Tricks work better is you can catch and shoot

Some players try all kinds of tricks when they get the ball at the wing. These work a lot better if they are good at catch and shoot threes. A good defensive player knows tendencies and will take them away. The same principle applies to a player who is more of a driver. This type of player benefits from either driving right away or by passing. For them, a pass fake can lead to an opening to drive to the basket.

Ensure the first pass and reversal

Every now and then the other team does a great job of denying the first pass. This really hurts your team, especially if the team is young. The answer is to put in at least three ways to start the offense. It's also important to reverse the ball at least once when the other team is trying to deny entry as they will lose their enthusiasm if you reverse quickly out of the wing.

Some offenses, like the high post offense that Ken and Kathy Shields used so effectively at the University of Victoria had multiple options built in. I spent a year there and their teams did a great job of running their options. Opposing teams were forced to defend the offense and the Vikings would take advantage of overplay with good decisions. This illustrates the point that structure doesn't mean you stop thinking. Players who master the structure can make individual plays to take advantage of the defensive adjustments. I tell my players that we run our offense until it produces a scoring opportunity. You can stop using it any time you can score or you can make a pass to someone who can score.

You should have multiple entry options even if you are running a motion or read and react offense. For example, the dribble drive offense is based on penetration. It doesn't hurt to add a down screen option to a 1-2-2 set in case the defense is overplaying successfully.

The key is to keep your team's confidence up by having multiple ways to start the offense.

Stop threes by making them think or shrink.

The three point shot has become a psychological lift for most teams. As a coach, you have to decide how you will play the ball. The ballhandler can shoot, drive right or drive left. The defender on the ball is doing well if two options are taken away. My choice is to take away the strong hand and the three because they are the two most dangerous options. They deserve to win if they can score enough points driving with their weak hand.

We have to give help if the ballhandler drives but the defender has to take away the three by themselves. I ask the defender to have their head opposite the strong side shoulder (head on shoulder).

There are two basic strategies for stopping threes. Shrinking the ballhandler means you have to get close enough to take away everything but the off-balance shot. There are two ways to do this; get close and have your hand up. Most players fail on both counts. I used to say that the defender has to be close enough to be able to touch the ballhandler's shoulder. Now I think I would tell them to be close enough to be able to touch them with their elbow. This combats the general tendency to worry about getting beat by playing off the ball a bit. The defender looks taller when they are close so they are "shrinking" the ballhandler.

The second way to shrink the ballhandler is to raise the hand high. The high hand should be the one on the shooting side, e.g. the left hand against a right-handed shooter. Most players will raise their strong hand so you have to drill this. Players also tend to drop their hand and hold it at an angle instead of straight up. This makes it easier to shoot. I ask the players to have their hand above the shooter's eyes and straight up.

Making the shooter think is the next strategy. Dictating what they can do is already part of it. A defender who takes away options by being close and positioning themselves to take away a side is already in the shooter's head. Sometimes has several shooters who get on a roll and the job becomes more difficult. A defender away from the ball can't help on the ball and take away the shot from someone who shoots immediately. You may have to change strategy here.

One thing you can do against a great shooting team is to change defenses to give them a different look. Some shooters won't shoot the same way when they are open against a zone or man-to-man defense. Making them work the ball up the floor against a soft press can have the same effect. Thinking about they are going to beat the zone or press can hurt shooting. That's why I tell players "Shoot don't think!". That is for another time. Another thing to discuss elsewhere is how to take options away as a team.

Three things the point guard has to do

Point guards have to do most of the things that other players do. Shoot, defend and so on. There are however some things that are specific to point guards. Here are three.

Get the ball to the middle of the floor, either with the dribble or the pass.

Decide when the fast break is over, call the play and make sure everyone is in the right place.

Throw the pass to a teammate to start the offense. I used to say make the first pass but some point guards thought that a pass to a player on the other team was okay. lol

It sounds easy or banal but the kicker is that the team will have a tough time winning if you only succeed in doing this 90% of the time.