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Session Plan · U16 · Team (7 or more) · 60 min

Zoom: Pin-Down Into Handoff

Why it works

Zoom chains two screens: a pin-down that brings the cutter up from the low block, straight into a dribble handoff. The cutter's defender has to get through both in about two seconds, and the first screen decides the second. Chase over the pin-down, and they're already behind when the handoff arrives, so the cutter turns the corner downhill. Cheat under it, and the cutter refuses the handoff or curls to the rim. The handler's defender has to help on the turn, which leaves the handler rolling. The offence wins when it reads the first defender instead of running the same pin-down-to-handoff every time.

The thread through every block

  1. Cutter sets the defender up
  2. shoulder to the screener's hip off the pin-down
  3. read the trail: chased = zoom into the handoff · cheated = refuse or curl
  4. on the handoff: turn downhill, or the handler keeps it and comes back (resume)
  5. the handler rolls or pops, and the screener fills the dunker spot.

Setup. 10 players, 1 coach, 2 hoops, 10 balls. Five players per hoop for Blocks 1 and 2; stations in Block 3; 5v5 at one hoop for Block 4 and the finisher.

Prints on A4 for the clipboard: diagram on the left, rules on the right, and no block split across a page.

Warm · 7B1 · 7B2 · 8B3 · 11B4 · 11Finisher · 11

Warm-upPound, pocket, hook7 min

12AB12341-2: pound twice, pocket passA-B: hook it over the top
Partners four metres apart. Two pound dribbles with the outside hand, then a pocket pass that leads the partner. Then hook passes over the top. Continuous, both hands.
  • Partners four metres apart. Two hard pound dribbles with the outside hand, as if holding a defender off the hip, then snap a pocket pass that leads the partner, out in front of them, not behind. Then hook passes: the ball goes high and outside the body and over the top.
  • Continuous, both hands. Then on the move: the receiver walks toward the rim as if rolling.
  • Theme link: these are the handler's passes out of the handoff, to the roller and over the top.

Block 1Zoom on air7 min

12345124cutter waits for the screen, then shoulder to hiphandler dribbles at the cutter, hands it off
Handler at the slot, cutter on the low block, screener above them. Pin-down, cutter comes up shoulder to hip, handler dribbles at them and hands off, cutter turns downhill. Screener drops to the dunker spot. Rotate. Same on the left.
  • Adds: the full chain, with no defence.
  • Handler at the right slot with the ball, cutter on the low block, screener above them near the wing. The screener sets a pin-down; the cutter steps away first, then comes up off it shoulder to the screener's hip. The handler dribbles at the cutter and hands off. The cutter turns downhill to finish or pocket-passes to the handler rolling. The screener drops to the dunker spot.
  • Rotate handler → cutter → screener → line. Both sides. Every third rep, the cutter shoots behind the handoff instead of driving.
  • Progress when: the timing is clean: the handoff arrives as the cutter reaches the wing, no waiting. Add a defender in Block 2.
  • Regress if: the cutter leaves before the screen is set. The screener calls "set" when they've stopped.
  • Cues (questions): "Where were you when the handoff arrived: waiting, or still moving?" "What did the screener do after the screen?"

Block 2Chased or cheated8 min

1AB1224A: defender chases = zoom into the handoffB: defender cheats under = curl to the rim
One defender, on the cutter. They choose: chase over the pin-down, or cheat under it. Chased, the cutter zooms up into the handoff. Cheated, the cutter curls to the rim (or refuses back to the corner) and the handler hits them. Same on the left.
  • Adds: a defender on the cutter, who chooses how to play the pin-down.
  • The cutter's defender either chases over the top of the pin-down or cheats under it toward the ball. The cutter reads the trail:
    • Chased: zoom up into the handoff and turn downhill; the defender is now behind two screens.
    • Cheated: curl tight off the screen to the rim, or refuse it (fake up, go back to the short corner) for a catch from the handler.
  • 2 for the right read with a score; 1 for the right read missed; 0 for the wrong read. Rotate the defender every three reps.
  • Progress when: cutters read it right most of the time. The defender can now wait and decide late, at the screen.
  • Regress if: cutters zoom whatever the defender does. The defender shows the choice early (a big step over or under).
  • Cues (questions): "Where was your defender when you got to the screen: behind you or in front?" "What did that leave open?"

