Breaking Down The Double Motion Offense

Now that the season is over, I'll have a chance to take a look at a few more interesting sets and ponder what ifs, etc... Basically random stuff that may or may not interest some of the casual reader, but hopefully will be insightful to you coaches out there that are preparing for Oct (can't believe that it's only 3.5 months away).

Today, we'll take a look at something that I came by a few months ago but haven't been able to post until now. This is the Double Motion Offense from Bill Kuchar who is a high school coach in New Jersey. In my opinion, it's kind of a hybrid between a flex motion and a blocker-mover motion. There is a lot of screen, re-screen, and cross cutting action that may confuse some teams, so therefore I'd recommend you use it if you're already running some form of flex or blocker-mover. Here is what Coach Kuchar says about the offense:

I designed this offense [...]. that would give our star scorer better-percentage shots, which would translate into higher scoring [...]. the offense is predicated on the success of the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward - those are generally known to be the 3 best shooters on the court.

Setup / Initial Motion:

The initial setup is a 1-2-2, but the wings go wider out from the elbows and the corners start inside the 3-point line.

Diag 1
1. O1 is your PG, and starts the offense by passing to O4.
2. At the same time, O2 sets a downscreen for O3.
3. O1 sets a stagger for O3 who curls around the screen and does a basket cut.
4. O4 has 3 options in this initial set, pass to O3 for the 3, O3 for the basket cut, or O3 who comes off a baseline screen by O5 for a corner 3-pointer

Diag 2
5. If none of those options are available, O1 is already going to set a downscreen for O2, who curls around looking for the free-throw line midrange shot from O4. O1 rolls to the basket and seals his defender for a quick look-in from O4.
6. O5 re-screens along the baseline for O3 who comes over the top this time and does a basket cut looking for the pass from O4, then L cuts back up to the opposite elbow.



Final Option to Reset:

Diag 3 and 4
7. If none of these options are available, O4 passes to O2 who drifts to the top of the key. O1 clears out to avoid the 3-second in the lane call.
8. O2 passes to O3 who pivots and faces the basket, if the drive is possible, then O3 can drive to the basket, preferably in no more than 1 dribble.
9. O5 sets an UCLA upscreen for O4 and if open O3 passes to O4 on the basket cut.
10. If still no open looks, O3 passes back to O2 and the motion resets to the 1-2-2- set.



Summary:

Hopefully you see now what I mean by combo of the flex and blocker-mover. O4 and O5 are basically your blockers and O1, O2 and O3 are your movers. It uses the downscreen and baseline screens exclusively, just like a flex. It's good because in your traditional blocker-mover motion, it's very much random screening and cutting and guys are bumping into each other a lot. This double motion offense has a little more structure, but not so much structure that it becomes too predictable.

I don't know any specific teams that run this offense, but the flex teams out there in men's div1 are Boston College, Gonzaga and Maryland. The Blocker/Mover teams are Texas Tech and Washington St. If you've seen a team run this, I'd definitely like to hear your comments about it in live action.

There is no specific video for the double motion offense, but you can combine concepts in Dick Bennett's DVD on the Blocker/Mover Offense and Gary Williams Mastering the Flex to teach this basic offense. Discuss this and the rest of your favorite basketball topics at the X's and O's Basketball Forum.