Strategic planning has been criticized for attempting to systematize strategic thinking and strategy formation, which Henry Mintzberg argues are inherently creative activities involving synthesis or "connecting the dots" which cannot be systematized. Mintzberg argues that strategic planning can help coordinate planning efforts and measure progress on strategic goals, but that it occurs "around" the strategy formation process rather than within it. Further, strategic planning functions remote from the "front lines" or contact with the competitive environment (i.e., in business, facing the customer where the effect of competition is most clearly evident) may not be effective at supporting strategy efforts.


The Campaign Between the Wars (Hebrew: המערכה בין המלחמות or מב"ם lit. the military campaign between wars) refers to the targeted covert inter-war campaign waged by the State of Israel. This is done through the IDF and the Israeli Intelligence Community, by preventing Israel's enemies, whomsoever they may be, from developing capabilities that will enable them to violate Israel's balance of deterrence through detecting and selectively destroying emerging threats to Israel's security.


Among the activities attributed to Israel: the 2007 strike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria (Operation Outside the Box), the assassination of Syrian General Muhammad Suleiman (although not publicly attributed to Israel, only that Israel was consulted on the assassination), Imad Mughniyah, the military commander of Hezbollah and his son, and Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The Israeli attack in Sudan (2009) during Operation Cast Lead, the May 2013 attacks on Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah in Damascus, the January 2013 attack on the Syrian arms convoy in the Rif region of Damascus, the February 2014 attack on the Syrian arms convoy to Hezbollah in Baalbek, activities against the Iranian nuclear program, and the delivery of about 800 bombs against 200 targets across Syria in 2017–2018.


An organizing principle is a core assumption from which everything else by proximity can derive a classification or a value. It is like a central reference point that allows all other objects to be located, often used in a conceptual framework. Having an organizing principle might help one simplify and get a handle on a particularly complicated domain or phenomenon. On the other hand, it might create a deceptive prism that colors one's judgment.


Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategies, geostrategy is concerned with matching means to ends—in this case, a country's resources (whether they are limited or extensive) with its geopolitical objectives (which can be local, regional, or global). Strategy is as intertwined with geography as geography is with nationhood, or as Colin S. Gray and Geoffrey Sloan state it, "[geography is] the mother of strategy."


Geostrategists, as distinct from geopoliticians, approach geopolitics from a nationalist point of view. Geostrategies are relevant principally to the context in which they were devised: the strategist's nation, the historically rooted national impulses, the strength of the country's resources, the scope of the country's goals, the political geography of the time period, and the technological factors that affect military, political, economic, and cultural engagement. Geostrategy can function prescriptively, advocating foreign policy based on geographic and historical factors, analytically, describing how foreign policy is shaped by geography and history, or predictively, projecting a country's future foreign policy decisions and outcomes.


Many geostrategists are also geographers, specializing in subfields of geography, such as human geography, political geography, economic geography, cultural geography, military geography, and strategic geography. Geostrategy is most closely related to strategic geography.


Especially following World War II, some scholars divide geostrategy into two schools: the uniquely German organic state theory; and, the broader Anglo-American geostrategies.


Most definitions of geostategy below emphasize the merger of strategic considerations with geopolitical factors. While geopolitics is ostensibly neutral — examining the geographic and political features of different regions, especially the impact of geography on politics — geostrategy involves comprehensive planning, assigning means for achieving national goals or securing assets of military or political significance.


The term "geo-strategy" was first used by Frederick L. Schuman in his 1942 article "Let Us Learn Our Geopolitics." It was a translation of the German term "Wehrgeopolitik" as used by German geostrategist Karl Haushofer. Previous translations had been attempted, such as "defense-geopolitics". Robert Strausz-Hupé had coined and popularized "war geopolitics" as another alternate translation.


As a science or science based political practice geostrategy uses factual and empirical analysis, thus theoretical formulations in geostrategy usually heavily rely on empirical base although facts-values relations or conclusions are differently observed by different and/or competitive geostrategic approaches. Geostrategic conceptions that stems from the theory become base for the countries foreign and international policies. Geostrategic conceptions are also historically acquired or even inherited from one country to another due to common history, relations between the countries, culture and even propaganda.


