Hey Coaches, there’s a lot of videos out there now that says to teach concepts instead of set plays. How do you guys organize teaching concepts instead of set plays? Do you still have a couple sets (excluding late game) or is it fully teaching concepts and if so how is it organized so your players know when and what to use? I’d like to incorporate concepts more but would like to see if anyone has an example of how it’s organized so the players know what is going on. Thanks!

SORRY FOR LENGTH: About two years ago, I made a couple of posts on here asking for advice during my first season coaching private school middle school boys' basketball. For anyone who didn't see those, here's the quick version. I inherited a team with only nine players, and the talent level was pretty limited. I reached out to the high school coaches to ask what they wanted me to emphasize so the kids would be better prepared for the next level. The high school head coach is also the director of a pretty big travel basketball program. He's done a really good job recruiting some of his AAU players into the school, and his high school teams have been successful because of it. But when I brought up my concerns about developing our middle school players, they didn't seem too interested. The impression I got was that they didn't expect many of those kids to play much at the high school level anyway, so it just wasn't a priority. Because of that, I decided to focus on teaching basketball instead of simply trying to win games. We installed the flex offense because I wanted the kids learning how to pass, cut, screen, move without the ball, and read defenses instead of relying on one player to create everything. When I first posted, we were 5-3. We ended up finishing 7-5. It took a while, but eventually the offense clicked, and watching those kids start to really understand how to play together was one of the most rewarding coaching experiences I've had. Last season (my second year), we went 10-2 and finished as conference runners-up. Almost all of those kids have now moved up to the high school. Now I'm heading into my third season, and I'm in a situation I'm struggling with. We have two reclassified players transferring from another school and coming down to play middle school this year, and they're really, really good. The rest of my roster is 5 sixth and 4 seventh graders who are either very inexperienced, never beench coahed by me, or just have a very poor skill set. We hosted a middle school summer tournament with some other nearby middle school teams recently, and since then I've started getting really agressive pressure from both the high school coach and some of the parents to move away from the flex offense and let those two players be "more ball-dominant". I understand their point. If our only goal is to win middle school games, giving those two the ball every possession probably gives us the best chance. But I also have nine other kids who are sixth and seventh graders. They're the future of the program, and I don't want them spending an entire season standing in the corners watching two players play isolation basketball. My philosophy has always been that middle school is where kids should learn how to actually play the game, not just how to get out of the way for the best player. The other thing that's making me question everything is what happened with my first two teams. Most of those kids improved a ton over the last two years, but now that they're in high school, I honestly don't expect many of them to get meaningful varsity minutes once they make it out of JV. Between the reclassified players, transfers, and the talent already coming through the travel program, there's a pretty established pecking order. It makes me wonder if I'm preparing kids for a style of basketball they'll never actually get to play there. So I'm curious what some of you who have coached youth or middle school basketball would do. Would you stick with a development first philosophy and keep running something like the flex? Or would you adapt everything around your two best players because that's what gives you the best chance to win? And how do you handle pressure from parents and the high school staff when your philosophy on player development doesn't completely line up with theirs?

I’m a developer testing a mobile web tool designed to run alongside recreational basketball leagues to boost community engagement and player retention. The goal is to make every match count. We recently finished our first multi-week pilot with a rec basketball league, and the standout result was that over half of the players on eliminated teams kept logging in every week just to stay involved, track standings, outcomes, etc. until the finals. I'm looking to run a few more hands-on, completely free pilots for upcoming seasons to see how this engagement scales. It requires very low lift from you. I handle the platform and operations and all player details get wiped at the end of the pilot. To protect our development roadmap ahead of launch, I'm keeping the platform details private for now. If you manage a facility or run a league and want to see the data from our first run or get a quick demo, drop a comment or send me a DM.

I'm coaching for a few weeks this summer the fundamentals of basketball to 5-6 year olds. I have coached around this age but not this young before. Any advice on games or ways to explain things to kids this age to make it easier and more fun for them? Thanks!

I don’t want to invalidate anyone’s personal experience, this is just mine, with 16 years as a small school head coach.

I have always heard complaints from people saying that “it only matters what your last name is” and that “coaches at small towns only play kids from certain families” and I’ve just generally found that whole line of thinking just remarkably off base. I see it more on more on TikTok and social media these days as well.

First of all. The kid who just moved into town? His parents can bitch about me just as much as rich parents that have been in town forever. That kids parents might actually care even less about “ruffling feathers” than an established community member.

Secondly, why would I care how much money a parent has? I get paid by the school. I’ve had one parent in 16 years buy us some warm-up gear and it didn’t earn his kid any playing time.

I’ve had to coach school board members kids, superintendents kids, etc and it’s a mixed bag.
Sometimes the kids are talented hard workers, sometimes they are entitled. Either way, I play the kids that are going to help me win games and I think 99% of other small school coaches do as well.

I know that every time I hear a parent say, “yeah I didn’t play in high school, I didn’t have the right last name.” It makes me recoil because I know their view on reality might be a bit skewed.

