How to Take Your Offense to Another Level

It's one thing to hit a jumper every now and again. It's another to be the go-to person on offense.

To be the type of player your teammates look to at the end of games takes lots of confidence and skill.

But it is possible to develop dominant offensive skills...it takes time, effort, and the desire to make it happen.

One of the key's to being a great offensive player is having multiple weapons in your arsenal. It's not enough to just have a good shot from the corner, just be at driving to the basket with your right hand, or have one good post move down low.

If your offensive game is limited, a good defensive player (and team) will take that part of your game away, and then you'll be out of luck. Let's look at this idea in more detail.

Quality offensive players are able to score and put pressure on the defense in a variety of ways, such as:

• Being able to shoot off of a catch
• Being able to shoot off the dribble
• Being able to give a shot-fake or jab-step to get open and hit the shot
• Being able to dribble to the left (with your left), or to the right (with your right)
• Being able to drive to the basket (around a defender) to the left or right
• Being able to score from a variety of spots on the floor
• Having multiple post moves down low

Think of how dangerous a player that can do all of the things listed above would be. If you were playing defense on that kind of player, you'd have your work cut out for you.

A player with all of these weapons can catch and shoot the outside shot, but if you play too closely, they might drive around you and go hard to the basket. But guarding that drive is difficult, since they can go by you with either their left, or right hand (so you wouldn't be able to shade them to one side or the other). A player of this quality can also shoot the ball from just about any spot on the floor (baseline, wing, top of the key). And they are probably able to hit from the outside, or take you down in the post and make a strong scoring move inside too.

As a coach, you like having players like this on the team because they are hard to guard, and they keep the defense honest. If they are really good, they might even draw a double-team, helping their teammates get more scoring opportunities.

Compare a player that has all of the weapons listed above to a mediocre player that has limited skills, and limited ability on the offensive end of the floor. Here are some examples of players with limited skills:

• A player that is only a stand-up shooter (can't come off of a screen and hit the jumper, and can't hit a shot off the dribble)
• A player that is only a shooter and can't drive to the basket
• A player who can only drive to their right (or left)
• A player who has one or two favorite spots on the floor to shoot from, and can't really hit shots from other areas of the floor
• A player with a bad shot-fake, or bad jab-step move
• A player with one or two moves down low in the post

Now, these are the types of players I used to love to play against. If a guy could only hit a shot from the baseline, I knew all I had to do was deny him the ball on the baseline, or force him to catch it somewhere else, and my work was done. He wasn't going to score. Or, if I knew a guy couldn't dribble (or could only dribble to one side), I'd just crowd him when he caught the ball and force him to put the ball on the floor. He wouldn't do it, or would likely turn the ball over when he did. So again, it made my job a lot easier.

So what does this tell you? To be a good offensive player, you have to have to be a well-rounded player. You have to have a good outside shot that you can shoot from a stand-still, or coming off of a screen. You have to be able to score from various spots on the court (baseline, wing, top of the key, etc.). You have to be able to take a guy off the dribble, to the left and to the right. You've got to have an all-around game to keep the defense guessing, and to keep the defense honest. If your game is limited, you'll be limited, and you'll make the defender's life easy.

Practice shoot from all around the court. You'll probably have a few favorite spots on the floor, but you've got to be able to shoot with confidence from just about anywhere. Practice stand-up shots, but also practice shots off the dribble. Practice giving a pump-fake and driving around a defender, both to the right, and to the left. Practice these moves, at game speeds, until you become comfortable and confident in your abilities.

The better able you are to score and put pressure on the defense, the tougher you'll make it on the defense. Be hard to guard and you'll be a bigger threat on the offensive end of the floor.

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