The geostrategy of location include river valleys, inland sea, world ocean, world island, and so on. For instance, the start of Western civilization was located in the river valleys of the Nile in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia. The Nile and Tigris and Euphrates not only provided the fertile soil for crop production, but also allowed for the floods that taxed the ingenuity of the inhabitants. The climate of the area was conducive to an existence based primarily upon agriculture. The rivers also provided the avenues of trade in a period when muscles of man and the winds of the sky were the motive power of ships. The river valleys became a unifying factor in the political development of the people.


As early as Herodotus, observers saw strategy as heavily influenced by the geographic setting of the actors. In "History", Herodotus describes a clash of civilizations between the Egyptians, Persians, Scythians, and Greeks—all of which he believed were heavily influenced by the physical geographic setting.


Dietrich Heinrich von Bülow proposed a geometrical science of strategy in the 1799 "The Spirit of the Modern System of War." His system predicted that the larger states would swallow the smaller ones, resulting in eleven large states. Mackubin Thomas Owens notes the similarity between von Bülow's predictions and the map of Europe after the unification of Germany and of Italy.


Between 1890 and 1919 the world became a geostrategist's paradise, leading to the formulation of the classical geopolitical theories. The international system featured rising and falling great powers, many with global reach. There were no new frontiers for the great powers to explore or colonize—the entire world was divided between the empires and colonial powers. From this point forward, international politics would feature the struggles of state against state.


Two strains of geopolitical thought gained prominence: an Anglo-American school, and a German school. Alfred Thayer Mahan and Halford J. Mackinder outlined the American and British conceptions of geostrategy, respectively, in their works "The Problem of Asia" and "The Geographical Pivot of History". Friedrich Ratzel and Rudolf Kjellén developed an organic theory of the state which laid the foundation for Germany's unique school of geostrategy.


The most prominent German geopolitician was General Karl Haushofer. After World War II, during the Allied occupation of Germany, the United States investigated many officials and public figures to determine if they should face charges of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials. Haushofer, an academic primarily, was interrogated by Father Edmund A. Walsh, a professor of geopolitics from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, at the request of the U.S. authorities. Despite his involvement in crafting one of the justifications for Nazi aggression, Fr. Walsh determined that Haushofer ought not stand trial.


After the Second World War, the term "geopolitics" fell into disrepute, because of its association with Nazi "geopolitik". Virtually no books published between the end of World War II and the mid-1970s used the word "geopolitics" or "geostrategy" in their titles, and geopoliticians did not label themselves or their works as such. German theories prompted a number of critical examinations of "geopolitik" by American geopoliticians such as Robert Strausz-Hupé, Derwent Whittlesey and Andrew Gyorgy.


As the Cold War began, N.J. Spykman and George F. Kennan laid down the foundations for the U.S. policy of containment, which would dominate Western geostrategic thought for the next forty years.


Alexander de Seversky would propose that airpower had fundamentally changed geostrategic considerations and thus proposed a "geopolitics of airpower." His ideas had some influence on the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, but the ideas of Spykman and Kennan would exercise greater weight. Later during the Cold War, Colin Gray would decisively reject the idea that airpower changed geostrategic considerations, while Saul B. Cohen examined the idea of a "shatterbelt", which would eventually inform the domino theory.


After Cold War ended, states started preferring management of space at low cost to expansion of it with military force. Use of military force in order to secure space causes not only great burden on countries, but also severe criticism from the international society as interdependence between countries continuously increases. As a way of new space management, countries either created regional institutions related to the space or make regimes on specific issues to allow intervention on space. Such mechanisms let countries to have indirect control over space. The indirect space management reduces required capital and at the same time provides justification and legitimacy of the management, that the countries involved do not have to face criticism from the international society.


Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, for most NATO or former Warsaw Pact countries, geopolitical strategies have generally followed the course of either solidifying security obligations or accesses to global resources; however, the strategies of other countries have not been as palpable.


The below geostrategists were instrumental in founding and developing the major geostrategic doctrines in the discipline's history. While there have been many other geostrategists, these have been the most influential in shaping and developing the field as a whole.


