5 Fantastic Breakdown Drills for the Flex Offense

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Back in April, we introduced basic continuity and counters for the popular Flex Offense. This week, we’re taking the Flex one step further by highlighting five tremendous breakdown drills, including 1-on-1 pivoting, drive and kicks, and pull throughs. Elizabethtown head men’s basketball coach Bob Schlosser once again leads you through each drill and provides helpful commentary along the way.

Pull Through Drill

Start with each player under the basket (on the block). One at a time, players will come up on a side and use their inside foot as a pivot, pull through, and finish on the left. Have the coach simulating a defender closing in. Emphasize their triple threat positioning and going to the basket hard.

Pad Finish - Now do the exact same thing, but jump off of two feet. Get a coach to pad them as they finish. This drill simulates going up against a defender down low and looking to finish in traffic with a defender draped on you. Rip through at the elbow like before.

Right Side and Backdoors

Now move to the right side. Emphasize the inside foot as the pivot and making a right-hand finish as players rip through and go hard to the basket.

Next in the progression, coaches should make players go backdoor by denying at the elbow. Players should signal the backdoor with a fist held out so the passer sees and reads his teammate going backdoor.

1-on-1 Pivoting

In the Flex, it’s critical to emphasize using your inside foot as your pivot foot and triple threat positioning. This drill works on just that. To begin, two players go at once and start on opposite low blocks.

Next, one player cuts up towards the top of the key/wing area, receives a pass, faces the basket in triple threat position, makes a ball fake, and then dishes to the other opposite player. This player now meets the pass near the top of the key, gets into triple threat position, and then passes to the opposite player, and the cycle continues.

When players move up to the top of the key area in triple threat position, the next players up move down low and post up, simulating real game action and looking for the entry pass from the triple threat player.

Drive and Kick

This drill goes 5-on-0 in a half court setting. Assume a typical Flex set-up to begin. When a player catches the ball at the elbow, if he were to pull through and drive, the defense from the corner typically helps. Therefore in this drill, look to drive and kick and shoot that jumper. Go for five passes and keep going until everyone takes a shot out of the drive and kick. After each shot, balance the floor and immediately go again.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Comprehensive Guide to the Flex” by Bob Schlosser. Check out more videos featuring offensive systems by heading over to our basketball library. Got any other effective Flex Offense drills? Let us know by commenting below or by e-mailing us at info@championshipproductions.com.

Filed in Basketball Newsletter • Tags: Drills, Elizabethtown Men's basketball, Flex Offense, Issue #41, Offensive Systems, Robert Schlosser

Flex Offense Essentials: Basic Continuity and Counters to Net Easy Baskets

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Flex Offense has been a popular offensive system at the high school and college levels of basketball for many decades. By using efficient spacing, lots of flaring action, and flex screens, plus constant movement on the offensive end, the Flex can be extremely effective, especially if executed properly.

In this week’s team concepts feature, Elizabethtown men’s basketball coach Bob Schlosser reveals his twist on the Flex, which eliminates the downscreen to create some high-percentage shots. Follow along as Coach Schlosser runs through the basic continuity before getting into counter plays to net easy baskets.

Basic Continuity

We start things off with a 2-out and 3-in alignment and make five passes before shooting a layup while running the flex pattern.

Keys: Whenever catching the ball, get into triple threat position. When the cutter is coming off the flex screen, he must show his hands and set his man up. When the screener is setting the screen, he must step out a bit. Players must also ball fake and shot fake constantly. Also, but quick, but don’t hurry.

In Schlosser’s Flex Offense, the team doesn’t down screen. Instead, when a player up top catches the ball on the cross pass, the squad feels he has room to pull through before the flex cut comes or he can pass to the corner and make that jumper where it’s not clogged.

Counters

First, we’ll run a backdoor play to end the first counter. Without the down screen, we have opened up an entire side of the floor. If this post/low block player is denied, he can run backdoor.

Let’s take a look at the action involved to set this up. Initially, a pass is made from guard to guard up top, then there’s a flex cut by the opposite corner player along the baseline using a low block screen provided by the low block player. After setting the screen, the screener cuts up to the elbow and then cuts backdoor immediately. He can also step out and to the near corner, replacing the former corner player (who steps up top to receive the pass across). We can then get right back into our flex continuity from here.

Meanwhile, the option is also there for a pass off the elbow. When we pass off the elbow, look to stagger screen away. If we pass the ball to the corner, we are going to stagger screen and then get right back into our flex spots if we aren’t able to enter the ball into the post.

Go

With “Go”, when the guard makes a pass across for the other guard, we have the options for a shot, pull through/rip through, or entry to the inside. We run the “Go” if a defender cheats on the cut as the pass is made. This frees up a player to catch the ball up top, hit an open jumper, or rip through if his man closes out.

Duck In

Finally, in “Duck In”, as the ball is passed from the top right to top left, the right side corner player sprints baseline, comes off a low block screen from his low block teammate, then cuts right off the shoulder of his low block screener and sprints to the opposite low block and faces the ball looking for the pass.

Meanwhile, after setting the screen, the screener ducks into the paint, with both hands reaching out, looking for the pass down low and a quick layup. This can be beneficial if the defense switches. The low block screener can now receive an inside pass off the duck in and layup. It’s key that guys here read the defense in switching or non-switching situations.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Comprehensive Guide to the Flex Offense” featuring Bob Schlosser. To check out more videos featuring offensive systems, simply head over to our basketball library.