Quick Hitter and Freelance Offense

Quick Hitter Offense

A quick hitter is an offense that is designed to get a shot within a few passes. The quick hitter is basically just a simple offensive play. Quick hitters can be either to get a certain player a shot or get certain movement and get the player who is open the ball to get a shot.

I try to have a couple quick hitters in that get my best player the ball in positions to score. I also try to have a couple where my best 3 point shooter gets open for a wide open 3. I also try to have a couple where we create certain movement and get the defense to leave something open and we get whoever is open the ball for a shot.

The quick hitter is an additional piece of offense to go along with the transition offense and motion offense. While I only like to have 2 motion offenses, I will continuously add quick hitters throughout the year. I normally start with about 4 or 5 quick hitters for man defense and 1 to 2 for zone defense. Then I will add quick hitters every week to every other week depending on who we are playing and how many games we are playing.

When I add quick hitters to my offensive playbook, I normally add two quick hitters instead of just one. The first quick hitter is designed to get a shot for a player or to take advantage of a defensive flaw. The second quick hitter is a counter to the first. I try to guess what the defense will do to adjust to the first quick hitter and that is where the 2nd quick hitter comes into play. Both plays are designed to start the same way with basically the same movement. However, at some point there is a slight difference and this will create the open space for the shot.

For instance, I may have a quick hitter to get a shooter running off of a double screen. The 2nd quick hitter will have the shooter setting a backscreen on the double screen for a screener to come open cutting back to the basket. So if we can get the shooter a couple of 3’s off of it then we will run the counter and normally the defense will go running after the shooter. As the defense is running at the shooter, the shooter sets the backscreen and we get another player open going the other direction.

The only thing I will say is to be careful not to add in too many quick hitters that the players can not remember them. This can create chaos and confusion. It can also lead to the team getting out of rhythm which can lead to bigger problems.

Freelance Offense

A freelance offense is the most unstructured offense there is. A freelance offense is either an offense with one to two keys or some have no structure whatsoever. This gives all control over to the players. This allows the players to play as freely as possible. A freelance offense will only work if you have the better players on the floor. If you do not have the better players then this type of offense will not work.

Your players must be able to create their own shots and make their own shots. If your players can not create their own shots then it is hard to turn the control over to them. However, if you have players that can create their own shots then giving them the freedom can create great chances to score. A freelance offense can be similar to a quick hitter in giving the offense one or two keys and then letting them figure out the rest. If I have the best player then I will run a simple pick and roll and let him figure out how to score the ball. This may be him driving to the basket or him getting the defense to collapse and then kicking out for an open shot.

Or if the defense has a slow or bad defender then I will run a pick and roll where their man is setting the screen. This forces the slow or bad defender to defend the ball coming off of a ball screen. This can create serious mismatches and great scoring chances.