Moving Without the Ball

You'll spend most of every possession without the ball. The great ones weaponize that time:

V-cut — walk your defender toward the basket, plant, and cut sharply back out to get open for a catch.

Backdoor cut — when your defender overplays the passing lane, plant and burst behind them to the rim.

Curl / flare — coming off a screen: curl toward the rim if your defender trails you; flare away to open space if they shortcut under.

A screen is a legal wall: feet set wider than shoulders, body still, arms in. Moving into the defender is an offensive foul — get set early.

Using a screen well matters more than setting it: wait for it (arriving early lets the defender slide over the top), set up your cut by walking your defender away first, then cut shoulder-to-shoulder off the screener so there's no gap to slip through.

Moving without purpose is as bad as standing still. Every cut should occupy or punish a defender — and when your cut doesn't get the ball, fill out to an open spot to restore spacing. Two offensive players standing within 10 feet of each other let one defender guard both.

The quiet skill: relocating after passing. Pass and stand still, and your defender helps everywhere; pass and cut or relocate, and they have to choose. 'Pass and move' has been good advice for a hundred years.