What we consider as the ‘inside play’?
All the times the ball is close to the basket: when offensive player has the ball in the low post position or when the ball handler is attacking the basket dribbling in the paint area.
What we consider as the ‘outside play’?
Every time the perimeter players, having the right position behind the three point line, have the opportunity to take an open shot or to drive to the basket.
During the game the main goal for the offence is to look for the highest percentage shot moving the ball from the outside to the inside and the opposite: from the inside to the outside. We force the defense to close and to spread up and so the offence can find out a good open shot or a foul (shoot the ball from the foul line is an important goal). This is what we say the balance between inside and outside offence.
1. The ball goes in – comes out with the pass
We create inside game situations, passing the ball to the low post, every time we have size/power advantage: the player catches the ball close to the basket and scores. If the defense reacts by moving two defenders against one offender (this is what we consider ‘help’) we shall pass out the ball to the open shooter on the three point line.
2. The ball goes in with the dribble –comes out with the pass
Using the quickness and the ball handling/shooting abilities of the perimeter players we can have inside game opportunities playing one on one, we force the defense to help against the dribble penetration and so we’ll create advantage for the outside shooter.
When you are watching the game it is easy to understand if the team plays balanced offence: try to look if a player is creating open shot situations for his teammate passing or dribbling the ball inside the paint area.
