Today I would like to take you through some of the motion offense and zone offense shooting drills I incorporate as part of my prepractice and practice plans. I will outline my motion offense rules below. In January's issue of Chicken Soop for the Coach (coming in a few weeks), I will show you the zone offense I plan to implement here in the Middle East with the professional team I am coaching. From what I am told, I can expect to see plenty of zone defenses.

Motion Offense Rules

I try to run a fairly simplistic motion offense. As you can see from the motion offense breakdown drills below, I try to help our players recognize the scoring opportunities available to them. We use a tremendous amount of repetition when teaching our motion offense through these breakdown shooting drills.

I stress the proper stance when catching the ball and movement away from the ball and after passing the ball, as well as great communication on the pass and screen. Our players are calling out names on the pass as well as lifting their fists and calling out names to notify players of a pending screening situation. Anytime their is a breakdown in a "set" play or our continuity offense, our players quickly get into our motion offense with no call or dribble back out. Depending on our personnel on the floor we will run our "50" motion (5 out on the perimeter with no post players), "41" motion (4 out on the perimeter and 1 post player) or our "32" motion (3 out on the perimeter and 2 post players). Here are the rules I stress each day with our players.

Our post players are instructed to post only for a "2" second count and then asked to clear the lane. I want the lane open for the majority of the time for ball penetration and basket cuts.

Motion Offense Shooting Drills (click drills below)

Back Screen Shooting Drill

Flare Screen Shooting Drill

Down Screen Shooting Drill

Zone Offense Shooting Drills (click drills below)

Flare Screen Shooting Drill

Drive and Kick Shooting Drill

Short Corner Shooting Drill

X Post Shooting Drill

Final Part of our Three Part Series

Excerpts from Phil Jackson's new book.

FEBRUARY 16

A conversation with Kobe often reveals one of his many narcissistic tendencies. After I told him I believed he and Shaquille have proven they can play effectively together, he brought up Sunday's All-Star game, captured by the Western Conference squad 136--132. Shaq led the way with twenty-four points and eleven rebounds. "I got Shaq the most valuable player award last night," Kobe said. "I know how to make Shaq the best player on the floor." No doubt he was right. Nobody, when he is committed, can deliver the ball to Shaq more consistently, in a better spot, than Kobe. Yet if I were to acknowledge this point, I would betray Shaquille and arm Kobe with ammunition he might later exploit for their one-on-one battle that although camouflaged, always simmers under the surface. Kobe then expressed his disapproval of Shaquille's failure to show up for practice today. "That just shows you what kind of a leader he is," he said. "The conversation is about you and me, not Shaq," I said. He was angry about the allowances the Lakers afford Shaq, failing to note the hypocrisy in his accusation. Nobody this year, or in any year I've coached, has received more "allowances" than Kobe Bryant. At times the pettiness between the two of them can be unbelievably juvenile. Shaquille won't allow himself to be taped before a game by Gary Vitti because he's too aligned with Kobe. Kobe won't let Chip Schaefer, Shaq's guy, tape him. Reporters aren't immune from these territorial disputes. If a writer lingers too often around one superstar's locker, he is likely to be shut out by the other.

APRIL 13 Los Angeles

With the playoffs less than a week away, we need to be coming together. Instead, we're coming apart. At the center of the latest turmoil is -- who else? --Kobe. This time, in a strange twist, he's being crucified for taking too few shots: only one, unbelievably enough, in the first half of Sunday's game in Sacramento, which we lost by seventeen points, ruining, in all likelihood, any chance to win our division. He finished with eight points, his lowest total ever in a game in which he played at least forty minutes. The theory being tossed around is that Kobe, stung by criticism for his shot selection in recent games, decided to show the Lakers how stagnant the offense can become when he doesn't assert himself. "I don't know how we can forgive him," one anonymous teammate was quoted as saying in today's Times. Today at practice, Kobe went from player to player, shoving the article with the anonymous quote in their faces. I have rarely seen him that incensed. "Did you say this?" he demanded of each player. Later, during a team gathering, he pursued the interrogation. "Right here and right now," he said, raising his voice, "I want to know who said this shit." Nobody said a word, until Karl finally broke the silence. "Obviously, Kobe, no one said it or no one wants to admit they said it," Karl said. "You've just got to let it go now." Karl and Kobe, who have become buddies, launched into a shouting match that I had to stop. "We have to get over these types of things," I told the guys. "You can't be playing as a team if you're going to be harboring sentiments that aren't good toward each other." Desperate measures, I'm beginning to think, might be in order. Maybe we'll return to meditation, something, anything, to improve our karma. "Are you feeling like you're going to come back next year?" Jeanie [Buss] asked me. "Well, not if Kobe Bryant is on this team next year," I told her. "He's too complex a person. I don't need this."

