Basketball Question on MakingThe Initial Pass
by CT Jim
(Connecticut)
Picture of Basketball Player Passing The Ball
I teach a town league basketball team of 10 and 11 year old boys. I have one player that is skilled. Most others are developing their skills.
I have come up with a pretty simple offensive approach within a 1-3-1 scheme that seems to work when we can run it -- 4 & 5 positions pick for point and wings, who drive to the basket.
But one area we really struggle with is making the initial pass to the wing. It is stolen probably 50% of the time. Reasons: 1) Point guard is not great ball handler and has little ability to use both dribble hands or blow past his man if guarded tightly 2) Wings struggle to create space with good V-cuts (although we have worked on this a lot).
The play that works best for us is when my skilled player is at the point and he drives down the middle using a pick at the high post. He can often score, or dish off at the basket. The problem with this is it does not get enough people involved. Also, he's only in for 1/2 of the game.
Any suggestions on how we can have more success making this initial pass to get us into our offense? I will continue to work on ball handling and V-cuts, but I only have kids for 60-90 minutes once a week. Not enough to really make a difference. Thanks!
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