To help your team succeed on offense, they need to know how to get open and ready for the ball which can be tough with thick defensive guarding. One of the most underrated ways to get free is using a cutting in and out movement. Quick, short cuts will create proper spacing in your offense and give you more room to operate, while simultaneously create holes in the defense. Cutting is a very simple concept but must be executed properly for it to work effectively.
Cutting is a tool to use that requires planning, appropriate timing, and quickness. It’s important to read and setup the defender and know where the ball is. Not paying attention to the ball leads to turnovers and lost opportunities. When planning the timing of a cut, the finish should leave the player in an open position ready to receive the ball. The most crucial parts of a cut are changing both speed and direction as fast as possible, utilizing athleticism, and exploding into the new position, all whilst leaving the defender lost and confused. Here are two tips on how to utilize cuts to help your team get open on the offense.
1. V-Cut
The V-Cut is commonly used by wing players during a man-to-man defense when they want to shake a defender around the perimeter. It is most effective when you begin outside of the three-point line.
To begin the drill, (see diagram 1-2), start by positioning a player facing the middle of the court (1), facing the ball (orange circle). Then, have them progress forward to the basket with medium speed, while still looking at the ball. As the player approaches the edge of the cut, have them plant their inside foot, pivot, step off quickly, and explode in the opposite direction as fast as they can (2). The players hands should be up and ready to receive the ball once they arrive outside of the arc.
2. L-Cut
Contrary to the V-Cut, the L-Cut is a great way to generate open space in a location separate from a player’s start point.
To begin this drill, (see diagram 3-4), position a player near the baseline or bottom of the key (3) with a defender on them, looking at the ball (orange circle). The player should start by taking the defender up the side of the key at a moderate speed. Once they hit the free throw line, they should change their speed and pop out to the three-point line (4), ready to receive a pass. Once they have freed themselves and received a pass, they should attempt a shot and play out the drill.
Changing speed is critical. As the players drag the defender out of the lane to the basket, there is a short window of time where this lane will remain open. Changing speed will generate more opportunity to score free of defenders.
These are two drills every coach should have in their playbook and skills players should know. Take advantage of these offensive tips and help take your team to the next level!
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What are V Cuts in Basketball?
Scoring in basketball requires constant movement. That is true, especially even if you are not physically in possession of the ball. One of the most common off-the-ball movements in basketball is called a “V-cut.” What are V Cuts in basketball?
Before answering the question, let’s briefly define what is a cut in basketball. A “cut” is when a player makes a sudden move or change in direction to avoid a defender. The primary goal is to get himself open for a pass and a possible scoring opportunity.
What are V Cuts in Basketball?
In basketball, a V-cut is one of the most commonly used cutting actions. It is simple to pull off because it does not require a screener, and it works almost every time.
The V-cut action starts when an offensive player wants to shake off an overly aggressive defender. The offense could not cleanly catch the ball because of the suffocating defense. A simple solution to that problem is doing a V-cut.
In pulling off a v-cut, the offensive player walks the defender into the lane, maybe a couple of feet behind the three-point line. He has to sell the idea that he has given up catching the ball on the perimeter and is now trying to find a position closer to the basket.
As soon as he sees the defender letting his guard down, he quickly cuts or pops back to the perimeter. It is very important that the cutter does not return to his previous position, but takes on a different route. The player receiving the ball must move quickly, hands ready to catch the ball. As simple as this sounds, the V-cut always works because no player would be quick enough to stop that pass from happening.
How to Use V Cut to Score in Basketball
Timing is very critical when doing cuts. You can time a cThe V-cut is a cutting action used to get yourself open in the perimeter. But after receiving an opening, there is absolutely nothing to it if you can’t take advantage and score. Here are some ways to use the V-cut to score:
When popping off a V-cut, give your teammate a target by raising or showing your hands. As soon as you receive the pass, the defender should be a step or two behind. If he does not follow you all the way through, be ready to shoot the ball. If he closes hard, attack the baseline and find an opportunity to score.
If the defender is literally still on your grill after receiving the pass, give him a drop stop going to the baseline. From there, you will have an opportunity for a layup, a floater, or a quick pullup jumper.
In any case, the idea is to get enough separation to receive the ball from the perimeter and read the defense from there. Be ready to shoot when the defense sags off, and be prepared to drive if the defense stays on top of you.
How Do You Get Good Cuts in Basketball?
There are two essential things to keep in mind so that you can get good cuts in basketball. The first is timing and the second is the explosion.ut, especially when you catch your defender ball-watching. You can also lull the defender to sleep, so to speak, by simply standing around. Let him think that you’re not going anywhere and when he turns his head to watch where the ball is, cut hard to the basket.