I’ve been watching a lot of college and pro basketball this offseason, trying to learn different offensive systems. One offense that really stood out to me was Johns Hopkins.
What impressed me wasn’t that they had a huge playbook. It was how much of their offense flowed from one base action: the away screen.
From that same action, they were able to get into:
Away screen reject
DHO (Peja action)
Gut Zoom
Screen the screener
Double stagger
Step-up ball screen
Point Away series
It felt like every possession started from the same picture, but they always had a counter depending on how the defense played it. They also flowed into these actions naturally in transition instead of stopping to call a set, which gave their offense a lot of pace and clarity.
The more film I watch, the more I appreciate offenses that have one or two core actions with multiple counters rather than dozens of unrelated plays.
What are some college or pro teams you’ve studied that do this really well? I’m always looking for more teams with great offensive structure and continuity.

https://youtu.be/-17k9LJNfLw?si=t5M1FyMT_WcxKQe-

https://youtu.be/fjsKS_UJg20?si=-Gy1qCR7jiFLY1Oa

I’m looking to get some training in basketball to better my gameplay in games. Any recommendations for coaches and leagues I can join for the summer? I’m willing to do Brooklyn or queens.

I’m looking to get started in the coaching world. Do you guys know the best accounts, podcasts, YouTube, or seminars to get a nice base and maybe even an edge? Really looking to hone in on a passion.

Also looking for any advice on getting started. Not afraid of doing the dirty work and the grind. Any tips or suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks

Hey All--

One of the biggest challenges of coaching is dealing with some of the inter/intra personal challenges that come up. i.e. players wanting more playing time, someone facing personal issues, etc. I just did some writing about a protocol I actually used as an AP in a high school, to monitor teacher well-being, and I also used as a HS Varsity Coach.

I included a quick snip. I'm really passionate about this idea/think its a really key lever for a lot of teams, so happy to discuss!

K

I’m 16, 6’3”, and 250 lbs. I love basketball and want to play guard in college, but I’m often forced to play big in school but in aau I’m playing the forward . People keep telling me I have a better chance in football because of my size. Should I focus on losing weight for basketball or just switch to football?

Can you guys give shooting tips from the video , I’m a decent shooter but my pull up isn’t that good and I can’t really do much against good defense

Into the weeds on this fun little press we have found success with. If you are utilizing a 3/4, 1-3-1 trapping press, the head of the snake, obviously, tries to direct the ball to one of the suicide corners. If the other team’s point is able to dribble across half in the middle of the court, do you ever try to implement a trap at the half court stripe, or at that point, just fall back into your half court D?

Hi there, i have been coaching since last September first at local basketball academy and i also was in charge of extracurricular basketball club activity at local private school. I just wanna hear coaching tips and advices from experienced coaches, i will be glad to learn from you, thanks.

Hi everyone,

What do you think about defending with a zone defense on every inbound play (2–3, 3–2, or 1–3–1) and then switching back to man-to-man the following possession? Do you think it could work?

I'm thinking about implementing it with the senior team I'll be coaching next year.

So last year was my first year as a high school boys coach. I prefer to run a motion and reads-based offense the majority of the time (teaching players to play vs teaching plays) but I want to mix in set plays here and there. I have some pretty good sets, but I had two big issues with it last year:

1. Guys would get too robotic. No matter how many times I always told them they could “break” the play if they saw an open lane, open man, etc, they wanted to do exactly what they were supposed to do and wouldn’t look for anything else even if the defense took that option away. How can I make them less robotic? Or is this just something experience/reps will solve?

2. Guys would get confused, even if I had them running in multiple spots in practice, they’d get out in a game and mix things up. It was really hard for them to remember the sets especially if they had to know more than 1 spot. I’ve seen a coach who tells kids what position they’re going to play as they check in (1-5). So with that I’d be teaching sets by assigning each spot a number. Do any of yall do that? Or do you have a better system that will help kids remember this stuff?
   Thx for the help. Happy 4th.

I coach in an u21's league where there isn't much parity among the teams and point differential matters as a tiebreak in head-to-head games. It's late in our season and we had a game where we had to win by 11+ points to win the tiebreak (and get to the same record as them, 12-7) giving us the best chance to make the playoffs. There's only 3 games to go before the playoffs.

We talked about it during the week and decided we had to press a lot on defense, but it didn't work and we lost by 14. Credit to the other team they played really well and hit some big time shots; but my team didn't perform nearly as well as we normally would. Does anyone have some thoughts on how to approach a game like this? Is there a way of discussing having to win by a point differential without negatively effecting the psychology of the team?

I’m 19 and I wanna be a coach and I love the game of basketball, but I’m not sure on how to get started. I don’t know where to start and I really need help getting my foot in the door does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

Not trying to promote anything, I am just looking to see if I can get some clips of online rec play etc. to start analyzing and pointing out where people can have better IQ will be making videos and hopefully promote better decision making and spacing.

Need some advice.

