Steve Smith's Ball Reversal Primary Break

Watched a playoff game the other day between 2 high school teams and the final score was 118-103. Wow, think about that, this is high school ball, single game elimination district final. Can't say I was entirely impressed with the lack of real defense, but when you score 118 points, how can you argue with that.

In any case, I was inspired to look for some more primary break stuff while I had that game still swirling in my head and came across these great notes from Oak Hill Academy's Steve Smith. It is their primary break offense they run, they just call it regular. Enjoy...

Player Spacing
Both post players are interchangeable. First post player gets to the rim and second post player is the trailer. Trailer is one step behind the ball. The first post player is the rim man and the most important part of the break. The two wings are interchangeable. He does not insist that the two guard run the right side of the floor. The point guard runs the middle of the floor and should know what everybody is doing. Point guard is always looking to pass the ball ahead up to the wings and not always dribble the length of the floor.

Regular
Unless they call a set play from the bench they are running what they call regular in their full court offense. They don’t verbally say regular it is just something they do by default. Point guard follows the ball to whatever side he pitches it ahead. Trailer always fills opposite. They tell their rim runner to stay in the lane like 5 seconds. In transition he feels like you get this much time. The rim runner is always your first option. They like to reverse the ball once give the rim runner a look. When the ball is reversed, the low post player then comes to the foul line and sets a pick for the point guard and trailer. They scissor cut off the high post with the point guard going first. The post player then steps out to the top of the key and takes the ball reversal. Wing then screens down and looks to post up. Ball goes to one wing and the opposite side sets a back screen out top for a lob look.


First option on regular is ball beversal looking to feed the rim runner near the basket area.


Second option is a scissors cut off the high post. The PG cuts first and the trailer second.


High post then steps out for ball reversal.


Ball goes back to PG looking to post up 3.


4 backscreens for 5 looking for possible lob play.


Simple motion then continues.


For more transition offense pointers, take a look at Steve Smith's DVD on High Scoring Transition Offense. Coach Smith has built Oak Hill Academy into a prep school powerhouse with famous alums in the likes of Jerry Stackhouse and Team USA's own Carmelo Anthony.