5 Fantastic Breakdown Drills for the Flex Offense

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.