Transition Offense

Well, it has been homecoming week here at our school and it has consumed most of my time and energy.  With that being said, it has been a good week and the kids have been having fun.  We have a big football game tomorrow night so I am excited to watch our players play a good game.

I thought I would share a variety of good transition drills that everyone can look at and modify to fit within their system.  The one misconception that I see or hear when talking with coaches is that in order to be an effective transition team, you need to play like North Carolina, Grinnell, or VCU.  The other misconception is that you have to have deep bench to have strong transition team.  Being effective does not mean you have to push the ball as hard as you can and taking a shot within the first 10 seconds of the possession.  Effective to me means that you use opportunistic situations to put pressure on the defense and hold them accountable for getting back on defense.  Some games will allow for more opportunities than others.

Therefore, we are going to look at a number of transition resources.  Some of these I have shared in my emails that I send out to those of you who subscribe, and others I have posted on here on my blog.  Either way, I believe these resources can benefit any program.  As always, take the elements that fit your team strengths.  Hope they help.

UNLV Running Game

Attacking Ball Screen Secondary Break

Josh Kerkau 5 Out Transition

Tom Izzo Numbered Break

4 Out Motion: Secondary Break

Here is a nice a secondary break that flows into a 4 out motion offense.  This secondary break has some nice ball screen actions built into it which will help keep pressure on the defense.

4 Out Motion Secondary Break

Secondary Break Options

For teams that have transition offense built into their philosophy need to have a seamless way to get from their early break to their base offense.  There are a wide variety of secondary breaks out there and it is vital that you find or create something that easily flows into your base offense.  Personally, I prefer simplistic secondary break packages that emphasize quick scoring looks and quick ball movement.

The following resource gives you some simple secondary break options to consider.  The actions are simple and allow you to put pressure on the defense while the defense is trying to get organized.

Secondary Break Options

Roy Williams: UNC Transition Game

UNC is well known for thier transition game.  Not only do they have great athletes, but they also have a great system in play as well.  Here is an in-depth look at their transition game.

Roy Williams UNC Transition Game

George Karl: Advantages to Running

1. For whatever reason, refs call way more fouls in transition than in the half court
2. Everything is better early, no matter what action it is
3. Offensive rebounding increases by 10% in transition
4. Wants players to penetrate in transition
5. Coach Karl would rather have his team too wild and fast and coach them down, then the other way around.