JUNE 18 Los Angeles

This was one day I will certainly never forget. In the morning I met with Kobe. In the afternoon I saw [Lakers owner] Dr. [Jerry] Buss. By the evening I no longer had a job. I was not surprised in the least, yet the end of any journey is always jarring. Once again I will need time to reflect. Kobe arrived in El Segundo with his agent, Rob Pelinka. Before the formal exit interview with Mitch, who was still meeting with [Derek Fish[er], I invited them into my office. I couldn't help but think of my meeting with Kobe back in February on the day after the All-Star game, when I was trying to salvage a relationship and a season. There was great tension, yet in a sense Jeanie right. Kobe and I did work well together -- for four months, that is. This time the same tension between us wasn't there. We both knew I would never coach him again. While waiting for Mitch, we discussed Kobe's upcoming court appearance in Eagle County. "Is the trial going to interfere with your free agency?" I asked. "I don't know," he said. "The date hasn't been set yet." "If it's set in July, will you be able to work around this?" "Yeah, I'd have meetings on the weekends." "How long will the trial last?" "Anywhere from one to three weeks." "Is there still a chance that there won't be a trial?" "Yeah, there's a chance but either way, it doesn't matter. The outcome will be the same." Just then Mitch came in. The chat was over. It was time for the official meeting. Mitch, Kobe, and I moved to the conference room. I started by casually asking Kobe who called him on his cell moments before we left the locker room for Game 5. It was Brian Shaw, he said, a former teammate and part of our organization. "He told me to get after Gary [Payton], to make sure he was fired up." The advice, it turned out, was sound, but answering the call wasn't appropriate. I then told Kobe how pleased I was with his ability to put aside our conflicts after the meeting in February, and make a strong commitment to the rest of the season. Mitch didn't waste the opportunity to praise Kobe's remarkable performances. The next subject was his decision to become a free agent, which killed a minute or two. I then got down to the questions I really wanted to ask. "Will my presence or absence have anything to do with your desire to play for the Lakers?" I asked. He looked puzzled. I rephrased the question. "Would my being with the Lakers or retiring have any influence on your desire to remain with the Lakers?" He said I should make up my mind about my future independently of his decision. "I'm going to retire," I said. He raised his eyebrows. For the first time in the entire conversation, I thought I detected a little emotion. "Really?" he asked. I nodded. The next subject was Shaquille. "Will Shaq's presence on this team color your decision to come back or not?" I asked him. "Yes, it does," he said. "There's no doubt about that," he said. "I've done that for eight years with him, but I'm tired of being a sidekick." His sentiment came as no surprise, obviously. In the last few years the entire city of Los Angeles has heard many times from many "sources" that Kobe was no longer willing to play a subservient role to Shaquille. But to hear it in the words of the only source that matters, to hear Kobe say "sidekick," really struck me. I told Kobe I hoped he would find happiness in basketball and in his life, and that his family would remain intact after everything that had transpired in the last year. The meeting was over. I understand why the Lakers treat Kobe as their most valuable asset. The kid will be twenty-six in August. His ability to take over a game, to make an impossible play, is unmatched. Yet it needs to be remembered that Kobe is still an employee, and that he needs direction and guidance in a way that helps him mature into the kind of adult we hope he can be. Kobe is missing out by not finding a way to become part of a system that involves giving to something larger than himself. He could have been the heir apparent to Michael Jordan and maybe won as many championships. He may still win a championship or two, but the boyish hero image has been replaced by that of a callous gun for hire.