I was talking with a youth coach today and we were discussing their team's motion offense and how they have been turning the ball over often.
The more I watch youth basketball, the more I am convinced that kids need to be taught how to play the game rather than be taught set plays and structured offense.
Thinking back to my time as a college coach, we would add set plays or make adjustments to our offense as a way to beat the defense. Our adjustments were based on the defense.
At the youth level, I see so many adjustments being made simply to provide structure for the offense...spacing, cutting, screening, etc.
But the reality is, if a player doesn't know how to play, the type of offense that they run will never be very effective.
I would be interested to hear some success/failure stories from implementing offenses at the youth level.
