What is motion offense in basketball
Motion offense is a basketball offensive system that primarily utilizes at least one of the fundamental elements of passing, cutting, screening, or dribbling while also incorporating player movement and ball movement to create scoring opportunities near the basket or near the perimeter areas of the court.
Generally speaking, when implementing motion offense, a player with the ball should not keep possession of it within the same area for an extended period of time.
Additionally, at the same time, the other offensive players without the ball should not remain in the same area of the court for too long as well.
In other words, the motion offense, as the name implies, involves movement of the ball as well as movement of the players.
Therefore, the offensive players should always maintain a mindset of steady motion so that the overall offensive strategy and production would not become stagnant.
What is the general difference between motion offense and set offense
Generally speaking, motion offense typically involves all five players working together looking for scoring opportunities with ball movement and player movement while a set offense is mainly comprised of specific actions to create one or more scoring options, usually for the team’s best players.
To put this another way, in motion offense, the five players will primarily read the defense and react to it accordingly with the foundational basketball skills of cutting, passing, screening, or dribbling.
Afterwards, those same skills within the motion offense could lead to high percentage shot opportunities near the rim or near the perimeter areas of the court.
Conversely, in a set offense, the five players will usually execute predetermined actions such as a down screen or cross screen, generally to get the team’s best players open so that those same players could receive the ball and score themselves or create additional scoring options for other teammates.
It should also be noted that it is possible for a set offense to feature elements of motion offense or vice-versa; motion offense could utilize elements of a set offense as well.
What is a general comparability and distinction between motion offense and continuity offense
Generally speaking, motion offense could be executed as a continuity offense because the fundamental actions of passing, cutting, screening, and dribbling can be used on both sides of the court in a continuous fashion to create scoring opportunities.
In terms of distinction between the two, motion offense is generally more flexible in its offensive actions while a certain number of continuity offenses such as the traditional flex offense are more rigid and predictable in offensive actions.
What are key principles of motion offense
The primary key principles of motion offense that players should consider are to maintain good spacing, cut to get open, dribble with a purpose, take high quality shots, pass to open teammates when necessary, set or use screens, as well as read the defense and react accordingly.
Maintain good spacing
Good spacing on the court is a basic aspect that should be strongly implemented within motion offense as well as any other basketball offense strategy in general.
Furthermore, good spacing is an important concept to consider because it can help offensive players execute fundamental skills that could be utilized within the motion offense such as passing, cutting, dribbling, screening, and shooting.
To implement and exhibit good spacing, each of the five offensive players should be spread out at least 12 to 15 feet apart from each at different areas of the court.
Additionally, the various areas of the court in which the players should be spaced away from each other are typically known as the top, the slots, the wings, the corners, the high posts, and the low posts.
Basically, each offensive player should fill at least one of those areas when executing the motion offense.
Also, each offensive player should not fill (or even be too close to) an area of the court that is already being filled by another offensive player as that would be representative of bad spacing.
To give a brief example of this, if two offensive players are standing too close to each other (i.e. bad spacing), then one defender could guard both of them without much effort.
Put simply, when bad spacing occurs, that makes it easier for the defensive team to hinder or completely prevent offensive scoring productivity.
Cut to get open
Within the motion offense, players without the ball should try to get open by using one or more different types of basketball cuts against the defensive team.
As a simple example, offensive players could execute an action such as the backdoor cut to receive the ball and score around the rim when the opportunity presents itself.
As another example, offensive players could also use movement such as the v-cut to get open and receive the ball near the perimeter whenever feasible.
Dribble with a purpose
When an offensive player has possession of the basketball, that same player should dribble it with a purpose. In other words, the offensive player should not dribble the ball just for the sake of dribbling.
Essentially, within motion offense, an offensive player with the ball should generally use the dribble in an attempt to penetrate into the gaps of the defense whenever it is necessary or applicable to do so.
Afterwards, that same offensive player could then create scoring opportunities for themselves, particularly near the basket or for other teammates, primarily by way of a kick pass for a potentially open three-point shot.
Furthermore, an offensive player could also dribble the ball to create separation from a defender to take a possible jump shot themselves or the offensive player could dribble the ball to give it to a teammate such as with a dribble handoff action.
Take high quality shots
One of the general objectives of motion offense is to create an abundance of high quality shot attempts, preferably near the basket, but also near the perimeter as well.
When a team is able to consistently execute the fundamental actions of passing, cutting, screening, or dribbling within motion offense, this could lead to offensive players getting open more often for high quality shots.
Also, as a result of taking high quality shots, an offensive team’s overall field goal percentage. This, in turn, could also lead to higher team scoring, increased player confidence, and greater team chemistry overall.
