"Being Deceptive"

A Smart Player is Never Predictable

Written by Tilden Corbett

For Sam and Peter Murphy

How to move without the ball (Read the Defense):

V-Cuts

Curls

Flashing

The High Shot

Pick and Roll (PNR)

Pick and Pop (PNP)

How to move with the ball:

Receiving the ball (Triple Threat)

Ball fakes

Jabs

Hands up

Step Backs

Low Post Moves (Drops Step, Up and Under, Spin, The Front)

Pass and Pick Away (PPA)

Drive and Dish (DND)

Give and Go

Reading the Offense:

Eye Reading

The Fake Open Man

Helpside and Recover

Tricks of the Trade:

Pick Your Man

The Fake Open Man

Trapping

The Back Door Signal

The Importance of COMMUNICATION

Verbal:

Defense: (Deny All Inside Scoring)

“Get Back”, “Help-side”, “Trap”, “Watch Mine”, “Deny”, “Switch”, “Slide”, “Look Around”, “Cutter”, “Deny Paint”, “Watch Mine”, “Watch My Back”, “Cut Off Baseline”, “Rotate”, “See Both”, “Back Door”, “Pick Left”, “Pick Right”, “Go Through”, “That’s weak”, “Step Up”, “Get on Top of That”, “Show Yourself”, “Watch Shooter”, “Hands Up (Leland)”, “Get Low (Nash)”, “See the World”, “1-Press 4 Help”, “Man Check”, “Box Out”, “Match Up”, “Find Yours”, etc.

Offense: (Execute)

“Swing It (The Ball)”, “Come Through”, “Motion”, “Pop Out”, “Turn Up The Volume”, “Execute”, “Flash”, “Stay Ball-side”, “For Me”, “For You”, “On Time”, “Stay Put”, “Other Side”, “Rub Off”, “Roll”, “Outlet”, “Crash the Boards”, “Read It”, “Look at the Hand”, “Cut Through”, “GNG”, “DND”, “PNR”, “PPA”, “PNP”, “Box Out”, “Follow Your Shot”, etc.

Non-verbal:

Back Door Signal, Player Control, Use against tight playing defenders

Come Through Hand Wave, Use to tell teammate to rub off pick

Pick, Arm Raise, Use when setting or calling for picks

Watch My Back, Illegal Procedure (in football), Use when fronting a Post Player

Throw Into the Lane, Head Nod with Eye Contact, The “Pick Your Man” trick

Point Guard Cheat Sheet

OFFENSE / TRANSITION

Be a Leader

Be feisty – Play with an attitude – Play Hard

Read the defense as you bring the ball up

Call out the offense as you bring the ball up

Insure players are in the correct position

Start the play as soon as you cross half court

Dribble with a purpose. Don’t over-dribble. Keep your eyes on the rim and not on the ball as you’re dribbling it. You need to see the entire floor when you have the ball. This means you’ll need to improve your dribbling and ball protection.

Look for your shooters. They should be getting there shots

Balance the floor by backing out the ball

Pass first shoot second

Swing the ball quickly against the zone

Look to penetrate gaps and dish if the defense collapses

Throw ball fakes

Don’t telegraph your passes

Don’t favor one side over the other – distribute ball evenly

Pass the ball into the High Post but don’t force it between defenders

Try to avoid bouncing the ball to the HP – keep ball high

Insure your HP man has his hands high to receive ball

Always show a target when at the top of the key as you swing the ball along the perimeter

Remind wings to skip the ball in a zone

Pass the ball on-time to shooters for rhythm shooting

Be an extension of the coach on the floor

Always play in control – never look rushed

Control the tempo of the game – Know when to slow it down and know when to push the ball in transition

Recognize quickly when our opponents setup a press

In a full court press, v-cut hard to get the ball

Look to pass against a full court press

Avoid getting trapped in corners

Stay calm against a full court press

Develop great ball control (Passing, Dribbling, and Shooting)

Pass the ball on-time to shooters for rhythm shooting

DEFENSE (Communication)

See the entire floor and direct (Talk)

Insure that EVERYONE is talking on defense. If they are not, then tell them to.

Insure they are calling out picks

Insure they’re denying baseline, posts, & paint

Insure that they are bumping cutters

Insure that help-side players have 1 foot in the paint and seeing both ball and man

Insure they “Close the Door” when the LP gets the ball. After closing the door, the man guarding passer should deny the ball back out. The other 2 players will go into a tandem by dropping under the rim and below the FT line

Insure they have there hands up

Insure that they match up at tip-off, time-outs and substitutions

Be feisty – Play with an attitude – Play Hard

Insure that every player is hustling back on defense – not jogging

Go to the ball when you see a player may be stuck in the corner with the ball or has lost his dribble.

Insure that players are closing out quickly when their man receives the ball

Great defense will keep us in the game when we are struggling on offense