9 Random Strategy Thoughts and Ideas

How much mad scientist do you have in you?

Basketball, like most sports, is a game of inches.

Every little edge can determine who wins and loses a game.

Here are a few quirky, unusual, interesting, unconventional strategies you could add into your coaching arsenal:

Jump the Jump Ball

• Let the other team win the jump and, in an attempt to catch your opponent off guard, immediately “run and jump”/trap whoever catches the ball.
• Use the 2 closest players to the ball to form the trap.
• Have the other 3 players ready to take away obvious passes to get a steal.
• Oftentimes, the team that wins the jump ball will just jog down to their spots to start the play. This is a great time to use the element of surprise to steal a possession.

Full Deny the SLOB

• Put the offense into a disadvantage 4v5 situation by denying every SLOB.
• Have your inbound defender turn his back to the inbounder and either take the first cut that comes open OR deny the point guard the ball.
• Either way, you’re making the other team do something different.
• You could also run and jump the first pass that comes in from the sideline.

Take Away the Top 2 Players

• There should never be an instance where you allow the 2 best players on the opposing team to be comfortable and do what they want offensively. You HAVE to make them uncomfortable or make them do things they don’t typically do. You must make their life difficult.
• Take them away however you see fit — junk defense, full deny, run and jump them on the catch, shade off players, get them away from their spots, whatever.
• If you’re going to lose…whatever you do, make sure their 3rd, 4th, or 5th best players beat you — not their studs.

Free Throw Rebound Calls

• You can call 2–3 of these during the game in an attempt to “steal” a free throw rebound.
• Here are a few ideas:

“Again” Plays

• You can do this with any play you have a wrinkle for.
• Run the same play a few times over the course of the game — let’s call it “ORANGE”. Once you start to see the other team jumping your options because they are familiar with the play call and its action, call “ORANGE AGAIN”.
• This is your counter. Some good ideas here are to fake a familiar cut and send that player back door, make a player who is typically the screener a cutter, slip certain actions, etc.
• This is really effective with inbounds plays.

End Each Quarter With the Ball — No Matter What

• I’ve written about this before, but this is a great way to try and steal 1–2 possessions each game.
• It also takes away the potential momentum building play of the other team scoring before the end of a quarter.
• The math (if everything works perfectly): if your team wins the jump, your opponent has the possession arrow. If you end the quarter with the ball, you got an extra possession that quarter. They start with it in the 2nd quarter. You end with the ball. That quarter was even. You get it to start the 3rd and end with it — plus 1 for you. They get it to start the 4th and you end with it. That’s even. In the end, you got 2 more possessions and hopefully 2 more “free” shots than your opponent.
• It might not work out — but one thing I do know is…it doesn’t hurt you.

New Defense Every Time Out (or Dead Ball)

• If you like to change your defenses up or have multiple defensive attacks, you can use this to slow down your opponent, keep them off balance, or maybe force a few cheap turnovers.
• Every time out or end of quarter, come out in something different defensively.
• If you want to be really crazy, change your defense every single dead ball.

Trap the Rebounder on Missed Shots

• Post players get most rebounds and typically aren’t the best ball handlers or passers. Why not trap them every time they get a rebound? They can’t hurt you too badly, you slow down the break, and you might even get a steal and easy basket.
• You could also jam the outlet receiver after every make and miss. Make them throw it someone else every possession.

Force left every single possession.

• If you do this, you play the odds over the course of the game.
• If you make your opponent uncomfortable…even if in a small way like this…for an entire game, they’ll eventually make an extra mistake or two.
• Players are usually worst at dribbling with their left hand, passing with their left, finishing with their left hand, playing on the left side, etc. Typically, no matter how good a player is…they aren’t as good with their left (or weak hand). At the very least, you can slow them down in some capacity.