Timing is also important relative to the position of the ballhandler. You can mistime everything if you cut to an area where the ballhandler could not see you. For example, Player A has his back to the basket for the first two dribbles. At this time, Player B should not be cutting to the basket. Now, if Player A faces the basket on his third dribble, then Player B could explode and cut to the basket because, at this point, Player A could see him do his thing.
The second element here is the explosion. “Explosion” simply means that you commit to your cut and go at it hard. Fake going in one direction and then explode going the opposite way. If you’re not going to commit all the way to the cut, it would be pointless. You couldn’t get anything out of it.
Other Types of Basketball Cuts
Some of the basic basketball cuts list include:
1. L-Cut
The L Cut in basketball has a similar concept to the V-cut. However, instead of starting from the outside going to the block, the L-cut is the other way around. To get open in the perimeter, the player receiving the ball starts from the block, goes to the corner of the lane, and then cuts to the wing. It is called an L-cut because the route that the player follows resembles the letter L.
As you walk from the block to the elbow, ensure that your top foot is over the defender’s top foot. Create space by slightly nudging your defender back as you call for the ball in the perimeter.
2. Dive or Basket Cut
A dive or basket cut is any cut toward the basket that results in an easy layup or score. The give and go basketball is an example of a simple dive cut action that results in a layup.
3. Backdoor Cut
A backdoor cut is a counter when a defensive player tries to overplay the pass, leaving a lane for the offensive player to the basket. It requires the right kind of timing and high skill to make the pass, but if executed correctly, it leads to an easy score at the basket. If the communication is off between the cutter and the passer, it could easily result in a turnover.
4. Flash Cut
A flash cut is done by a versatile big man as he moves from the low block to the high post. The passer, usually from the wing, then gives him the ball as he moves toward the high post. From there, the receiver may decide to do several things: go the basket, make another pass, or shoot the midrange.
5. Deep Cut
The deep cut is often used against a zone defense, especially against the 3-2 or 2-2-1. The player receiving the pass goes from one wing to the opposite corner behind the defense. Zone defenses usually follow the flight of the ball, and a deep cutter would often go undetected. This leads to an easy jumper in the corner.
3 V Cut Basketball Drills
1. The V-Cut Layup Drill
The V-Cut layup drill is a simple drill that should be taught to younger players. Again, the idea is very simple. The player starts at the wing, passes back to the coach, and then does a V-Cut. The coach then hits him with the pass as he pops to the perimeter and goes straight to the basket for a layup.
2. The V-Cut Shooting Drill
The V-Cut shooting drill is as straightforward as they come. A player from one side does a V-Cut and pops out in the perimeter just above the free-throw line. A player from another side hits him with a pass as he pops out, ready to shoot a jump shot.
3. Solo V-Cut Drill
The best thing about this V cut basketball drill is that it allows you to practice V-cuts even when you don’t have a passer around. You need a basketball, put it on a chair, and position it at the wing.
The next step is to practice your V-Cut. Walk the defender down, plant one foot between the defender’s legs, and then turn 180 degrees. As you push off that planted foot, sprint toward the ball, and go hard as if you’re attacking a closeout.
Work on different finishes during the drill. It can be a right-handed layup one time, a left-handed one the next, or a pull-up jump shot to cap it off.
Wrapping Things Up: What are V Cuts in Basketball?
Basketball offenses that are hard to stop integrate off-ball movements and endless cutting as part of their foundation. From there, they get different types of spacing and could often pick the defense apart with it.
What is a cut in basketball? Simply put, it is an off-ball movement that requires a player to change direction quickly to evade the defender and catch a pass without duress. Most cuts are often directed toward the basket, but some like the V-Cut intends to get a player open in the perimeter.
What are V cuts in basketball? A V-cut is used by an offensive player against stringy man-to-man defenses so that he can get open and catch the ball in the perimeter. What he does is walk the defender from the perimeter down to the block, plant an inside foot between the legs of the defender, seal them, and make a quick pop-out to the perimeter. It is a fundamental move but an important one nonetheless. This allows the player to get open for a shot, attack the defense for a layup, or create for others.
Where did the tradition of cutting the net after victories come from? Basketball coaches took golden scissors, and Pique brought the theme to football
Once a coach cut the net from the hoop. And then the rest cut it with golden scissors
Different sources name different years, but everyone says that it came from basketball. Here are the most popular versions:
20s of the XX century . Not very reliable information due to a small invoice. The American site Youth2, which reviews college sports, writes that it all started in a match between the teams of two colleges.
1947 . It seems that this version is more true. Everett Case was a high school coach for 23 years and took over the Wolfpack team from North Carolina College. In the first year of work (in season-1946/47) with it he won the Southern Conference tournament.
