Warm-upCut and fill7 min
- Five-out at each hoop, no defence. Pass, cut to the rim with the baseline hand up as a target, then exit to the open corner. The players on the empty side each move up one spot.
- The coach calls "hands" (pass to the next player) or "skip" (pass over one player to the far side). Every pass still gets a cut.
- One point to the group for 10 passes in a row where nobody stands after passing.
- Theme link: every time the ball moves, one player cuts and the others fill. That becomes automatic here, before there's a defender to read.
Block 1Step to the ball, then go8 min
- Adds: one defender on the passer.
- Three to a line at each hoop: passer, defender, receiver on the wing. The coach stands behind the passer and signals the defender: jump to the ball, or stay. The defender moves their feet only, no hands.
- Pass to the wing, take one step toward the ball, then read. Defender stayed → cut past their front leg. Defender jumped → cut behind them. The wing passes back for the layup.
- Rotate passer → defender → wing → line. Both sides.
- Progress when: cutters pick the right side on most reps without slowing down. Let the defender choose instead of the coach.
- Regress if: cutters run before they've looked. Make them freeze after the step and say "front" or "behind" before cutting.
- Cues (questions): "Where did your defender go after you passed?" "Why did you go that side?"
Block 2Walk in, read, explode8 min
- Adds: the read without the ball, against a defender who picks their own spot.
- Ball on the right wing. The left wing walks slowly to the elbow and stops for a moment to look. Their defender plays live and chooses: deny the passing lane, or sit back on the help line.
- Defender in the lane → back cut, outside foot plants, inside hand up as the target. Defender sitting back → plant and pop to the top to catch, then swing the ball to the next player.
- Defender rotates to cutter, cutter to passer, passer to the line. Switch sides halfway.
- Progress when: cutters change speed: slow walk in, then explode. Add a defender on the passer.
- Regress if: cutters drift up without stopping. Put a cone at the elbow they must touch before reading.
- Cues (questions): "When you stopped at the elbow, where was your defender's hand?" "Did you walk in slowly enough to see?"
Water2 min
Block 32v2 give-and-go10 min
- Adds: live defenders on both players, so the read is now the defender's real choice.
- 2v2 at each hoop, one player waiting. Start top and wing. After every pass, the passer cuts to the rim. If the ball doesn't come back, the cutter exits to the open wing and the player with the ball fills the top.
- Two dribbles at most per catch, so the cut stays the main way to score.
- Score and you stay on. Defensive stop: defence goes to offence, the waiting player joins on defence.
- Progress when: most baskets come off cuts. Drop the dribble limit.
- Regress if: the defence steals every return pass. Defenders play the cutter only, not the passer.
- Cues (questions): "Was that cut front or behind? What told you?" "After you passed, did you look at your defender or the ball?"
Block 4Three rules, 3v310 min
- Adds: a third player, so the fill matters again. And a rule break costs the possession.
- One hoop, teams of 3, 3 and 4 (the four rotates a player off each time they come on). 3v3, the waiting team stands at half-way.
- The three rules: face the rim on every catch; move after every pass (cut or fill, never stand); if you pass for a shot, cut and get it back.
- Coach whistles any rule break: offence off, defence to offence, new team on defence. A basket keeps the offence on.
- Progress when: possessions last without a whistle. Add: the ball must go top to wing to the other wing before any shot.
- Regress if: whistles come every pass. Coach calls the broken rule out loud and lets play go once before enforcing.
- Cues (questions): "Which rule did we break? What should you have done?" "Who filled the top after the cut?"
Finisher5v5 cut-and-fill12 min
- 5v5 five-out, man-to-man, one hoop. Coach referees from the top.
- Scoring:
- 3 pts: a layup off a cut.
- 2 pts: any basket after the ball has gone from one side to the other.
- 1 pt: any other basket.
- Turnover: a player passes and stands. Ball to the other team.
- Two 5-minute halves. Swap at half-time.
Huddle3 min
- One question to the group: "What did your defender do that told you where to cut?"
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Cutting in front of a defender who jumped is a decision error. Ask Block 1's question.
- A good cut with no target hand, so the passer can't find them, is execution. Ask "where could your passer see you?"
- A cut nobody fills behind is a habit error, not one player's fault. Send the group back to the warm-up for three passes.
- Common failure: cutters jog in and drift back out. The defender learns the cut isn't real and stops guarding it. Ask "would you have scored if it came back?" Cut as if you'll catch it.
- Common failure: passers step away from the ball first. It's slower and lets the defender stay between them and the ball. Step to the ball, then read.
- Judge the read, not the layup. A cut on the right side of the defender that didn't get the ball back was run correctly.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Patrick Hunt — Offensive Principles of Play | Mechanism, warm-up, Blocks 1 and 2, coach notes |
| Patrick Hunt — Motion Offense With No Screens | Warm-up target hand, spacing |
| Guy Molloy — The Dribble Penetration Game | Warm-up cut and fill |
| Don Showalter — Fundamentals of Half-Court Offense | Block 4 three rules, finisher swing |
| junior.basketball (original) | Block 1 coach signal, Block 3 scoring and rotation, finisher scoring |
Unofficial resource. Drills are adapted from recorded coaching clinics and credited to the coaches named in Sources above; anything marked junior.basketball (original) was written for this plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by those coaches or the organisations that ran the clinics. Full credit to every presenter.