No Mistake Motion Offense
You’re probably wondering who the man in this photo is. He is Villanova Head Women’s basketball coach Harry Perretta and he is the mastermind behind one of the most effective variations of the 5 out motion offense that you’ll ever witness. At the helm of the program for the past forty years, Harry Perretta has continually evolved his offense known as the No Mistake Motion.
Coach has numbered the various cutting and screening actions one through seven. Whichever number is called, is the action that will be repeated until a shot is taken. This takes the guessing away that can occur within motion offense’s and therefore allows his players to always know what action is coming next. The scheme allows the coach to adjust the offense on the fly without having to call a timeout simply by calling another number.
Any two digit combination of those numbers may also be used for greater versatility. The first number will be executed for two cuts and the second number will be used until a shot is taken. With a few variations of my own, we will go over the specific numbered actions and entries into the scheme. Credit to coach John Leonzo who is an incredible resource for all things basketball and helped with the creation of this article.
Entries
Before we dive into the specific screening and cutting types, it’s important to show several ways to help the offense get started. Obviously teams won’t let you simply pass to the wing whenever you would like so here are several ways to start the offense that can be used in conjunction with the numbers such as “Down 4" which would be a downscreen and curl followed by a series of “four” cuts.
Down: Both wings will down screen the players in the corner for them to curl to the rim. It’s REALLY IMPORTANT to make sure the screeners back is facing where we want them to go which in this case is the paint. The screeners will then pop back to the wing to receive a pass. The hand sign here is to simply point your thumb down.
Up: Both corners will set flare screens for the wings. The screeners have the option to either slip to the rim (preferred) or to pop out to catch the ball. The handsign is thumbs up.
Floppy: Commonly known as the single double action, one player has the option to use either the single or double screens on the baseline. The other guard will go the opposite direction. Once the ball is entered, we will look to another action to execute assuming we cannot score immediately. The hand sign for this would be to wave your hand.
Strong: The guard up top dribbles to the wing looking for a backdoor cut. The ball is then swung to the opposite wing followed by a staggered screen. Based on how the defense is guarding us, the player may curl, backdoor, or sprint for the shot from three. The hand sign for this is to simply flex your arm. If the ball is pushed to the wing, the weakside players can flow straight into the staggered screen as well.
Numbered actions
1: Pass/Cut, Fill, Drive, Or Dribble Backdoor
Simply pass and face cutting action. The key is to always cut to score! As the players fill their spots, the ball handler may either drive right behind his cutting teammate or dribble at the filled spot to look for a backdoor pass. The harder their teammates cut, the easier it will be to drive. A fun wrinkle is to designate certain players to post up for a three count following their cut. On the post entry pass, all strong side players speed cut to the opposite side of the court. Key factor, if your defender steps over the three point line, immediately cut to the rim. It’s also important to note that anytime a player gets the ball inside via cut or drive, unless they can score they must look to kick out to the corner and swing the ball once more.
Pass/cut to fill or drive
Dribble at Backdoor
Post entry speed cut
2: Down screen curl
This is just like the Down entry we showed earlier, except you’re running it continuously. A good option for when teams are hugging tight to their offensive matchup.
3: Down screen Backdoor
This one uses the defenses help against them by allowing them to cheat the screen so that we may cut to the rim.
4: Down screen fill and slip
Here is an effective action against switching defenses or to get a shooter open. The key here is to make contact with the screen before cutting to the rim
- Note: Post Splits
An absolute neccessity is to add the use of split cuts after passing to the post. While the Golden State Warriors may have brought back into the public eye, its roots date back to the princeton offense and have been around for many years. The passer who enters to the post will screen at the elbow and slip to the rim. The shooter may also backdoor which would make the screener pop back to the post. As your players figure who the shooters are, you can even have a flare screen set for the player on the wing to go to the top of the key.
5: Flare Screen and slip
A great action to use a teams help defensive spacing against them. Once contact is made by the screener, they must slip to the rim. The ball handler has the option to skip the ball to the shooter or dribble towards them to shorten the passing angle.
6: Ballscreens
In the following section, the players will execute the “One” Action except for the designated ball screener. That player will follow their pass with a ball screen. They are also able to dribble handoff to their target as well. The screener MUST turn their back towards paint or baseline to allow the guard to attack downhill. Of course the screener may post after they roll.
Diagram 1: Ace is a ballscreen that attacks one player in the strongside.
Diagram 2: Deuce is an attack towards two players on the strongside.
Diagram 3: Euro is what we call the spread pick and roll with all other players in front of the ball.
Diagram 4: Step up pick and roll allows the guard to attack the baseline while a safety valve player fills behind the driver in the corner.
7: Flare Screen and Curl
A counter to our “Five” action is to curl to the rim for a layup. This is in response to the defense chasing over the top of the flare screen.
0: Vs switching defenses
Here is an additional concept I’ve added after watching how teams attack switching. Though slipping the screen is a popular concept, another unconventional but effective idea is to screen your own defender instead of your teammates. The reasoning is to do this knowing the switch is coming which should yield an easier slip towards the middle of the floor or perimeter jumpshot. Both defenders will run with either the screener or shooter. It’s also a phenomenal idea to use this when your best player is denied. By having them screen their own defender into a teammates defender, you’ll create dribble penetration for your team. You can also do this when a team is fronting the post by pushing that defender away from the paint as the perimeter player drives his defender in that direction.
Hit the slip or shooter
Ballscreen your own defender
Post Fronted
Base 45 Drives
A huge concept that must be applied is understanding when to cut during a baseline drive. While most teams usually space the floor or use their post to find open space during the drive, when using five out spacing its imperative to have a cutter dive from what i call the 45 or the angle. During Baseline drives the team should always have both corners filled. Next their should be a player at the top of the key extended for two reasons. The first reason is defensive floor balance in transition while the other reason is to rotate for the extra pass once the ball has reached the corner. The most important player however is the player on the opposite wing who will cut towards the driver who is attacking baseline. This is lethal for a number of reasons. For starters the entire defense is taring at the ball and thus an easy layup opportunity may be created. Even more so is in the event that the cut has been taken away, they will take a defender with them which will open up perimeter jumpshots.
For details on this system or how to tweak it for your particular roster, email me at Kjthescout@outlook.com or follow me on twitter @Kj_the_scout where I post all of my articles and content!
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