Alfred Thayer Mahan was an American Navy officer and president of the U.S. Naval War College. He is best known for his "Influence of Sea Power upon History" series of books, which argued that naval supremacy was the deciding factor in great power warfare. In 1900, Mahan's book "The Problem of Asia" was published. In this volume he laid out the first geostrategy of the modern era.


The "Problem of Asia" divides the continent of Asia into 3 zones:


The Debated and Debatable zone, Mahan observed, contained two peninsulas on either end (Anatolia and the Korean Peninsula), the Suez Canal, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, two countries marked by their mountain ranges (Iran and Afghanistan), the Pamir Mountains, the Himalayas, the Yangtze, and Japan. Within this zone, Mahan asserted that there were no strong states capable of withstanding outside influence or capable even of maintaining stability within their own borders. So whereas the political situations to the north and south were relatively stable and determined, the middle remained "debatable and debated ground."


North of the 40th parallel, the vast expanse of Asia was dominated by the Russian Empire. Russia possessed a central position on the continent, and a wedge-shaped projection into Central Asia, bounded by the Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea on one side and the mountains of Afghanistan and Western China on the other side. To prevent Russian expansionism and achievement of predominance on the Asian continent, Mahan believed pressure on Asia's flanks could be the only viable strategy pursued by sea powers.


South of the 30th parallel lay areas dominated by the sea powers – the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Japan. To Mahan, the possession of India by the United Kingdom was of key strategic importance, as India was best suited for exerting balancing pressure against Russia in Central Asia. The United Kingdom's predominance in Egypt, China, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and South Africa was also considered important.


The strategy of sea powers, according to Mahan, ought to be to deny Russia the benefits of commerce that come from sea commerce. He noted that both the Turkish Straits and Danish Straits could be closed by a hostile power, thereby denying Russia access to the sea. Further, this disadvantageous position would reinforce Russia's proclivity toward expansionism in order to obtain wealth or warm water ports. Natural geographic targets for Russian expansionism in search of access to the sea would therefore be the Chinese seaboard, the Persian Gulf, and Asia Minor.


In this contest between land power and sea power, Russia would find itself allied with France (a natural sea power, but in this case necessarily acting as a land power), arrayed against Germany, Britain, Japan, and the United States as sea powers. Further, Mahan conceived of a unified, modern state composed of Turkey, Syria, and Mesopotamia, possessing an efficiently organized army and navy to stand as a counterweight to Russian expansion.


Further dividing the map by geographic features, Mahan stated that the two most influential lines of division would be the Suez Canal and Panama Canal. As most developed nations and resources lay above the North–South divide, politics and commerce north of the two canals would be of much greater importance than those occurring south of the canals. As such, the great progress of historical development would not flow from north to south, but from east to west, in this case leading toward Asia as the locus of advance.


Halford J. Mackinder's major work, Democratic ideals and reality: a study in the politics of reconstruction, appeared in 1919.[12] It presented his theory of the Heartland and made a case for fully taking into account geopolitical factors at the Paris Peace conference and contrasted (geographical) reality with Woodrow Wilson's idealism. The book's most famous quote was: "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World."


This message was composed to convince the world statesmen at the Paris Peace conference of the crucial importance of Eastern Europe as the strategic route to the Heartland was interpreted as requiring a strip of buffer state to separate Germany and Russia. These were created by the peace negotiators but proved to be ineffective bulwarks in 1939 (although this may be seen as a failure of other, later statesmen during the interbellum). The principal concern of his work was to warn of the possibility of another major war (a warning also given by economist John Maynard Keynes).


Mackinder was anti-Bolshevik, and as British High Commissioner in Southern Russia in late 1919 and early 1920, he stressed the need for Britain to continue her support to the White Russian forces, which he attempted to unite.


Mackinder's work paved the way for the establishment of geography as a distinct discipline in the United Kingdom. His role in fostering the teaching of geography is probably greater than that of any other single British geographer.


Whilst Oxford did not appoint a professor of Geography until 1934, both the University of Liverpool and University of Wales, Aberystwyth established professorial chairs in Geography in 1917. Mackinder himself became a full professor in Geography in the University of London (London School of Economics) in 1923.


Mackinder is often credited with introducing two new terms into the English language: "manpower" and "heartland".


