Another drill that I use alongside the back dribble drill is the J-cut drill. The back dribble drill focuses on what the dribbler should be doing when the defense is trapping. The J-cut drill is what the next offensive player should be doing as the defense is initiating a trap. This puts an offensive player into the middle of the floor where the dribbler should be looking as they back dribble out of a trap.
The back dribble drill working with the J-cut drill is now using multiple players to help an offense to beat a trapping defense. The ball handler is still going to be using the back dribble, but now as they take the back dribble a second player is J-cutting to receive a pass from the ball handler.
I call it a J-cut because the movement of the 2nd player should be in a J motion. They should be running straight to the middle and then hooking around in the middle of the floor. This movement looks like the player is drawing the letter J on the court.
By making the movements of the offense uniform during a trap, each player should know exactly what they are doing and where they are going. This can keep all the players calm and never have them panic. They know what to do and where their teammates are going to be. This makes passing the ball easier. It makes receiving the pass easier.
I will work on the J-cut in both the full-court and half-court settings. This is to simulate both a full court press and a half-court trapping defense. In both cases the movement should be the same in both situations. The ball handler back dribbles. The next player J-cuts to the middle. The ball handler makes a good pass through the trap to the J-cut.
Once the J-cut player receives the pass, they pivot around to face the basket. The pass should create a player advantage for the offense, so I want the players to attack and try to score during this player advantage. After the pivot around, the player will attack the basket for either a layup or a potential kick out 3-point shot.
The second key to doing a J-cut is the offensive player watching their defender leave to go double the ball. As the defender leaves to trap, the offensive player should be J-cutting at the same time. This can get the ball passed out of the trap before the trap has a chance to even get there.
This drill can be done using cones to simulate the trap and the offensive player reacts once the ball handler gets into the trap. Or it can be run with defenders where the offensive player reacts to the defensive player.
When ran with cones, the two offensive players start running up the court. The ball handler enters into the area of the trap where the cones have been set. As they enter the trap area, the 2nd offensive player J-cuts into the middle of the court. The ball handler back dribbles out of the trap area and passes to their teammate at the end of the J-cut. The player with the ball now pivots around to face the offensive basket and dribbles down to either a layup or I will have them finish the possession using the 2 on 0 drill.
When running the drill with both offensive and defensive players, all four players start moving up the court. The on the ball defender is running a turn drill waiting for the other defender to run up and double the ball. The off the ball defender can leave at any time to go double the ball. The defense should be working on the run and jump press as the offense is working on J-cuts.
When the off the ball defender leaves to double, the offensive player without the ball should see the defender leave and J-cut into the middle of the floor. The ball handler should see the double coming and back dribble to keep the defense from getting the trap. As soon the pass to the J-cut is able to be made, then the offense should be making that pass. On the catch, the player should pivot around and try to score. The defense then can sprint and try to get a back tap to simulate a defensive scramble out of a failed trap attempt.
Players and teams should always be looking for ways to reduce turnovers. By having a systemic routine when it comes to trapping defenses, teams can help players stay calm and react in a way that is positive for the offense and negative for the defense. Two simple drills like back dribbles and J-cuts can be done in practice all year long to get the desired actions from players during games. These little fundamentals and drills can have a major positive impact on wins and losses. By doing these little things, the little things will never become big things.
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