Delay Game Points Of Emphasis

We have been working on our delay game situations at practice and we have really been stressing some key components that often get overlooked at this point of the game. Often, we as coaches get caught up in the X's and O's of delay game strategy, but overlook some of the details that make a delay game work effectively. Here are some of the key components that we stress in this situation.


1. Be hard to guard when you have the ball. When a player has the basketball, he/she needs to be in hard to guard triple threat stance. The defense is going to be aggressive; therefore, it is vital that the person with the ball is still in an attack stance. Too often, players will start to get flat footed and are not ready to make an athletic move. They stand vertical with the ball above their head, which will invite the defender to jam them up. This makes it hard to pass or dribble in this instance.

2. Be hard to guard off the ball. Delay offense does not mean that the other players get to stand and watch their teammate with the ball. Constant movement makes it harder for defenders to be in help position. Furthermore, when offensive players are moving, they are more apt to meet the pass and shorten up passing lanes. We constantly are reminding our players the mindset of the defense at this point. The defense is going to be aggressive, looking to jump passing lanes and/or foul.

3. Your best free throw shooters always need to be near the ball. We have a couple of players who are good free throw shooters and we tell them that 1 of you always need to be 1 pass away from the ball.

4. Understand the potential danger areas. For example, we don't use ball screens in a delay situation because we feel that we are inviting a team to trap the ball. For other teams, it could be the corners of the floor. It could also be you have a player who you don't want to have the ball (bad ball handler, poor free throw shooter....).

5. Shot selection. One of the most important elements you need to clearly explain to your kids is your expectations on shot selection. For us, we still look for scoring opportunities in our delay offense. I heard Don Meyer say something along the lines of: "Don't take a shot that you can make, take a shot that won't miss." That will mean different things to all of us based on the ability of our players, experience and coaching philosophy.

6. Know your timeout situation and who has the possession arrow.