Basic concepts for attacking the zone.

The building blocks for any kind of structured attack against zone defense

Basketball coaches subscribe to a wide assortment of defensive philosophies, ranging from straight man-to-man to a multitude of pressure defenses and zone defenses sprung from various alignments (1-2-2, 1-1-3, 1-3-1, 2-1-2, and 2-3) from full-court, three-quarter court, and half-court.

All of these zone defenses have their special strengths and weaknesses, which every coach has to learn in order to cope with them intelligently and successfully.

Since it is impossible to design an offense for every zone defense, coaches would do well to develop a series of building blocks for any kind of structured assault against a zone defense.

The accompanying offensive concepts have been gleaned from the many games I have scouted, observed, and coached in my four years of junior college and 21 years of high school coaching.

1. Use a primary and a secondary fastbreak to beat the defense down the floor and/or create a numerical or organizational advantage over the offense.

2. Use different entries and/or alignments to become more multiple and less predictable vs opposing defenses to capitalize on your team strengths or the zone's weaknesses, and to exploit an individual attacker's strength or an individual defender's weakness.

3. Every kind of zone defense has a specific weakness. Seek out the weakness of the zone being used against you and then exploit it.

4. Distort the shape of the zone by using stacks, overloads, and odd-looking alignments.

5. Maintain good floor balance and spacing (15[inches] to 18[inches]) between all offensive personnel.

6. Screen individual zone defenders, with the screener either rolling to the basket and posting up or flaring out to the perimeter. (See Diag. 1, screening action by the 0 at the elbow.)

7. Make sure that the offensive rebounding responsibilities are clearly defined and executed by each and every offensive player. On every shot, emphasize the importance of overloading the weakside rebounding area to create a numerical advantage.

8. To prevent the defense from launching its fast-break, make sure that every player knows his defensive-transition responsibility and carries it out. Clearly define who gets back and exactly where and how far back to go.

We use football terminology to help our players remember their defensive responsibilities, even though they are on offense. We constantly emphasize that our transition offense is a vital part of our zone offense.

We call our three main offensive rebounders "fullbacks," our half-rebounder/half safety man, "halfback," and our pure safety man, "tailback." On all of our shots and turnovers, the tailback must "get his tail back" to the center-jump circle (on defense).

9. Cutting from the perimeter through the heart of the zone and over to the opposite side of the offense - "cut and replace" - can be a very effective tool against most zone defenses.

10. The dribble can be effectively utilized to advance the ball, improve the passing angle, and get out of traps. Post players should know exactly where the basket is before dribbling with their back to the basket.

11. Zone defenses can be effectively attacked by moving the ball down to the baseline on either side of the defense - "flattening out the zone" - and then quickly reversing the ball to the weak side to beat the reaction of the zone. This is called a "jam dribble."

The basketball can be also be moved down to the baseline with a "down pass" (any pass made to a receiver down near the baseline).

12. The dribble can be used to penetrate a seam (or gap) in the zone perimeter and force two defenders to take the dribbler (leaving the three remaining defenders to guard the four other offensive players), giving the offense a numerical advantage. We call these dribbles "gap dribbles" (Diag. 2).

Coaching point: All gap dribblers must momentarily hold up their dribble at the start to enable the dribbler to back out and escape any overwhelming defensive pressure.

13. The "pull dribble and replacement cut" (Diag. 3) is a solid offensive tool against perimeter zone defenses. The dribbler simply pulls a zone defender out of his protective cup, and another offensive man steps into the vacated area, looking for a back pass from the pull-dribbler.

This tactic is also effective in the short-corner area on the baseline halfway between the lane and the deep corner, as shown in Diag. 4. It provides someone to attack the zone from behind after replacing the dribbler in the area vacated by him (dribbler).

14. A "freeze-dribble" can also be used on the perimeter to occupy one or more perimeter-zone defenders. As shown in Diag. 5, the dribbler drives directly at X1, taking X2 with him and literally forcing X1 to freeze in place, creating a 2-on-1 situation.

