B0810

We all teach our set plays by running them 5-on-0 (with no defenders). The reason is we want to get the patterns down as well as all the other intricacies of the set. Unfortunately the players don’t seem to think it is as important as the coaches do. With this lack of interest the coach often finds himself or herself doing an equal amount of prodding as well as coaching while trying to get the players to run the sets at game speed.

The NBA level is no different, but there are differences between the teams that win and the teams that don’t win in terms of how they go about this aspect of practice. As coaches we have to get them to understand that Dummy Offense is critical to becoming a finely tuned offensive team.

There are 3 levels at which teams go about running their Dummy Offense:

• Running through the set: this is a team that actually goes through the proper patterns of the sets but with no purpose; they feel that getting the patterns down is all there is to it
• Execution: this is a team that understands it’s more than just getting the patterns down; it’s an emphasis on timing and spacing, putting passes on time and on target, cutting hard with game speed cuts, cutting with a purpose. It’s an emphasis on the details of the pattern and the fundamentals of the pattern that separates them from other teams
• Perfection: this is a step that only the very best understand. Only the best know it’s not just a warm up and that it’s execution with perfection — (1) on every rep….(2) from every player….(3) every time!

We feel that the only way to stay on top is make sure we strive to perfect our offensive sets. Every repetition of Dummy Offense we run is to simulate game speed and game focus. Every set we go through has one and only one goal in mind: to run it perfectly!