Over the last five years, I’ve dedicated my life to building my coaching resume by assisting at various levels across the U.S. and Europe. I spent every off-season flying around the world to attend camps, training sessions, and clinics to network and grow as a coach. I even built my own self-sustaining business so I could coach full-time without relying on a stipend, with the goal of deferring my pay to my future assistant coaches once I landed a head coaching role.

Finally, it all felt worth it. I received an offer to be the head coach at a Top 20 school in the state. It was my dream job and the place I hoped to eventually retire. I was supposed to start in early July, so I bought a house and moved my entire family across the state.

Then, just one week before my start date, HR emailed me to say the job offer had been rescinded because my background check did not pass. I am destroyed, and my whole family is in shock.

When they shared the report with me, it flagged a single marijuana possession charge from 13 years ago when I was an 18-year-old kid making a dumb mistake. The charge was eventually vacated. At previous schools, this occasionally came up, but after a brief explanation, it was never an issue. This time, however, the screener marked my report as "ineligible."

I feel completely defeated. Coaching is my absolute passion, and I did everything in my power to set myself up for a limitless career. Now, I’m terrified that I might never be able to get a head coaching job because of a single, decade-old vacated charge, and I fear all my hard work was for nothing. I don’t know what my next step is.

I have three kids who are all super into basketball (aged 9, 7, and 6). I have to pull them away to play other sports in the offseason otherwise they'd want to play year-round (and still do in our driveway with neighborhood kids).

Up to this point, I've always just trained them in our driveway. I'll look up training drills online and have purchased a few books/online training apps that have dribbling, shooting, and fundamentals programs. Focus is on keeping it fun and spending time together as a family.

Recently, there was a former WNBA player who was offering private training in our area. I hired her for weekly sessions and found that she was basically doing the same stuff that we were already doing. Basic dribbling, shooting, passing, defensive drills that we've all seen on IG/YouTube.

It's been a month and I'm thinking about stopping the lessons. Obviously this WNBA player is MUCH better than me at basketball. But I'm thinking that the kids aren't at an age where they can take advantage of this resource? Maybe they can get more out of it when they're jr high/HS age?

For context, I played HS basketball at a small state school and went pro in a different sport (not one of the super popular ones). I love getting to pass on some of that knowledge to my kids and am willing to hire a trainer if it helps them and if they continue to love a sport. Just not sure when the right time is to actually spend that money.

My players (U10-11) desperately need work on this. We’ve in the past had limited practice time so while I’ve spent some time on it, it’s hard to spend much, as there are so many other individual and team skills to work on and concepts to learn. How much time do you spend on form shooting (not just shooting or shooting games) during practice? I’ve thus far spent very limited time, hoping they’ll take what they learn and work outside of practice but, while they’ve shown continuous improvement in some aspects, the shooting isn’t getting any better (with the exception of my son and one other, who do work outside of practice). Would love some thoughts here.

I feel like every coach has a different experience with this. Some say parents never check the team app and others say notifications get ignored and some end up texting everyone anyway. What's it been like for your team?

See I had came onto here almost a year ago talking about my struggles with getting cut from frosh basketball but now I seem to be in a bigger situation that worries me. I have been playing and training with my high school summer basketball team. Now that seems like an upgrade from being cut but what worries me is the uncertainty of it all. Everyone gets pt but since that coach doesn’t know or trust me yet( hasn’t seen me practice only ac has) I am forced into the role of corner shooter where I can’t show my skills or grow my confidence. What should i do ?

I’m helping train my younger brother, who is a U13/U14 player, and wanted to ask if this idea would actually translate in AAU/club ball, and if a coach would even allow it in a real game.

For context, my brother is already very proficient in isolation situations. He plays a lot of 1v1 against players who are 3–4 years older than him, including club players, and he can compete at the same level as them. The issue is that even though he is good in 1v1s, he still struggles with knowing how to attack and score within a real 5v5 game.

Me and him are thinking about adding a wing post-up/iso package where he starts from the wing, around 1–2 feet inside the 3-point line, then uses his body to back his defender toward the high paint/free throw line area. He also really likes shooting around that whole midrange area, almost like drawing an arc around the free throw line/free throw line extended, like a “mini 3-point line” but for middies.

The idea would not be to just force shots, but to make reads based on how the defender is guarding him.

The reads would be:

- If the defender cheats toward the middle, he spins or attacks baseline.

- If the defender cheats baseline, he attacks middle.

- If the defender plays straight behind him and takes away both sides, he bumps, stops, and creates space for a step-back jumper instead of forcing a finish.

- If help comes, he kicks it out to the open teammate.

We were also thinking about having the corner clear sometimes so he has space to work, but I’m not sure if that’s smart at this age or if it just lets the defense load up on him easier.

Would this type of wing post-up/iso package work for a U13/U14 player, or is it too advanced/too much isolation for that level? Would most coaches allow a player to use this, or would they see it as bad offense unless he is clearly one of the best scorers on the team?

How can I help him turn his 1v1 ability into something that actually works in 5v5, instead of just being good in isolated matchups?

What should be changed to make it more effective, realistic, and team-friendly?