The dribbler drives at X1's (right) outside shoulder, which freezes him. He must guard 1 - giving the offense a numerical advantage - 2, 3, 4, and 5 vs X4, X3, and X5.

Since 01 is out of X4's area of responsibility, 01 will be able to easily pass the ball to 03 or 04.

15. Interior players who want to flash into the post area should look for the gap, open hole, in the interior of the zone and flash into it.

16. Attack the zone from behind. Defenders cannot cover anyone they can't see. Remember, all zones are ball-oriented - their primary attention is the basketball. If an offensive man will hide behind the zone without the ball, he may go unnoticed, and undefended.

Gap-outs and replacement cuts are particularly effective whenever they originate from behind the defense's eyes.

17. Whenever the ball is passed into the middle against a full-court or half-court zone trap pressure (see Diag. 6), the offense should look to extend the pass; that is, the receiver (2), in the heart of the defense, should become a relay man - continue the pass to 3 in the same direction it was heading for.

18. In feeding an interior player, the passer should bounce-pass the ball away from the defender (taking the receiver). If the post is being fronted, the ball should be lobbed away from the defender to a designated spot. We like to use the ballside corner of the backboard as a target, as all of our passers and receivers are oriented to it.

19. Post players should try to maintain body position against their defenders. If, for instance, the defender is playing the post on the high side, the post should set up even higher in the lane to give himself even more room for the pass to his low side. If the defender is playing on the post's low side, the post should set up even lower, giving himself more room for a pass to his open (high) side.

20. Every post player should know how to duck into the lane, take a pass from the perimeter, and go into a power move or a face-up move. The spin and post-up move should be implemented whenever the defense is fronting the duck-in move.

21. Upon receiving the ball in the post, the post man should place it firmly under his chin, look over his high shoulder to size up the defense, take a power drop-step (away from the defense), and make the appropriate power move to the hoop.

We use three basic moves: show and go opposite, square-up and go under, and whirl. All of these moves should be practiced daily with different variations at the end - no fakes, one fake, or two fakes. These moves should work against any type of defense.

22. Perimeter players should not be hesitant about making skip passes, which should be practiced daily. As shown in Diag. 7, a pull-dribble followed by a skip-pass can often produce an open perimeter shot.

23. Offensive players anticipating a pass on the perimeter should always have their feet and hands in a ready position. We tell our perimeter people to get behind the ball - have their inside foot already planted, toes pointing toward the basket, have the hands up and ready to catch the ball, and quickly shoot.

We constantly tell our players to present a (catcher's mitt) target for the passer and always remember that good 3-point shooters always know where they are in relation to the arc. We want them to be behind the line before they catch the ball, then as they catch the ball, to step up to the line to get their momentum going forward.

24. Zone attackers should understand the full value of ball and shot fakes against zone defense. Zone defenders are extremely ball-oriented and react very strongly to the basketball.

The smart attacker will exploit the over-reacting defensive opponent with good (realistic) ball and shot fakes.

Perimeter players should remember the importance of the dribble - never waste it, use it wisely, always assume the triple-threat position when you get the ball, don't pass it too quickly (it is better to be too slow than too quick), give the cutter (interior and exterior) enough time to get open, and pass around the defense, not through it.

26. Emphasize patience and ball movement, making the defense react, move, and work, and that "they cannot score if we have the ball."

27. Whenever the ball is passed inside to a post player, every perimeter player should look for an open shot on the perimeter, especially on the weakside, away from the post receiver. See Diag. 8.

Zone defenses will react to the basketball, especially on an inside pass. Whenever a perimeter zone defender turns to watch the ball, or goes inside to collapse on the ball, the perimeter players who have floated to the open areas will be in great position for kickout passes and uncontested shots.

In conclusion: Every basketball team's zone-offense concepts should be adapted to the coach's personal philosophy and personality. The coach must believe in them and shape them to the players' particular abilities and the needs of each game.

The most imperative thing is to make certain that every game plan and everything in it is designed to get the most out of every player's ability.