AVOID Pass and Cut Motion Offense in Basketball 

As a coach who has experimented going away from the pass and cut and trying to incorporate what Alex is talking about, here are some ideas that might help if you are trying to make the transition. 1. Try to get into dynamic 1v1 (going 1v1 where you are moving to catch the ball). Many of your dynamic 1v1 opportunities can be done off blast cuts (same idea as filling towards the ball but focus on the speed of the cut). If you use blast cuts as a trigger to create an advantage, then you just have to help your team learn how to create a double gap (where a spot away from the ball is open). Some ways our 8 and 9 year olds learned to create blast cut opportunities was by basket cutting, cutting towards the weakside dunker, or interchanging with a teammate when the ball was 1 spot away and it was neutral (no advantage, stagnant, etc). When the player getting the ball off the blast cut didn't attack there are times where what we do looks similar to pass and cut, but the intentions of the players is a lot different than when we taught pass and cut. 2. For static 1v1, if you are worried about the ball sticking in one players hand, you can use dribble handoffs as a protection plan. If the player going 1v1 can't get by their defender, they can dribble towards a teammate. This could be thought of as "My turn, Your turn". The handoff could also help players keep their dribble alive against pressure vs picking it up early. Another consideration is that younger kids might struggle to make further passes and the handoff gives them an affordance to get the ball to a teammate when it might have been difficult to make a more traditional pass. These are just my two cents and some ideas I have discovered when working with beginners first learning the game.

I agree with you 100%. In youth basketball especially U14, the 5 out offense without a shot clock is as pointless as a 2-3 zone. Kids won’t even make a basket run for an easy layup setting up for a 3 first. Without at least 3 shooters and two decent ball handlers on the floor, it results in a bad shot or turnover most of the time. A decent, rule-conscious defensive team needs only to defend the drive, bump cutters, and force the ball into the hands of the lesser skilled players. This forces mistakes and quite often leads to shots from poor long range shooters that jack up low percentage 3’s.

Pass and cut should create advantages. A basket cut is a scoring opportunity, and puts pressure on the rim (if players are not cutting to score, don't stop cutting!). A basket cut also creates a double gap for a draft drive behind the cutter (a static 1 on 1) or a blast cut to the ball. A passer should have at least two options, e.g. basket cut if their defender does not jump to the ball, otherwise screen away. That said, I run dribble-drive motion with zero-second decisions, and pass and cut can become pass and get in the way. Pass and space away is an option, it does take away a blast cut by the next player on that side. Another option is backcut from a single gap into a blast cut and dynamic 1 on 1, with pass and hold (or space).

I think a lot of good concepts are covered in this video, and I agree that pass-cut motion offense has its limitations. I would push back by saying that pass-cut as a concept can be useful because almost all youth players tend to disengage from the offense the moment they no longer have the ball. Watch any game (at almost all levels), players pass the ball up but they keep their eyes on the ball handler and don't look for advantages anywhere else on the court. Pass-cut (and pass-screen away, pass-space) as a concept can be useful to develop the mentality of constantly looking for advantages and staying engaged, even without the ball. And I don't know that pass-cut is a much worse option to start with than pass-space, if our goal is to develop that mentality.

I really can’t follow. The youth is simply not moving in an overall concept without a basic motion. What you are talking about is to build this motion like a neverending simple motion till U18. That simply isn’t the case. From basic motion you move to DHO, Pindowns, crosscuts, flashing, flaring. This part would never work, if youth don’t understand the simple motion. It’s not about being open after a pass, it’s about the movement and the faster you move the better the action I mentioned become. It would be a huge failure to skip the motion for youth.

I wonder how this applies to the Rick torbet read and react offense.

In a true motion offense the players have the choice to pass & cut OR pass & ball screen OR pass & screen away, the offense reacts to the player’s decision after passing. Anytime a pass is received the player should attack the rim trying to get 2 feet in the paint. 3 point shots ONLY come from kick-outs off drives when both feet are set and the shot is open. Poorly coached motion offenses will tend to revert to a pattern of only pass & cut.