What is spacing in basketball

Many times over the past Utah Jazz season NBA analysts, writers, and opposing coaches would comment about how great Quin Snyder was at getting his players good looks.

How did Rudy Gobert set a career high in points when the paint was even more clogged than prior season for the Jazz? Some players are so good, they constitute a living, breathing advantage. James Harden can walk the ball up, take one ho-hum screen, and destroy your defense. The first rule of advantage basketball is that you never surrender your advantage.

Get a five-foot head start, and you should expand it 10 feet before shooting or exchanging the baton. Hesitation erases an advantage. The coaches have shown Mitchell that one aggressive dribble immediately after a catch covers as much territory as two or three ponderous ones, he says. Ingles will tell you: Decisiveness turns slow players into fast ones. The problem with manufacturing space is it exacts a heavy toll as Zach Lowe explains here. Add it up, and Utah leads the league in on-ball screens by a mile, per data from Second Spectrum.

They rank fourth in handoffs, and eighth in off-ball picks. When the system works, they generate shots this group of talent has no business generating. They forced Ricky Rubio , Joe Ingles , Jae Crowder , or Donovan Mitchell to take them off the dribble knowing that only one of those players had the talent to do so.

The real holy grail for a team that is great at manufacturing space despite its limitations is to one day be able to combine the strong execution with the right pieces. If you want to win awards and the adoration of others, you need the real stuff. Remember how I said it was oversimplified? There are additional variables that require a team to execute crisply on offense.

Variables that require a team to pivot when things go wrong. The pieces fit alongside the strategy. I'm curious, do you introduce the spacing concept and work on those dribble-penetration reads at the same time? I've always liked to use this drill to introduce the spacing concept.

Then, teach the other concepts in relation to dribble penetration. I think those are great progressions to add once the kids get a feel for spacing. I guess it all depends what age group that you are working with as well. I actually like to teach players how to cut before introducing dribble-penetration reads, but that could be a "to-may-to", "to-mah-to" type of difference.

The problem with this drill is that it does not teach moving off penetration. It would in fact reinforce the standing issue. Do the same drill with 4 players rather than 5 and teach the players to move on the penetration baseline drive-baseline drift; baseline drive-follow, middle drive-slide, etc.

Hi Craig, Some people like to set a rule where the guy on the wing slide up towards the top of the key.

I'm referring to the wing that the player dribbles towards. You don''t show an example of when the top of the key guy drives.

Do you have a preference which guy s rotate as he drives? First 4 games of season our youth team averaged around 30 points a game. Started this drill to improve spacing for our motion offense, after one week of practice kids are moving, penetrating and making that extra pass to the open shooter. We just started our second half of the season and playing the first team again this past Saturday our team finished the game with 61 points and every player scored 4 or more points for the first time this season.

It was a true team victory and our kids confidence is on a whole new level. They can't wait to get back to practice again. Looks like a good drill. What is the rule for filling the spot of the driver? For example, in step 2, how did 5 know to fill the spot vacated by 3? I really appreciated the way you plan for spacing drill.

It really helps the small basketers to work on the open man to take an open shoot. I hope you will continue giving us some drills. Thanks and more power. Thank you so much It really helps to my offence play.. I will use it constantly..

Thanks That's very useful!!!. Hi Janne, The "Triple Threat" is commonly referred to as the threat to shoot, dribble, or pass. To have the ball in triple threat position means that a player can pull the ball up into a shot, throw a pass, or dribble the basketball.

The player has the ball placed in the shooting pocket. Right-handed players have the shooting pocket slightly above their right hip and in front of them. The opposite holds true for left-handed players. We have a slightly different theory on how we like to teach our players to use the "triple threat. What exactly is a triple threat?

I've looked everywhere and I can't figure it out! I need it for school. I appreciate the drills given and hope to get more from you,thanks big. John, Running a V line when filling the spot wouldn't hurt. The key emphasis for this particular drill is to simply fill the "open" spot and maintain good spacing. This drill is nice because it gets players in the habit of filling that "open" space and keeping things spread out.

As long as teaching the V line doesn't detract from the key emphasis of the drill, you can certainly work that in. The V is especially useful if you play against a team that is overplaying. This can allow you to get open against pressure. You either V and get your player on your hip for the pass.

Or cut straight out and back door against pressure. Teams that fail to maintain proper spacing are unlikely to achieve success on offense in the long run. When too many players are in close proximity to one another, it becomes easier for defenders to guard their assignments. For example, if an off-ball player is standing just a few feet away from the ball handler, the off-ball player's defender can essentially guard both members of the offense without having to move very far.

Poor spacing leaves the offense susceptible to double teams two defenders collapsing on the player with the ball and easily interceptable passes. These types of situations often cause offensive players to panic and make ill-advised decisions, allowing defenders to steal the ball and take possession away from the team operating on offense.

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