NABC On the Court Open Practice with Jamion Christian: Man-to-Man Set Plays, Ball Screen Offense Reads, and Breakdown Drills

with Jamion Christian,
Bryant University Head Coach;
Pallacanestro Trieste (Italian LBA) Head Coach from 2023 to 2025;
2024 LNP Serie A2 Champions;
George Washington University Head Coach from 2019 to 2022;
Siena College Head Coach from 2018 to 2019;
Mt. St. Mary's Head Coach from 2012 to 2018;
2017 Ben Jobe Coach of the Year;
2017 Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year;
2017 NEC Regular Season Champions;
2x NEC Tournament Champions;
played college basketball at Mt St. Mary's (for Jim Phelan & Milan Brown)

Coach Jamion Christian is known for great set plays and an aggressive offensive system that he has developed over the years at several school. In this open practice, you will see a plethora of plays and sets that you can use immediately with your team and that are sure to get you points on the board!

Offensive Package

Developing a young team starts with teaching details on offense, including where to set screens, how to read the defense and find the open cutter, and points of attack. Coach Christian spends half of practice going through sets that will lead right into his ball screen offense. In Horns sets, your point guard will look to come off of either side and create action for a shooter coming out of the corner. Coach Christian stops and takes the time to teach details, including proper spacing, cutting, and screening. These key elements build the basic foundation of a good offense.

Once sets have been mastered, Christian breaks down his half court offense that requires good ball movement. Using managers and coaches, you'll get a look at options to attack the rim through post entries or through kick out 3-pointers. As his young team pushes through mistakes, you'll never see Coach Christian yell at his players. Instead, he stops the play and reinforces and reteaches so they clearly understand the concepts he wants them to learn.

Position Work

In order to better understand where shots will come from, position work is an important part of practice. Developing skill daily leads to reinforcement of essential actions. Coach Christian's post players work on footwork and passing against a defender. Using pads, coaches make athletes finish up and through contact to develop toughness around the rim.

Meanwhile, guards work on coming off of screens hip-to-hip and attacking the paint to draw two defenders. Using ball screen drills, guards learn to finish around the rim or hit shooters for kick out 3-pointers.

Defending Actions/Situations

Rounding out this open practice is a defensive segment where Coach Christian spends time breaking down actions his team will see from opponents. As GWU approaches a key conference game, the team spends time breaking down how players should defend pin down screens and wing down screens to minimize driving lanes and scoring opportunities for their opponents.

Using coaches and managers, players work to defend wing ball screen action and have the ability to defend gaps. Through icing and doubling the ball handler, George Washington is able to limit their opponent's vision and ability to swing the ball from one side to the other.

This video is worth the money in set plays alone! Get awesome access to a full practice run by Jamion Christian as his team prepares for an opponent, plus get the plays you will need for your own upcoming opponent!

113 minutes. 2021.