1980s AD

Coach and Athletic Director, Oct, 2006 by Bill Van Gundy, Stan Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy

Remember those sacred "coaching axioms" against the zone defense: "Thou shalt not move around a lot" ... "Thou shalt not throw cross-court pass" and "Thou shalt not dribble"?

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They no longer hold true. As a matter of fact, we do all three in our GAPS attack vs the zone. We do use a great deal of movement, we do throw cross-court passes, and we do dribble. And it all works!

Check our initial set in Diag. 1. As you can see, we deploy our people between or behind the zone defenders. We refer to these areas as GAPS.

Our positioning is designed to improve our passing lanes, promote good offensive rebounding, and, maybe most important, cause uncertainty and confusion among the defenders, particularly with respect to covering our pass receivers.

Our point (#1) man's first responsibility is to try to penetrate a GAP before making any pass. He must push the ball forward and keep low. If he succeeds in penetrating, he may look for the short jump shot or use one of his passing options.

Although the point man will seldom be able to penetrate, we want him to practice the move assiduously. The move will often draw X1 and X2 to the ball and thus leave at least one attacker open.

Good passing lanes can be can be created by #2, #3, and sometimes #5 stepping into the middle. The defense will now be quickly outnumbered in the scoring area (Diag. 2).

Whenever the strongside wing (#3) receives the pass from #1, he should square to the basket with his knees bent, and then immediately take the ball to shooting position--become a scoring threat.

Only in special situations will we allow #3 to shoot after only one pass. We want him to first attack the basket.

If X3 doesn't stop him, #3 can take the shot. If X3 does stop him, we want him to get the ball to #4 (Diag. 3).

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If #3 fails to achieve either objective, he may pass inside to #5 or pass cross-court to #2. We want the latter to move to a GAP near the elbow and be ready to shoot without any further adjustments of position.

The two-hand overhead pass is frequently utilized to move the ball over the top. It is a skill that must be mastered.

In the initial set, #4 hides out behind the defense, setting up 10-12 feet from the basket, only a few inches above the baseline. He must be well-balanced, feet perpendicular to the baseline, knees flexed and hands ready--always looking at the ball.

If #3 is stopped by X3 and X4 is open (Diag. 3), #3 must pass to the open man. The one-hand bounce pass to the inside hand will usually be effective in this situation.

As #4 catches the ball, he has the entire compressed defense in front of him. He must immediately put the defender on his back by executing a front pivot on the inside foot, and then power-dribble to the basket for the lay-up. This move requires considerable practice as it calls for quickness and good judgment.

If #4's power move is cut off, he must look for the pass. As shown in Diag. 4, we want him to hit either #5 cutting to the basket or #1 who has moved to the opposite elbow and is set and ready to shoot.

If neither of these options is open, #4 must look for #2 along the opposite baseline. His last option is to return-pass to #3, who has moved back to his original position (Diag. 4).

If the ball goes to #3, everyone must return to his position in the original set. #3 now has all his original options or he may pass to the point man (#1). The latter must remember not to pass until he has taken the ball to the defense--tried to penetrate a GAP, as shown in Diags. 1-2.

Whenever #2 or #5 has the ball, #4's movement will depend on the position of X3.

If X3 is outside the lane (Diag. 5), #4 will cut to the basket, looking for a pass. If he gets the ball below the broken line, we expect him to score.

If X3 is inside the lane (Diag. 6), #4 will set a back screen on him and #3 will move in to get the pass for a shot.

#5 has very simple rules (Diag. 7):

1. When he receives the ball, he must face the basket in shooting position.

2. If he does not have a shot, he must reverse the ball to the opposite wingman or the point man.

3. He may come to the ball any time he believes he can get a shot.

4. He must cut to the basket whenever #4 has the ball on the baseline, as shown in Diag. 4.

Whenever #3 shoots (Diag. 8), both inside players and the weakside wing must go to the boards. The other wing may also go.

The baseline man (#4) must also go to the weakside and, to be effective, he must anticipate the shot.

The positions in the GAPS give us good paths to the boards and help confuse the opponents' block-out responsibilities.

The pattern itself is not as important as the approach to the attack and the execution of the fundamental skills. For this offense to be effective, each player must:

1. Be aggressive in attacking the defense.

2. Use lots of ball and shot fakes.

3. Never pass the ball until he is played by a defender.