July/August 2019 - 26

1-SECOND BLOB
Basketball is divided into offense, defense and special
By Barry Hecker, former assistant coach, Memphis Grizzlies
situations. Typically, when you have two teams of equal
abilities, fouls shots and special plays decide who wins.
Having coached from the junior high level to the NBA,
my philosophy was to prepare the team for man-to-man
and zone defenses. That included special plays from full
court, three-quarter court, half court, side out-of-bounds,
corner out-of-bounds, baseline out-of-bounds and foul
shots. As a player personnel director for the Cavaliers
and Clippers, I was fortunate to observe a lot of college
practices, particularly during the fall when coaches were
preparing players for the upcoming season. I watched some
coaches install their special plays early, and some waited.
In the early part of the season, coaches work a lot in a
half-court setting. My philosophy was to get the specials
in early. If the ball went out of bounds on the sideline,
instead of starting at half court to work on offense or
defense, I wanted to practice the play and not wait until
later in the preseason to put it in our playbook. Repetition
is an important part of coaching, and I'm not a proponent
of drawing up plays that the team has not practiced.
I was the assistant coach at Salt Lake Community
College, and we were playing what's now called Utah
Valley University. We were down 75-74 with 1 second
DIAGRAM 1
on the clock under our basket. The head coach asked if I
had a play, and I drew up what I call " 45 repick. " I'm not
a proponent of ad-libbing plays, but sometimes the blind
squirrel finds an acorn.
Utah Valley played a man defense the entire game, so I
assumed it would do the same on the baseline inbounds play.
DIAGRAM 1: 2 is in the far corner opposite the ball.
3 takes the ball out, and it's good to have an inbounder
with size who can make good ball fakes. 4 and 5 line up
inside the lane a couple of feet from the foul line. I put 4
on the bottom because I had more confidence in him. It's
important to know your personnel.
1 lines up in line with the 3, roughly 4 feet above 3-point
line. If you're worried about a 5-second count, start 1 early.
As soon as the referee hands the ball to 3, 1 runs hard at his
defensive man. He tries to run his man off of 4 and 5 and
looks for a layup from 3.
DIAGRAM 2: If 1 doesn't receive a pass, 4 and 5 move
together. 1 comes off of tight pick by 4 and 5, runs toward
3, then cuts to the corner. If the play is executed properly,
4's defender steps out to help on 1. 4 then steps to the
basket for a layup.
DIAGRAM 2
24 JULY/AUGUST 2019
July/August 2019

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