Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Attacking on Offense

Regardless of what position you play and what level you compete at, avoid these three common offensive mistakes. It will create more offensive efficiency and productivity for you and your team. More importantly, once you start playing with a shot clock, it becomes even more important to avoid these offensive pitfalls. They’re time-wasters and kill your team’s offensive efficiency.

1 – Ball Freezing

When the ball is in your hands, you want to create an advantage for yourself and your teammates. Unnecessarily holding on to the ball without efficient pass, shot, or ball fakes is an easy way to allow the defense to set themselves and prepare to prevent your offensive attack. Prepare your body for the catch with loaded legs, ready hands, and court awareness. On your catch, instantly peek at the rim, giving yourself full court vision and forcing the defense to respect your offensive attack. Great players make decisions within the first 1-2 seconds of the catch, so make this your goal and avoid freezing the rock by hanging on to it.

2 – Inefficient Dribbles

You should view your dribble as a valuable weapon. The dribble should be used to explosively get to the most dangerous area on the court: the paint. The dribble should be used to powerfully blow by your defender and engage a 2nd or 3rd defender; creating open scoring opportunities for your teammates. The dribble should be used to get you out of a trap in the backcourt. If you watch high level basketball (i.e. college or professional), these players use 1-2 dribbles to make moves, create space for shots, or penetrate into the lane. Pounding the ball on the floor without purpose is a skill to avoid.

3 – P.W.A.P’s (pronounced ‘pee-waps’ at PGC)

This PGC-ism stands for: Passing Without A Purpose. In an athlete’s early developmental basketball years, they are too often taught plays versus how to play (the game). This creates the habit of passing the ball into areas of the court based on play design, instead of passing to the areas of the court that are the most threatening to the defense. For instance, puncturing the middle of the defense by completing an attacking pass into the key is a great way to force a defense to break down. Make your passes purposeful; causing the defense to move, shift, and eventually lose its form. It’s not just about quick ball movement. It’s about movement of the basketball with a purpose. It’s about getting the ball to the most dangerous areas on the court or the most dangerous player on the court during the ‘moment of truth’, when they may be able to take advantage of a disadvantaged defense. Begin to eliminate these P.W.A.P’s from your game and create advantages with your passes.

At PGC, we train athletes to eliminate these types of offensive mistakes, while teaching the successful habits of offensive play with and without the basketball. Join us and learn how to become a more efficient offensive player!

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