Case became so mad on the court that he kissed the players, and after the awarding of the medals, he climbed on the shoulders of one and cut the net from the hoop. Case hung it in his office. Then I bought a few more networks, sewed a large web and attached memorable photos with the team, schedules and training programs, telephone contacts to it.
@James Curle
Happy Everett Case Week, everybody. #ACCTourney https://t.co/lRNtmo7bR0
16:01 - 06 Mar 2018
From that moment on, the tradition gradually moved across the states. She first became popular in high school basketball. Then she touched the college competitions. Gradually, some teams even came up with different rules: cut only with gilded scissors, and each next player must hold the previous one on his shoulders.
But of all, only one thing has stuck - the head coach cuts off most of it. The remaining threads are cut by the players - one for each.
How the tradition came: the Basketball "Barcelona" slammed the tradition from the NBA - Piqué saw it
In the 2008/09 season, Boston became the winner of the NBA. Everything is as usual: a goblet, champagne and a cut net. Former Boston head coach Doc Rivers gave a reasonable explanation for the tradition:
“It's part of history. This is the memory of the winning season. I can not say exactly who and how stores the grid. In "Boston" it will hang in the museum. Some coaches take it for themselves, some distribute it in pieces. Someone sends it to the president or the owner of the club.”
The following season, the theme was repeated by the Spanish "Barcelona": they won the Spanish Basketball Championship and cut the net after the award.
Basketball Barça is closely followed by defender of the football team Gerard Piqué. He is often selected for matches, sometimes even goes to close trips. Pique also noticed this tradition - and after defeating Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final, he transferred it to football.
@joejoearmani101
Na wah ooo, so Manchester United fans dey thinks say if dem pair dem with Barca, Miracle go happen ?, have they suddenly forgotten why Pique cut the GOAL NET ! @Brilafm889 https://t.co/Kv2E9nTgJV
00:03 - 08 Mar 2018
Piqué said:
“I saw it at basketball. I think it's cool. I also cut the mesh. Now I'm going to hang it in my house." Piqué was wrong - now the grid hangs in the museum at the Camp Nou. Barça replenished it with one more copy in 2015 - she had no more chances.
Surely Pique is not the first to cut the net in football. But he definitely became the main promoter of the idea. After it, the grid is cut after many top tournaments.
Piqué cuts the net after beating Alaves in the 2016/17 Copa del Rey final
AFLO/Global Look Press
Cologne fans cut the net after the match against Greuten Furth. Their team has just returned to the Bundesliga
imago-images.de/Global Look Press
Real Madrid also followed the tradition after defeating Liverpool in the Champions League final in Kyiv
ZUMAPRESS/Global Look Press
Here you are cutting the network, but what can go wrong? Yes, all
Michigan won the 2017 Big Ten Tournament. Coach Billy Donlon was the first to cut the net. After he cut one thread, he began to descend and wanted to pass the scissors to an assistant - he took hold of the blade, gave it forward with the handle. Next Donlon heard: “Damn, how are you? Are you okay?"
It turned out that Donlon held the blades so hard that he cut his hand (three stitches were put on the wound). “It was adrenaline. It's exciting when you cut the net, and everyone is looking at you. And you understand like this: I'm in the spotlight, you need to be cool. I could not get".
DON'T MISS A GOAL
Ilya Egorov
Author and editor. Italy, Arsenal, Formula 1 and biographies.
Answers to eternal questions
90,000 From a hole in the basket to three-point shots. The evolution of basketball rules
February 4, 2016 13:00
From a hole in the basket to three-point shots. The evolution of basketball rules
From a hole in the basket to three-point shots. Evolution of Basketball Rules
In January 1892, the first rules of basketball were published and the first ever official match was played. Matchtv.ru tells how, when and why the rules of the popular game changed.
The first basketball rules, written by an ordinary physical education teacher James Naismith, included only 13 points. The first basketball basket was an ordinary wooden bucket for collecting fruit, from which even the bottom was not immediately thought to be cut. So after each hit, I had to climb onto the ladder and get the ball. Then they thought of making a small hole in the bottom to push the ball through it with a special stick.
Yes, and the first basketball was a little like a modern one.
It took decades for basketball to become more dynamic, spectacular and understandable to the audience.
Dribbling
You won't believe it, but 124 years ago in basketball it was forbidden to move around the ball with the ball - it could only be passed from one player to another. Just imagine that once basketball was deprived of one of the most spectacular components - dribbling.
In the 19th century, having received the ball, the players, like idols, froze in place and looked for a teammate. Only at 1901 basketball players were allowed to move with the ball, hitting it on the floor. After another 8 years, players got the opportunity to shoot after dribbling.
