EP137: Q&A with Alex Sarama (Part 1)

In this episode, Alex Sarama hosts a Q&A workshop where coaches dive deep into transition offense, spacing concepts, pistol actions, and defensive principles like tagging up. The conversation explores practical teaching points for youth basketball, how to structure practice planning, and ways to blend conceptual offense with structured actions.

Chapters:
00:50 – Transition spacing explained: “traffic light” approach (green = dominoes, yellow = triggers, red = sets)

03:00 – Teaching lag-free reactions & spacing rules on rebounds and makes

05:40 – Kick-ahead passes, two-side advantages, and early decision-making in transition

08:10 – Handling overloads and principles for positioning (corner vs. 45 cuts)

10:20 – Transitioning from offense to first trigger actions without delays

13:00 – Pistol action variations: get game, flare screens, Ricky rescreens & inverted setups

17:20 – Teaching timing on cuts, flare actions, and spacing constraints

20:30 – Communication, signals, and scripting vs. conceptual flexibility in pistol offense

23:50 – Transition defense: tagging up vs. emergency system, how to teach both

27:00 – Planning an annual coaching framework: practice planning, principles of play, and sticky-note hierarchy for team priorities

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