set up on the weak side, filling the top of the key, wing and corner. We have the players make the Circle Motion cuts, and pass to the open player. Once the ball is passed in, the drill is live to the conclusion of the possession - a defensive rebound, a turnover or a score. This teaches the players to make the basic cuts and reads of the offense while allowing them to play basketball in a more structured setting than an open gym. Tennessee Shooting This is a dry drill, meaning there is no defense. We have four lines of players and three passers. The passers rotate in the drill, and each have a specific place they will pass to, avoiding confusion of two passers passing to the same player. We run through our Circle Motion cuts with each player receiving a pass at the end of their cut for a shot. Once we make all three shots on one rotation, we move to the next series of cuts. We usually have one line of cutters used as a passer within the drill, meaning they may catch, drive, and kick from the top of the key to the corner, or they may catch on a curl and pass to the corner. It reinforces the habit of creating from collapsing the defense, and keeps more players involved in the drill. Tennessee vs Deny With this drill, we spot start the offense and have the defense play denial defense. We instruct the offense to use their pressure release tactics (back cut, dribble at, down screen, dribble clear, etc) to find a shot. We only want the offense to drive the ball at sharp downhill angles to the basket. This is pure training to maintain the offense through teams that are dead set on disrupting it through their style of defense. Once we learn to use the defenses pressure against them to create shots, we are in busi- ness against pressure defenses. Often times, teams that present heavy pressure try to keep us away from getting the ball to the wing to make our Circle Motion cuts. With this drill, we learn to stay in the offense against pressure, and use the defenses pressure against them. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 25 [email protected] Pressured Passing This drill is focused on teaching the passer to recognize what’s happening and make quick decisions. The drill is 4 on 3 with the offense having the advantage. The passer starts on the wing with the ball. He has no dribble. He has a defender an arm’s length away, working on mirroring the ball with his hands, trying to get deflections, and jump- ing to the ball once a pass is made. We start the other 3 offensive players in our Circle Motion spots, with one at the top of the key, one on the weak side wing, and one in the weak side corner. We have two defenders line up on the weak side lane line. We in- struct the offense to run their Circle Motion cuts. We instruct the defense ahead of each possession to lock on to a specific defender. The result is two players guarded on their cut and one player wide open. We want the passer to recognize quickly who the open player is, and then throw a pass on time and on target. I love the drill for teaching better awareness as a passer, but it uses a lot of resources to do so. We usually have each of our varsity players take 3-5 reps as the passer to get through the drill. Whole Method (5v5) While I know many coaches love a good breakdown drill, drilling in the whole method is where we spend the vast majority of our time sharpening the offense. When we drill 5 on 5, it’s important that we are guiding the defense and changing their principles. If we don’t, we will only understand how to run the offense against the style of our base de- fense. While it may not be the best look having the defense use unfamiliar schemes in practice, it will get the offense used to playing against different styles. If your team usu- ally switches off the ball screens, you still need reps working against teams that get through screens. If your team usually plays denial defense, you still need reps playing against teams that are in the gaps one pass away. If you help off the corner on a drive from the wing, you still need reps rotating to from the baseline on penetration and stick- ing to the player in the corner. My first tip is to guide the defense to get reps against various types of coverages. Secondly, we like to start the ball at different spots (top of the key, wing, corner) in the to get reps at certain features within the offense. For ex- ample, we will start the ball on the wing, instruct the offense to pass the ball to the cor- ner, triggering the corner option, and then we play live from there. Additionally, we may start the ball at the top of the key, and then tell the offense they can enter to either side, and then play live from there. Move the starting spot around, and move players into dif- ferent starting positions because they need to be comfortable playing from any posi- tion. This is especially true if we are going to be using down screens and back cuts to get open which mixes up our positioning. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 26 [email protected] COMMON PITFALLS The defender in the strong side corner sags in to help defend the paint Get a corner option you are comfortable with and teach the players to throw the ball to the corner when the defense is sagging. If the defender is sagging far enough to bother the action, there should be a shot in the corner or movement from whatever your cor- ner option may be that keeps the defense honest and keeps the offense organized and attacking. The defense is sagging and bumping our cutters aggressively Use more L-cuts and down screen flairs. If your spacing is good, you should finish each Circle Motion cutting series with a player at the rim, a player at the weak side wing, and a player at the top of the key. Your players need to read the defense and find who is open, and against sagging defenses, it’s usually the top of the key and the down screener flairing to the wing after screening. Teams may need to play more patiently against sagging teams, but good scoring opportunities will show up against this style of defense. Denial defense is causing the offense trouble making entry passes Use down screens to enter the offense automatically. Master the pressure release techniques, particularly the down screen and back cuts. Your goal as a coach should be to make the offense unpressurable, so that pressure contributes to positively our ability to score. Our wing passers aren’t able to hit cutters in tight passing windows This is a skill that needs to be honed. It’s easy when cutters are wide open, but passers in this offense need to be able to read and anticipate the defense to fit passes into small windows. Usually the passer needs to be ahead of the defense, meaning once he sees the pass is open, it may be too late. As the coach, we