The Heartland Theory was enthusiastically taken up by the German school of Geopolitik, in particular by its main proponent Karl Haushofer. Geopolitik was later embraced by the German Nazi regime in the 1930s. The German interpretation of the Heartland Theory is referred to explicitly (without mentioning the connection to Mackinder) in "The Nazis Strike", the second of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series of American World War II propaganda films.


The Heartland Theory and more generally classical geopolitics and geostrategy were extremely influential in the making of US strategic policy during the period of the Cold War.


Evidence of Mackinder's Heartland Theory can be found in the works of geopolitician Dimitri Kitsikis, particularly in his geopolitical model "Intermediate Region".


Influenced by the works of Alfred Thayer Mahan, as well as the German geographers Carl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt, Friedrich Ratzel would lay the foundations for "geopolitik", Germany's unique strain of geopolitics.


Ratzel wrote on the natural division between land powers and sea powers, agreeing with Mahan that sea power was self-sustaining, as the profit from trade would support the development of a merchant marine. However, his key contribution were the development of the concepts of "raum" and the organic theory of the state. He theorized that states were organic and growing, and that borders were only temporary, representing pauses in their natural movement. "Raum" was the land, spiritually connected to a nation (in this case, the German peoples), from which the people could draw sustenance, find adjacent inferior nations which would support them, and which would be fertilized by their "kultur" (culture).


Ratzel's ideas would influence the works of his student Rudolf Kjellén, as well as those of General Karl Haushofer.


Rudolf Kjellén was a Swedish political scientist and student of Friedrich Ratzel. He first coined the term "geopolitics." His writings would play a decisive role in influencing General Karl Haushofer's "geopolitik", and indirectly the future Nazi foreign policy.


His writings focused on five central concepts that would underlie German "geopolitik":


Karl Haushofer's geopolitik expanded upon that of Ratzel and Kjellén. While the latter two conceived of geopolitik as the state-as-an-organism-in-space put to the service of a leader, Haushofer's Munich school specifically studied geography as it related to war and designs for empire. The behavioral rules of previous geopoliticians were thus turned into dynamic normative doctrines for action on lebensraum and world power.


Haushofer defined geopolitik in 1935 as "the duty to safeguard the right to the soil, to the land in the widest sense, not only the land within the frontiers of the Reich, but the right to the more extensive Volk and cultural lands." Culture itself was seen as the most conducive element to dynamic expansion. Culture provided a guide as to the best areas for expansion, and could make expansion safe, whereas solely military or commercial power could not.


To Haushofer, the existence of a state depended on living space, the pursuit of which must serve as the basis for all policies. Germany had a high population density, whereas the old colonial powers had a much lower density: a virtual mandate for German expansion into resource-rich areas. A buffer zone of territories or insignificant states on one's borders would serve to protect Germany.


Closely linked to this need was Haushofer's assertion that the existence of small states was evidence of political regression and disorder in the international system. The small states surrounding Germany ought to be brought into the vital German order. These states were seen as being too small to maintain practical autonomy (even if they maintained large colonial possessions) and would be better served by protection and organization within Germany. In Europe, he saw Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Greece and the "mutilated alliance" of Austro-Hungary as supporting his assertion.


Haushofer and the Munich school of geopolitik would eventually expand their conception of lebensraum and autarky well past a restoration of the German borders of 1914 and "a place in the sun." They set as goals a New European Order, then a New Afro-European Order, and eventually to a Eurasian Order. This concept became known as a pan-region, taken from the American Monroe Doctrine, and the idea of national and continental self-sufficiency. This was a forward-looking refashioning of the drive for colonies, something that geopoliticians did not see as an economic necessity, but more as a matter of prestige, and of putting pressure on older colonial powers. The fundamental motivating force was not be economic, but cultural and spiritual.


Beyond being an economic concept, pan-regions were a strategic concept as well. Haushofer acknowledged the strategic concept of the Heartland put forward by the Halford Mackinder. If Germany could control Eastern Europe and subsequently Russian territory, it could control a strategic area to which hostile sea power could be denied. Allying with Italy and Japan would further augment German strategic control of Eurasia, with those states becoming the naval arms protecting Germany's insular position.