Three second zone under the ring
The three second rule dates back to the early 1930s. Without him, the secret to success in basketball was too simple: whoever is taller wins. To give a chance to less high, but technical players, a rule was introduced: no one can be near the ring for more than three seconds. The limited area gradually changed its shape and size, and for the fact that it was highlighted in a different color on the site, it received the slang name “paint” (paint). It became easier for short players to get under the basket, and basketball became more spectacular.
The accidental invention of the block shot
Do you think basketball has never had a goaltender? Wrong! Until 1944, ultra-tall players essentially replaced goalkeepers: they took a place under the ring and, in a jump, brushed off everything (or almost everything) that flies in its direction. It is clear that such tactics harmed the entertainment and sports spirit: instead of an exciting game, there were running and high jump competitions.
72 years ago this shop was closed - it was forbidden to touch the ball that had passed the highest point of its trajectory. So, quite by accident, one of its most striking elements appeared in basketball - a block shot. By the way, Timofey Mozgov's bread.
Attack time limit
Another fact that is hard to believe now: the first basketball game ended with a score of 2:1.
It's just that before the teams played their attacks for a long time, trying to bring them to the right one. Especially popular was the tactic of deliberately dragging out time. The players of the team that led the score did not even try to attack someone else's ring, and it was possible to take the ball away from them only by breaking the rules.
In order not to kill the interest of the audience, at 19In 1954, the NBA introduced a 24-second attack time limit. The speed of the game immediately increased, and then the effectiveness. Now not a single basketball game in the world ends with a sad football score.
Three-point arc
The best team in the world right now is the Golden State Warriors. With the 2015 NBA Finals victory over the Clevelands, the Warriors proved once again that basketball isn't just for the big ones. The light and undersized (by basketball standards) five has become the main feature of the Golden State, which is talked about even in Russia. And three-point shots helped the Californians in this. Without them, the Warriors would have had no chance against the huge Timofey Mozgov and his partners.
In the NBA, a three-point arc was drawn on the court in 1979, and in international basketball, immediately after the 1984 Olympics. Short and fast players finally have their trump card against powerful but less mobile centers. Previously, everyone tried to get closer to the ring, but now the ball scored from a long distance has risen in price by one and a half times. If before the appearance of the arc, the main stars in basketball were mainly giants (Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain), then bright snipers came to the fore: Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan.
And, of course, the greatest sniper of our time, Stephen Curry.
Text: Konstantin Kucher
Photo: Getty Images, hoophall.com
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That is true, especially even if you are not physically in possession of the ball. One of the most common off-the-ball movements in basketball is called a “V-cut.” What are V Cuts in basketball? 
He has to sell the idea that he has given up catching the ball on the perimeter and is now trying to find a position closer to the basket.
As soon as you receive the pass, the defender should be a step or two behind. If he does not follow you all the way through, be ready to shoot the ball. If he closes hard, attack the baseline and find an opportunity to score.
Let him think that you’re not going anywhere and when he turns his head to watch where the ball is, cut hard to the basket.
L-Cut
If the communication is off between the cutter and the passer, it could easily result in a turnover.
The coach then hits him with the pass as he pops to the perimeter and goes straight to the basket for a layup.
As you push off that planted foot, sprint toward the ball, and go hard as if you’re attacking a closeout. 
What he does is walk the defender from the perimeter down to the block, plant an inside foot between the legs of the defender, seal them, and make a quick pop-out to the perimeter. It is a fundamental move but an important one nonetheless. This allows the player to get open for a shot, attack the defense for a layup, or create for others.
Here are the most popular versions: 
#ACCTourney https://t.co/lRNtmo7bR0 
I can not say exactly who and how stores the grid. In "Boston" it will hang in the museum. Some coaches take it for themselves, some distribute it in pieces. Someone sends it to the president or the owner of the club.” 
I think it's cool. I also cut the mesh. Now I'm going to hang it in my house." Piqué was wrong - now the grid hangs in the museum at the Camp Nou. Barça replenished it with one more copy in 2015 - she had no more chances. 
Coach Billy Donlon was the first to cut the net. After he cut one thread, he began to descend and wanted to pass the scissors to an assistant - he took hold of the blade, gave it forward with the handle. Next Donlon heard: “Damn, how are you? Are you okay?" 
The evolution of basketball rules 
Just imagine that once basketball was deprived of one of the most spectacular components - dribbling. 
It became easier for short players to get under the basket, and basketball became more spectacular. 
And three-point shots helped the Californians in this. Without them, the Warriors would have had no chance against the huge Timofey Mozgov and his partners. 
