Read the Gap
Read whether the defense is in the gap and choose drive, pass, or shoot.
- Duration
- 14 min
- Steps
- 4
- Equipment
- 2 items
- Difficulty
- Advanced
How to run it
- 1
Catch on the wing with a defender and a help defender in the gap.
- 2
Read: if the gap defender is in the gap, swing the ball; if they're ball-watching, drive the gap.
- 3
If the gap defender closes out hard, shoot or pump-fake and drive.
- 4
10 reps; coach moves the gap defender each time.
Coaching points
- See the gap defender in your peripheral vision on the catch.
- Gap filled = pass; gap open = drive; hard closeout = shoot.
- Decide before you put the ball down.
Equipment
- Basketball
- Defenders
Why it works
The gap read is the core decision of all half-court offense. The nugget: the defense tells you what to do by where the gap defender is — filled means pass, open means drive. In a game, a kid who reads the gap attacks the open space and never drives into a wall of defenders. This is how high-IQ players always take what the defense gives, which is the whole game in one read.
Read the Gap
Purpose: Read whether the defense is in the gap and choose drive, pass, or shoot.
▶How to run it
- 1Catch on the wing with a defender and a help defender in the gap.
- 2Read: if the gap defender is in the gap, swing the ball; if they're ball-watching, drive the gap.
- 3If the gap defender closes out hard, shoot or pump-fake and drive.
- 410 reps; coach moves the gap defender each time.
✓Coaching points
- ✓See the gap defender in your peripheral vision on the catch.
- ✓Gap filled = pass; gap open = drive; hard closeout = shoot.
- ✓Decide before you put the ball down.
▢Equipment
★Why it works
The gap read is the core decision of all half-court offense. The nugget: the defense tells you what to do by where the gap defender is — filled means pass, open means drive. In a game, a kid who reads the gap attacks the open space and never drives into a wall of defenders. This is how high-IQ players always take what the defense gives, which is the whole game in one read.