I recently had the pleasure of talking with Maine Assistant Coach, Zak Boisvert, and he shared a few ideas regarding transition offense that he learned in his time coaching at Iona. As we are getting deeper and deeper into the season, easy baskets are hard to come by. Improving your team’s transition offense gives you an opportunity to get more easy baskets by attacking while the opposing defense is still disorganized. It is vital that these concepts are practiced and taught regularly, so be sure to read all the way to the end for video examples and teaching points, as well as a PDF with drills to teach this concept.

Concept #1: Whoever gets it, goes

Anytime that Iona has a guard or capable ball handler rebound the ball, they have the freedom to race the ball from arc to arc and look to get in the paint. This allows the basketball to travel in one direction only, forward. By designating a certain player to take the ball up the court, you limit your chances to score in transition. By the time the designated ball handler gets to the outlet spot and gets open, a valuable second has already been lost. If a capable rebounder gets the ball, they push it hard as the other players fill their lanes.

Concept #2: Post Push Dribble

Regardless of who the ball is rebounded by (guard, post), the player is instructed to take one dribble forward before outleting the ball. This plays a vital role in getting your break going much quicker because the ball is always moving in the appropriate direction. With post players especially, coaches have found that they are more apt to sprint rim to rim after they have taken the push dribble to start the break. The player must secure the ball first, and if there is a crowd around, then obviously they would wait to dribble. However, if the post player rebounds the ball and there is free space, push the ball out and get going!

Concept #3: Deep Outlets

The deep outlet is a result of the first two concepts being employed. Because getting the ball and taking a push dribble or two gets your break moving forward faster, you are going to be catching the ball much deeper on your outlet passes. Coaches love to say how the pass moves quicker than the dribble, and catching the outlet further up the floor shows the truth in this adage. By promoting the push dribble as a means to start your break, players will run the floor harder, allowing for the ball to be passed much deeper up the court to start the break.

Below you will see a video breakdown of the concepts in order to put some flesh around the bones of this post. Notice how the rebounder takes a push dribble and how deep the ball is caught on each outlet pass. For a PDF containing a drill that you can use to teach this concept, please CLICK HERE. Enjoy!

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John Leonzo

John Leonzo is the CEO of John Leonzo Basketball where he seeks to provide the highest quality training for both players and coaches. Through on the court training with players and online courses for coaches, John is able to make an impact in all the areas of the game.

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