Pass to open teammates when necessary
When executing motion offense, the player with the ball should generally pass it to open teammates. This is especially true when that same player is not in a viable position to dribble the ball with a purpose or take a high percentage shot near the basket or near the perimeter.
Essentially, if an offensive player in current possession of the basketball does not pass it, especially when a teammate is open, then that would go against the general notion of motion offense, which is ball movement and player movement.
Furthermore, if an offensive player with the ball does not pass it swiftly when a teammate is open, then that could also reduce the number of high quality shots within the motion offense.
That would also more than likely lead to more inefficient or low quality shots and less scoring options for the offensive team as a whole.
As a brief example, let’s say an offensive player has possession of the ball, but that same player is not able to dribble with a purpose or take a high quality shot.
When that occurs, the offensive player could then pass to a teammate and cut, usually towards the basket looking for possible give and go action.
In addition to that, the offensive player could also pass to a teammate and screen, for another teammate, usually away from the ball, which could then help the teammate that received the screen get open for a possible high percentage shot.
Set or use screens
Offensive players will typically have an opportunity to set or use a wide variety of basketball screens in one or more instances when running the motion offense.
Essentially, players without the ball can set different types of off-ball screens or on-ball screens to release defensive pressure for their respective teammates.
At the same time, those same teammates could then use the screens to either get open in the case of an off-ball screen or attack the gaps of the defense in the event of an on-ball screen.
Ultimately, basketball screens are an important principle of motion offense because they could be utilized to create scoring opportunities near the basket or near the rim.
Read the defense and react accordingly
Generally speaking, motion offense comes with a set of rules that the players must follow and those rules are usually non-negotiable.
Nevertheless, at the same time, the motion offense gives freedom to the offensive players in that each player has the ability to read the defense and react accordingly.
For example, let’s say that an offensive team implements motion offense in which one of the general rules is for teammate A to pass the ball to teammate B and then immediately cut to the basket to possibly receive the ball again for a scoring opportunity at the rim.
However, let’s also say that one of the defenders executes denial defense to which does not allow teammate B to easily receive the ball from teammate A.
In that instance, the motion offense permits teammate A and teammate B to read the defensive situation and react to it accordingly with an appropriate counter.
Therefore, teammate B could react by utilizing a backdoor cut to the rim and then receive the ball from teammate A for a scoring opportunity at the basket.
What are the different types of motion offense
The different types of motion offense are known as the 2 out 3 in motion offense, the 3 out 2 in motion offense, the 4 out 1 in motion offense, and the 5 out motion offense.
There are also variations of the aforementioned motion offenses such as the dribble drive motion offense or the high low motion offense.
Furthermore, there are certain offensive strategies that utilize motion offense principles such as the circle offense or the Princeton offense.
2 out 3 in motion offense
The 2 out 3 in motion offense is a basketball offensive strategy that features ball movement, a cross screen, a split cut, and continuity patterns to create scoring opportunities near the basket or near the perimeter areas of the court.
3 out 2 in motion offense
The 3 out 2 in motion offense is a basketball offensive strategy that begins with three offensive players located at the top and near the wings respectively and two additional offensive players which fill the low post blocks on each side of the basket.
The 3 out 2 in motion offense could be useful for teams with at least two traditional post players with above average skill sets. From that point, those same two post players could work together alongside additional perimeter players to create a variety of scoring options against the defense.
The 3 out 2 in motion offense can also incorporate elements of a set offense with basketball plays that attempt to get the ball into the hands of the team’s best players, with a particular emphasis on the team’s best post players.
4 out 1 in motion offense
The 4 out 1 in motion offense is a basketball offensive strategy that begins with four perimeter players positioned beyond the three point line near the slots as well as the wings or corners respectively.
Furthermore, another player, usually a traditional post player fills the low post area or high post area.
The 4 out 1 in motion offense could be beneficial for guard-oriented teams or teams with versatile players that can score near the paint or shoot from the perimeter, especially three-pointers.
5 out motion offense
The 5 out motion offense is a basketball offensive strategy that begins with five offensive players which fill the top, the wings, and the corners.
A noteworthy advantage of the 5 out motion offense is that it could be useful for teams that have a limited number of offensive players with individual scoring abilities. However, at the same time, those same offensive players could possess great team chemistry to work together as one unit.
Furthermore, the 5 out motion offense could also be beneficial for undersized basketball teams with a sparse number of traditional post players or perhaps, no post players at all.
In addition to that, the 5 out motion offense is relatively easy to teach, especially at the youth basketball level, and it can also reinforce the fundamental concepts of passing, cutting, and screening into the minds of the offensive players.