Implementing Tough-To-Defend, 5-Out Concepts Into Your Ball Screen Offense

Brett Putz, Indiana State Basketball - Special Assistant to the Head Coach;
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Head Men's Coach 2020 through 2022;
2021 NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship;
NJCAA DII National Tournament Champions (2020-2021);
2021 NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Coach of the Year;
Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Champions (2020-2021);
ICCAC Coach of the Year and NJCAA DII National Tournament Coach of the Year (2020-2021);
NABC '30 Under 30' Coaches List (2016-2017);
Chicago State University Assistant Coach in 2019;
Highland Community College Assistant Coach from 2018 to 2019;
Omaha Director of Men's Basketball Operations from 2016 to 2018;
Wayne State College Assistant Coach from 2013 to 2016;
Played collegiately for St. Cloud State

Brett Putz has had a meteoric rise to success in his first head coaching job at Des Moines Area Community College. Accumulating accolades which include a 2020-2021 NJCAA DII Championship and NABC Coach of the Year honors, in this on-the-court video presentation, Putz pulls back the curtain to unveil the offense that helped create so much of his initial success: the 5-Out Ball Screen Offense.

In this video, Putz shows viewers the ins and outs of his ball-screen continuity and 5-out concepts that pull the offense together, as well as the key drills you’ll need to teach and implement the offense into your own offensive repertoire.

If you are searching for a ball screen offense, or concepts similar to it, then this is THE video for you! 

Introduction To The Offense

Putz begins the video session with an interesting discussion about his path to his current job at DMACC and how his professional development led to the concepts that he employs in this 5-out ball screen offense. He stresses the importance of keeping things simple as to not overload players with too much, which he highlights by way of a personal story of how he’d initially confused his players by trying to load them with information, rather than teaching them the concept that makes the offense successful.

Next, Putz discusses the rationale for the offense and lists the key components that he stresses to his players when teaching the offense – including great emphasis on ball movement and paint touches, which he and his staff closely track and monitor to create better shot opportunities and increase shooting percentages.

5-Out Ball Screen Concepts & Drills To Teach Them

All offenses become a little stagnant over time. It is the job of the coach to try and minimize the amount of those occurrences. Putz describes his initial problems in developing the offense and how the ball seemed to be ‘sticking’ in its early stages. To solve this problem, Putz describes how he began to implement a variety of concepts that players can choose to run after the initial ball screen. 

To provide a clearer picture of how this was accomplished, Putz goes through all those concepts, in a 5-on-0 setting from a variety of starting positions on the floor. The spots are the corners, the 45, slots and top of the key. All the options are detailed and explained with players executing actions on the floor, utilizing curls, back cuts, straight cuts, and over action. The coach explains how these options put the defense at a disadvantage as you move the player protecting the basket and emphasizes that you should never do the same action twice in a row. 

Putz hits his stride by presenting detailed information in a clear and concise manner to the viewers and shows how it works with the on-court players demonstrating the movements.

To cap the presentation, Putz shows several 3-on-0 and 2-on-0 shooting drills that get players comfortable running the different actions as shown within the offense. A variety of different options are shown and drilled – which provides each player with multiple reps. 

Lastly, Putz teaches the different ways post players can get out of the screen once it’s set and which defensive coverages you can attack with different movements.

The ball screen is one of the most common, yet highly effective actions in all of basketball. To be successful at it, coaches need organization and proven concepts that promote player development and yet also keep the offense unpredictable. This video provides all of that in a concise, easy-to-follow, on-the-court format. 

76 minutes. 2022.