Tools to Hone Razor-Sharp Offensive Execution: Transition Attack, Skills, Drills & Building 'The Play After the Play'

with Chris Holtmann,
DePaul University Head Coach;
Ohio State University Head Men's Coach from 2017 to 2024;
2018 Big Ten Coach of the Year;
2018 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year;
Butler University Head Coach from 2014 to 2017;
2017 Big East Coach of the Year;
2017 John McLendon National Coach of the Year;
former Gardner-Webb Head Coach;
2013 Big South Coach of the Year;
1994 NAIA All-American (Taylor University)

In the span of just a decade, Chris Holtmann has brought innovation and success to every collegiate program he has been in charge of as a head coach. From being named a ‘Coach of the Year’ in three different college conferences, Coach Holtmann has earned a reputation for knowing how to build a roster of fundamentally sound players and create leaders, while controlling a game’s tempo and pace-of-play on the court.

In this instructional coaching video, Coach Holtmann takes you through a fast-pace transition offense that creates scoring opportunities in 12-seconds or less, while helping you to master ‘the play after’ transition offense stalls out in your half-court offense.  

Warm-Up Drills 

Coach Holtman introduces solid warm-up drills that help loosen your players up while also helping to build their skills.In a drill he calls the ‘Box-Passing Drill,’ Holtmann has players focus on being positioned in a solid, triple-threat stance, while using several effective ball fakes to deliver a strong pass. Any deflected pass leads to a turnover and change of defenders. This drill is also great for helping your players build their anticipation skills and defensive pressure on the ball.  

In the ‘Three Player Deflection Drill,’ Coach Holtmann shows a highly effective drill for building ball pressure and intensity that helps your players get deflections and steals from even the best ball handlers and passers. Passers learn to use strong pass fakes and develop the ability to zip the ball past the defender’s ear while executing passes.These simple to teach, yet extremely valuable drills will get your players warmed up and ready to start practice, and best of all, doing so while building a strong foundation of key basketball skills.

Transition Offense

Scoring quickly not only keeps your opponent on their heels defensively, it also provides the most-critical component of any high-scoring offense. Showcasing several scoring options, Coach Holtmann unveils the effective strategies he uses to create and build a tough-to-guard, transition offense.

Beginning with a point-to-post pass, Holtmann shows how your point guard must fight to get the ball to the elbow in under 6 seconds and get deep paint touches. This action lays the groundwork for opening a trail-to-post option, advancing through the wing and point guard punch that positions opponents in an uncomfortable defensive position as they are playing from behind in transition.Coach Holtmann also shows how you can best utilize a transition drag-screen, which allows your ball handler to hit a trailing player, attack the paint or use your post player to either roll or pop for a high-percentage look at an open shot.

‘The Play After the Play’

What is your game plan for the times when your transition offense stalls or is slowed down? Coach Holtmann explains how you need to be prepared for this with a counter in your repertoire.

Teams that can answer one offensive punch with another when one is shut down by an opponent’s defense are the ones who last deep into the season. Coach Holtmann details several ball-screen options you can use to create duck-ins or lift your post player for an open look from the outside.

Mastering these offensive options, which Holtmann calls ‘the play after the play,’ is based on using a transition ball-screen, which seamlessly allows your players to flow into a secondary ball screen. This type of two-player game opens up the floor for more scoring options and allows you to counter any stop in transition.

Scoring at a high rate and being efficient with your offensive actions are common characteristics of championship teams. These types of planned and practiced offensive tactics help your team improve in both transition and half-court offense and provide your players with the in-game confidence that they have plenty of scoring options regardless of what the defense throws at them.In this must-watch video, Coach Holtmann arms you the ideas and teaching strategies to install, build and practice a high-powered transition offense with immediate secondary options that you can rely upon when your running game stalls or slows down!  

Customer Review: 5-Out Of 5-Stars. ‘Excellent video! I found the teaching transition offense section especially valuable. Coach Holtmann offers up plenty of options that you can add to your offense and force defenses to play on their heels.’

59 minutes. 2023