One of the best ways, I feel, to combat defensive pressure is to line up the same way as we do when we want to fastbreak off a made basket. Most teams have a tendency to press after a made free-throw or when the ball is dead. We want to use the same alignment when we take the ball out-of-bounds, regardless of the situation. I don't want to complicate the matter by having different alignments for different presses. Against any type of pressure we want our players to find a designated area.

Whenever possible we want the same man (5) to take the ball out-of-bounds. This player is one of our bigger people because he's going to be under the basket and has an opportunity to quickly in-bound the ball. We want the (5) man to be our best big man passer and the (1) guard to be our best ball handler. We try to keep things as simple as possible for all positions. I always tell our players that a press is only effective when the offense panics and doesn't take its time. You have nothing to fear but fear itself! Don't react to the formation! We emphasize that ten seconds is enough time to get the ball up court and that eight seconds is enough time to know you can't and need a time-out.

When our man takes the ball out-of-bounds, we want him to back out (face the court) as quickly as possible. He never grabs the ball with his back to the court. This method ensures us that the player in-bounding the ball will not be surprised by the defense. Another point that we talk about from day one is that after a made basket, the (5) man is able to run the baseline. These are two very simple points, but I feel they have been instrumental in our success against full-court pressure.s

Launch Offense Vs. Full-Court Pressure