Block 3Two-man side and three-man side11 min

1B1211223344552v2: handoff, backdoor or resume3v3: the whole chain live
Two stations. Left hoop, 2v2 on one side: dribble at the receiver; if their defender jumps the handoff, back door (B), or keep it and come back (resume). Right hoop, 3v3 with the full zoom live. Swap stations every 5 minutes.
  • Adds: live defenders on everyone, so the handoff itself can be taken away.
  • Stations, swap after 5 minutes:
    • 2v2 (four players): handler and receiver on one side. The handler dribbles at the receiver for the handoff. Receiver's defender jumps the handoff: back door to the rim. Receiver's defender fights hard over the top: the handler keeps it, stops, and comes straight back for the handoff the other way (resume), with the receiver rolling.
    • 3v3 (six players): the full chain from Block 1, all live. The defence plays man-to-man and doesn't switch.
  • 2 for a basket, 1 extra if it came from a read (back door, resume, curl, refuse). Defence gets 1 for a stop.
  • Progress when: the offence reads the handoff defender as often as the cutter's. Allow the defence to switch the handoff.
  • Regress if: the handoff is stripped every time. The handler's defender plays a step off.
  • Cues (questions): "What did the receiver's defender do as the ball arrived?" "Handler: why keep it instead of handing it off?"

Water2 min

Block 4Ban the default11 min

1AB1122443355round 1: no pin-down-to-handoffcurl (A), refuse (B), slip or clear instead
5v5 half court at one hoop. Round 1 bans the usual pin-down-to-handoff, so the offence has to find the curl, the refuse, the screener's slip or a clear. Round 2 lifts the ban.
  • Adds: a banned answer, so the offence has to find the others.
  • 5v5 half court at one hoop, five-out, man-to-man. The offence starts a zoom on either side whenever it wants.
  • Round 1 (5 min): the pin-down straight into the handoff is banned. The offence has to score off something else from the same start: the curl, the refuse, the screener slipping when their defender helps, or a clear (the screener empties the side for a two-man game).
  • Round 2 (5 min): everything allowed. Watch whether the answers from round 1 stay.
  • 2 for a basket, 3 if it came from an answer other than the straight zoom. Defence gets 1 for a stop. Swap offence and defence each round.
  • Progress when: the offence uses at least three different answers in round 1. Ban the curl as well.
  • Regress if: the offence stalls. Allow the handoff, but not the turn: the receiver has to shoot or pass.
  • Cues (questions): "What was your second-best answer when the first one was gone?" "What made you pick it?"

FinisherZoom or clear, first to 1111 min

12311224433553 pts: the read beat the defender's choicewinner stays on offence
5v5 half court. Every possession starts with a zoom on either side. Points for reading the defence, not for running the play.
  • 5v5 half court at one hoop. Every possession starts with a zoom on either side; after that, play.
  • Scoring:
    • 3 pts: a basket where the read beat the defender's choice (zoom on a chase, curl or refuse on a cheat, back door on a jump, resume on a hard fight over).
    • 2 pts: any other basket.
    • Defence, 2 pts: a stop that came from switching or blowing up the handoff.
  • First to 11. Winner stays on offence.

Huddle3 min

  • "Which defender decides what you run in a zoom?" "What did the defence do to stop the straight zoom, and what beat it?"

Coach notes

  • Decision errors vs execution errors:
    • Zooming into the handoff with the defender already under the screen, or handing off to a receiver whose defender has jumped it, is a decision error. Ask Block 2's or Block 3's question.
    • Leaving before the screen is set, or a handoff that arrives late or loose, is an execution error. Two Block 1 reps on air, then back in.
  • Common failure: robot zoom: pin-down to handoff, every time, both sides. That's the problem the source coach was asked about. The fix is Block 4: tell them what they can't do and let them find the rest.
  • Common failure: the handler stands after the handoff. They're the second threat. Roll, pop or re-screen, every time.
  • Judge the decision, not the make. A correct curl that missed is still the read.

Sources

SourceUsed for
Breakthrough Basketball — How to Use Constraints to Build Conceptual Offense (Zoom Offense Coaching Tips)Mechanism, Block 3 (two-man side: back door, resume), Block 4 (ban the default)
Breakthrough Basketball — 3 Zoom Action Plays to Confuse DefensesBlock 1 (chain and timing), coach notes
Breakthrough Basketball — 3 Zoom Offense Drills: Drive-Kick-SwingThroughline (handler's next move), finisher
Breakthrough Basketball — Zoom Passing DrillWarm-up
Bob Martin — Small-Sided Games for Passing and ScreeningBlock 2 (trail means curl, inside means fade or refuse)
junior.basketball (original)Block 2 and Block 3 scoring, finisher scoring

Related

More session plans, the Session Design guide this format follows, Game-Based Practice for why every plan ends live, and blank session plan templates to write your own.

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.