Dribble drive motion

The dribble drive motion is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed by University of Massachusetts assistant coach Vance Walberg, when he was a high school coach in California.

The offense was popularized by University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari during his tenure at the University of Memphis, and is sometimes called the 'Memphis attack'. Originally called 'AASAA' by Walberg (for "Attack, Attack, Skip, Attack, Attack"), the offense is also sometimes known as the 'Walberg offense' or abbreviated to DDM, and has been described as "Princeton on steroids".^[1]

The offense focuses on spreading the offensive players in the half court, so that a guard can drive through the defensive gaps for a layup or dunk, or pass out to the perimeter if the defense collapses onto him.^[2]

Basic principles

Like the Princeton offense, the Dribble drive motion is a "four-out" offense - that is, only one post player (generally the center) plays near the basket, while the other four players play on the perimeter, around the three-point line. Unlike the Princeton offense, which is based on players cutting towards the basket, and other motion offenses which rely on players screening for each other, the DDM uses a player (usually the point guard) to dribble-drive towards the basket. Depending on how the defense responds, the driving player can either shoot a lay-up, pass to the post player for a shot, or "kick-out" pass to one of the perimeter players. If the ball is returned to the perimeter, the player that receives the pass either takes a three-point shot, or dribble-drives to the basket themself, restarting the process.^[3][4]

The offense uses no set plays, and instead relies on the speed and decision making of its players, primarily the point guard. "I feel we're teaching kids how to play basketball instead of how to run plays" says Walberg of the offense.^[3] Coaches that rely upon the offense have said that they do most of their coaching work in practices rather than games.^[3]

History

In 1997 Vance Walberg developed the offense, which he named the AASAA, meaning "Attack-Attack-Skip-Attack-Attack", while coaching at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. Walberg adopted the offense to take advantage of the skills of his point guard Chris Hernandez, later the starting point guard at Stanford. After several years of tweaking the system, he took it with him to Fresno City College, where he coached from 2002–2006.^[3]

While at dinner with Memphis coach Shawn Nabors in October, 2003, he described the basic principles of the offense.^[3] John Calipari would implement the offense for the 2005–2006 season at Memphis, for which it is sometimes known as the Memphis attack offense.^[4] After he implemented the offense, Calipari took the Memphis Tigers to great success. His teams made 3 consecutive Elite Eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and made it to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game in 2008. That same season, Calipari's Tigers set an NCAA single-season record for most victories, with 38, though this season would later be expunged from the record books per imposed sanctions on Memphis.

By the 2007–2008 basketball season, at least 224 junior high, high school, college, and professional teams were using some form of the Dribble drive motion.^[3]

References

1. ^ Katz, Andy (2007-09-19). "Calipari committed to turning Memphis into legit contender". http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3066270&campaign=rss&source=NCAAHeadlines. 
2. ^ DeCourcy, Mike (2007-08-20). "Pepperdine's offense is a recruiting tool, too". http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=258992. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Wahl, Grant (2008-02-18). "Fast and Furious". Sports Illustrated (Time Inc.) 108 (7): 49–56. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/12/memphis0218/index.html. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 
4. ^ ^{a b} DeCourcy, Mike (2008-01-18). "Breaking down Memphis' dribble-drive motion". The Sporting News. NBC Universal. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22718226/. Retrieved 2008-02-18.