Nicholas J. Spykman was a Dutch-American geostrategist, known as the "godfather of containment." His geostrategic work, "The Geography of the Peace" (1944), argued that the balance of power in Eurasia directly affected United States security.


George F. Kennan, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, laid out the seminal Cold War geostrategy in his "Long Telegram" and "The Sources of Soviet Conduct". He coined the term "containment", which would become the guiding idea for U.S. grand strategy over the next forty years, although the term would come to mean something significantly different from Kennan's original formulation.


Kennan advocated what was called "strongpoint containment." In his view, the United States and its allies needed to protect the productive industrial areas of the world from Soviet domination. He noted that of the five centers of industrial strength in the world—the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, and Russia—the only contested area was that of Germany. Kennan was concerned about maintaining the balance of power between the U.S. and the USSR, and in his view, only these few industrialized areas mattered.


Here Kennan differed from Paul Nitze, whose seminal Cold War document, NSC 68, called for "undifferentiated or global containment," along with a massive military buildup. Kennan saw the Soviet Union as an ideological and political challenger rather than a true military threat. There was no reason to fight the Soviets throughout Eurasia, because those regions were not productive, and the Soviet Union was already exhausted from World War II, limiting its ability to project power abroad. Therefore, Kennan disapproved of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and later spoke out critically against Reagan's military buildup.


Henry Kissinger implemented two geostrategic objectives when in office: the deliberate move to shift the polarity of the international system from bipolar to tripolar; and, the designation of regional stabilizing states in connection with the Nixon Doctrine. In Chapter 28 of his long work, "Diplomacy", Kissinger discusses the "opening of China" as a deliberate strategy to change the balance of power in the international system, taking advantage of the split within the Sino-Soviet bloc. The regional stabilizers were pro-American states which would receive significant U.S. aid in exchange for assuming responsibility for regional stability. Among the regional stabilizers designated by Kissinger were Zaire, Iran, and Indonesia.


Zbigniew Brzezinski laid out his most significant contribution to post-Cold War geostrategy in his 1997 book "The Grand Chessboard". He defined four regions of Eurasia, and in which ways the United States ought to design its policy toward each region in order to maintain its global primacy. The four regions (echoing Mackinder and Spykman) are:


In his subsequent book, "The Choice", Brzezinski updates his geostrategy in light of globalization, 9/11 and the intervening six years between the two books.


In his journal called "America's New Geostrategy", he discusses the need of shift in America's geostrategy to avoid its massive collapse like many scholars predict. He points out that:


A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.


The most basic way to evaluate one's position is to count the total value of pieces on both sides. The point values used for this purpose are based on experience. Usually pawns are considered to be worth one point, knights and bishops three points each, rooks five points, and queens nine points. The fighting value of the king in the endgame is approximately four points. These basic values are modified by other factors such as the "position of the pieces" (e.g. advanced pawns are usually more valuable than those on their starting squares), "coordination between pieces" (e.g. a usually coordinates better than a bishop plus a knight), and the "type of position" (knights are generally better in with many pawns, while bishops are more powerful in ).


Another important factor in the evaluation of chess positions is the pawn structure or pawn skeleton. Since pawns are the most immobile and least valuable of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and largely determines the strategic nature of the position. Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such as isolated, doubled, or backward pawns and , once created, are usually permanent. Care must therefore be taken to avoid them unless they are compensated by another valuable asset, such as the possibility to develop an attack.


A advantage applies both strategically and tactically. Generally more pieces or an aggregate of more powerful pieces means greater chances of winning. A fundamental strategic and tactical rule is to capture opponent pieces while preserving one's own.


Bishops and knights are called "minor pieces". A knight is about as valuable as a bishop, but less valuable than a rook. Rooks and the queen are called "major pieces". Bishops are usually considered slightly better than knights in open positions, such as toward the end of the game when many of the pieces have been captured, whereas knights have an advantage in closed positions. Having two bishops (the ) is a particularly powerful weapon, especially if the opposing player lacks one or both of their bishops.