need to teach the players to catch, square up, and read. We cannot make the passes required in this of- fense off the dribble. Our team is having trouble getting a specific player the ball Embracing this offense is embracing team basketball where all players make decisions and handle the ball. Within the offense, you can align your players into positions where they will commonly use the most options with the greatest chance of success. Using a consistant shooter in the corner is a strong option. Using a good interior finisher on the wing is a great option. Granted, players will play all positions in the offense, but getting them where you want them will give them more opportunities to do the things they are best at. Also, teaching patience to the team when running the offense will get more Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 27 [email protected] chances for a star player to touch the ball. With all the movement in the offense, it will be hard for a team to load up on a start player without sacrificing somewhere else in their defense. A non-ball handler is constantly making turnovers as a passer You can create a set of rules for non-ball handlers to limit their touches, such as: when- ever they are on the wing and a entry pass is being attempted to their side, they should automatically back cut or down screen. This limits their touches at the wing. Also, if they are on the wing, you can have them only make a contested pass into the defense if it is wide open. Other than that, they should just get the ball reversed through the top of the key. Using this offense through the developmental years should help players get comfortable as a ball handler, so when they are at the Varsity level, they aren’t making so many turnovers. We lack interior touches using this offense Your interior touches in this offense are your cuts to the rim - curls, back cuts, slips. It is hard to control who is getting those touches in a 5-out interchangeable position of- fense. You can have your interior player always cut to the rim as down screen slippers or curl/back cutters from the wing when he has a decision to make. This will improve his chances of getting the ball on the interior. You can also use set plays to have a big- ger emphasis on getting the ball inside to a specific player. We lack penetration when using this offense Players need to understand where the penetration opportunities are within the offense: top of the key catches, on the reversal to the wing, off the skip pass, and against heavy pressure as a wing passer. The offense is geared around cutting, screening, and off the ball movement. Penetration opportunities do occur, and the more they are empha- sized, the more the players will find them. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 28 [email protected] MY STORY Thanks for purchasing this product! I’m Coach Matt Hackenberg from Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I’m passionate about the game of basketball. My love of the game started when I was 7 years old. My dad came home from work one day to find me playing in a mud puddle in our driveway, feeling pity that his dirty son had nothing better to do, he asked “do you want to go to a basketball camp?” I replied, “sure,” and quickly followed that up with, “what’s a basketball camp?” I at- tended the camp, and a love affair with the game blossomed. Growing up I used basketball as an outlet, met most of my friends through the sport, and learned countless valuable lessons about life as I refined my playing skills. I ended my high school career as a 1st team all-state player in Ohio in 2004, and went on to play small college basketball at Kentucky Christian University, amassing over 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in my four year playing career. After college I moved back to Canton and immediately began coaching at East Canton, a small rural high school. We had a great team returning, and had an exceptionally memorable 20-0 regular sea- son. As a first year assistant coach, I thought, “this coaching thing is easy,” convinced I was much more than just a bystander for a group a talented kids that worked hard for their incredible achieve- ment. When those players all graduated, I got a real baptism in coaching, staying at the same school as an assistant for the next two years and working with a limited roster that didn’t produce many wins. It was a eye-opening experience, fully comprehending that there are a lot of intelligent people in the coaching community, and that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought. In 2012, I got my first head coaching job at St. Thomas Aquinas, a small private school in the area. Taking over a program that hadn’t achieved true success in quite some time but had a decent run of athletes coming through the pipeline, something magical happened. We went on an unprecedented four year run, winning our district (equivalent to the “Sweet Sixteen” of the NCAA Tournament) all four years, and making it to the state finals one season, losing to a very good team. My time at St. Thomas taught me a lot of things, most notably how important a strong support staff is and also how important character is with the players on a team. Due to the success at St. Thomas, I was able to parlay that success into a coaching job at Canton GlenOak, a large public school in the area. GlenOak is most known for sending CJ McCollum and Kosta Koufos into the NBA. My time coaching at GlenOak didn’t overlap with the aforementioned, but they’ve been great supporting the program as they continue their professional careers. GlenOak is a top-notch school in one of the toughest basketball conferences in the state of Ohio. It’s a great place to learn how to build a basketball program and expand my coaching skills. So that’s me. A basketball junkie following my passion as a career. I write these guides and make Youtube videos mostly for me, to provide clarity of thought around basketball concepts I’m trying to master. I enjoy sharing my independent basketball studies with the world and getting feedback. I enjoy getting emails asking for advice about basketball. I enjoy having a little extra spending money in my pocket when people are gracious enough to pay for the things I write and videos I make. So thank you for the support, and let me know if I can help you, as a coach or fellow basketball enthusiast, in any way. Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 29 [email protected]  PROMOTIONS Follow me on Twitter @CoachHackGO Subscribe to my Youtube Channel to view more coaching content www.youtube.com/c/MattHackenberg/videos Visit my Sellfy Store for more resources to purchase https://sellfy.com/CoachHack.GO/ Matt Hackenberg - [email protected] - Circle Motion - 30 [email protected]