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FIBA EUROPE

by Brian Goorjian

COACHES - OFFENSE

Brian Goorjian, American born,was named in 2003 as the greatestcoach in the first 25 years of theAustralian National BasketballLeague. He started his coachingcareer as assistant coach of Gee-long in 1985, later becomingcoach of the Melbourne Tigersand winning two championships.He then coached Sydney, winningthree titles in a row from 2003 to2005. He was named NBL Coach ofthe Year four times. Since 2001 hehas been head coach of the Aus-tralian men's national team,coaching them at the 2004Olympic Games and 2006 FIBAWorld Championships.

OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY

Our first priority at the 2006 FIBAWorld Championship was to movethe bal l very quickly down thecourt with the point guards han-dling the ball. The wing playerssprinted ahead of the ball to keeppressure on the defense. We alsotook advantage of our agile powerforwards, who sprinted to the of-fensive basket and looked to re-ceive the ball as close to the bas-ket as possible. In addition, ourquick ball reversal was one of ourbest offensive assets, combinedwith the dribble penetration of ourguards and small forwards.

If we did not have an opportunityfor a fu l l court t ransi t ion, ourguards started to control the of-fensive play. Here a list of our of-fensive sets strategies:

On ball screens. Entr ies through our 4 and 5

players, flashing at the elbowof the free-throw area.

Turn out actions from our 2 and3 players.

Effective use of screens fromlittle players to big players.

Our main offensive alignment wasto have four perimeter players andone inside player, or else use threeperimeter players and two insideplayers. When there were just afew seconds left on the shot clock,we relied on ball screens, quickball movement, and dribble pene-tration. I am proud to say that wehad a good awareness of the of-fensive tempo and a good judge-ment of which plays were requireddepending on the time left in thegame and the score.

PLAYER POSITIONS AND SKILLS

GuardsOur guards handled the ball andwere able to control the tempovery well. They had a good rangeof shooting from the perimeter andpenetrated with the ball throughquick dribbling off the ball move-ment. They passed well to the cut-ters and post players who wereflash cutting to the elbows of thefree-throw area. Their main at-tacking moves were the crossoverand the speed dribbles.

ForwardsOur forwards ran the court verywell in offensive transition and thepower forwards were very agileand quick to post up strongly. Thesmall forwards had good shootingrange. They were effective withthe catch-and-shoot jump shot andpenetrating with the ball inside thethree-second lane. They alsopassed well to teammates cuttingoff screens.

AUSTRALIA

OFFENSIVE

SETS

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CentersOur centers passed to the cuttersvery wel l . Their main offensivemoves were the jump hook from a"back in" move and turn-aroundjump shot. They also had strongand effective counter moves fromthe low post position, combinedwith a medium shoot ing range.They screened wel l on the bal lscreens and created effect ivescoring threats from these offen-sive plays.

THE TEAM

These were the players who playedthe most minutes and we designedplays to take advantage of theirskills:

C. J. Bruton, point guardJason Smith, guardSam McKinnon, forwardLuke Kendall, forwardAndrew Bogut, centerMark Worthington, forwardBrad Newley, forward

The following plays are some of the

quick plays we used at the FIBA

2006 World Championship.

PLAYS OFF THE TRANSITION

Play for the point guard, BrutonOut of the three-two set, with twolow posts, 4 and 5, 2 and 3 on thewings with 1 (Bruton) with the ballat the middle of the floor, 1 passesthe ball to 3 and runs to the corner,while 4 and 5 start to run a stag-gered screen (diagr. 1).

2 moves toward 3, receives the ballfrom 3 and passes it to 1, who getsoff the baseline from the staggeredscreen of 5 and 4 (diagr. 2).

Play for the center, BogutHere a play from a one-four set,with two wings: 2 and 3 in the cor-ners, and 4 and 5 are at the lowpost positions. 1 has the ball on oneside of the court, 4 runs out of thelane and sets himself near the side-line, while 5 screens on the ball for1 (diagr. 4).

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1 drives off the 5's screen, while 5rolls to the basket and freezes hisdefender near the basket (diagr. 5).

1 drives to the opposite side of thecourt from where he received thescreen, and passes the ball to 5 un-der the basket (diagr. 6).

PLAYS VS. MAN-TO-MAN SET DEFENSE

Plays for Bruton or BogutOut of set with three perimeter play-ers and two inside players, 1 (Bru-ton) passes to 2 and 3 runs along thebaseline and cuts off the screens of5 (Bogut) and 4.

Right after the pass to 2, 1 curlsaround 5, goes back to the same po-sition and receives the ball backfrom 2 (diagr. 7).

5 gets out of the lane and plays pick-and-roll with 1, who can shoot, driveto the basket, or pass to 5 on the roll.While 5 screens for 1, 4 screens for 2(diagr. 8).

Play for KendallUsing a set with three perimeterplayers and two inside players: 2(Kendall) passes to 3 and cuts to

baseline around 5 and goes in thecorner (diagr. 9).5 sprints out of the lane and screensfor 3 (diagr. 10).

3 drives off 5's screen and drives tothe basket. If the defender of 2 tries

to help, 3 passes the ball out to 2 in thecorner for a jump shot (diagr. 11).

Play for NewleyWith two players on the corners, 3(Newley) and 2, 5 at the left elbow ofthe free-throw area, 1 with the ball onthe right wing, and 4 out of the top ofthe key, 4 screens for 1 (diagr. 12).

Right after 4's screen and 1's drive offthe screen, 2 back screens 4 (screen-the-screener action). 4 cuts to thebaseline and then on to the low poston the same side (diagr. 13).

Right after setting the back screen for4, 2 runs to the baseline on the wingposition and 1 passes the ball to 5. 3cuts to the basel ine, receives ascreen from 4, and 5 passes to 3 for ashot, while 2 goes in the corner (diagr.14).

Play for WorthingtonOut of a set with three players outsideand two players inside: 3 (Worthing-

FIBA EUROPECOACHES - OFFENSE

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COACHES - OFFENSE

ton) cuts along the baseline and getsoff the screens of 4 and 5 and setshimself on the wing (diagr. 15).

2 passes to 3 and then down screensfor 4, while 1 relocates on the wing,and 5 pops out of lane and goes tothe corner (diagr. 16).

3 passes to 5, cuts to the basket, and5 passes the ball to 3 (diagr. 17).

Play for McKinnonThe initial set is the same, with 1 withthe ball: 2 cuts down in the middle ofthe lane and waits for a second un-der the basket, and 3 replaces 2 (dia-gr. 18).

2 runs off 4 (McKinnon) and goes inthe corner, while 5 goes to the elbowon the same side (diagr. 19).

Right after the cut of 2, 4 cuts to thelane and receives the ball from 1 (di-agr. 20).

Play for BogutThe initial set is the same, with 1 withthe ball: 2 cuts along the baselineand off the screens of 4 and 5 (Bogut)screens, while 1 passes the ball to 3(diagr. 21).

5 flashes to the elbow and 1 cuts tothe corner to take away the defen-sive help. 3 passes to 5, who playsone-on-one (diagr. 22).

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