Three pawns are likely to be more useful than a knight in the endgame, but in the middlegame, a knight is often more powerful. Two minor pieces are stronger than a single rook, and two rooks are slightly stronger than a queen. The bishop on squares of the same color as the player is slightly more valuable in the opening as it can attack the vulnerable f7/f2-square. A rook is more valuable when with another rook or queen; consequently, doubled rooks are worth more than two .


One commonly used simple scoring system is:


Other things being equal, the side that controls more on the board has an advantage. More space means more options, which can be exploited both tactically and strategically. A player who has all pieces developed and no tactical tricks or promising long-term plan should try to find a move that enlarges their influence, particularly in the center. However, in some openings, one player accepts less space for a time, to set up a counterattack in the middlegame. This is one of the concepts behind hypermodern play.


The easiest way to gain space is to push the pawn skeleton forward. However, one must be careful not to over stretch. If the opponent succeeds in getting a protected piece behind enemy lines, this piece can become such a serious problem that a piece with a higher value might have to be exchanged for it.


Larry Evans gives a method of evaluating space. The method (for each side) is to count the number of squares attacked or occupied on the opponent's side of the board. In this diagram from the Nimzo-Indian Defense, Black attacks four squares on White's side of the board (d4, e4, f4, and g4). White attacks seven squares on Black's side of the board (b5, c6, e6, f5, g5, and h6 – counting b5 twice) and occupies one square (d5). White has a space advantage of eight to four and Black is cramped.


The strategy consists of placing pieces so that they attack the central four squares of the board. However, a piece being placed on a central square does not necessarily mean it controls the center, e.g., a knight on a central square does not attack any central squares. Conversely, a piece does not have to be on a central square to control the center. For example, the bishop can control the center from afar.


Control of the center is generally considered important because tactical battles often take place around the central squares, from where pieces can access most of the board. Center control allows more movement and more possibility for attack and defense.


Chess openings try to control the center while developing pieces. Hypermodern openings are those that control the center with pieces from afar (usually the side, such as with a fianchetto); the older Classical (or Modern) openings control it with pawns.


The initiative belongs to the player who can make threats that cannot be ignored, such as checking the opponent's king. They thus put their opponent in the position of having to use their turns responding to threats rather than making their own, hindering the development of their pieces. The player with the initiative is generally attacking and the other player is generally defending.


It is important to defend one's pieces even if they are not directly threatened. This helps stop possible future campaigns from the opponent. If a defender must be added at a later time, this may cost a tempo or even be impossible due to a fork or discovered attack. The approach of always defending one's pieces has an antecedent in the theory of Aron Nimzowitsch who referred to it as "overprotection." Similarly, if one spots undefended enemy pieces, one should immediately take advantage of those pieces' weakness.


Even a defended piece can be vulnerable. If the defending piece is also defending something else, it is called an overworked piece, and may not be able to fulfill its task. When there is more than one attacking piece, the number of defenders must also be increased, and their values taken into account. In addition to defending pieces, it is also often necessary to defend key squares, open files, and the . These situations can easily occur if the pawn structure is weak.


To exchange pieces means to capture a hostile piece and then allow a piece of the same value to be captured. As a rule of thumb, exchanging pieces eases the task of the defender who typically has less room to operate in.


Exchanging pieces is usually desirable to a player with an existing advantage in material, since it brings the endgame closer and thereby leaves the opponent with less ability to recover ground. In the endgame even a single pawn advantage may be decisive. Exchanging also benefits the player who is being attacked, the player who controls less space, and the player with the better pawn structure.


When playing against stronger players, many beginners attempt to constantly exchange pieces "to simplify matters". However, stronger players are often relatively stronger in the endgame, whereas errors are more common during the more complicated middlegame.


Note that "the exchange" may also specifically mean a rook exchanged for a bishop or knight. The phrase, "going up the exchange," means capturing a rook in exchange for a bishop or knight as that is a materially better trade. Conversely, "going down an exchange," means losing a rook but capturing a bishop or knight, a materially worse trade.


In the endgame, passed pawns, unhindered by enemy pawns from promotion, are strong, especially if advanced or protected by another pawn. A passed pawn on the sixth is roughly as strong as a knight or bishop and often decides the game. (Also see isolated pawn, doubled pawns, backward pawn, connected pawns.)


Since knights can easily be chased away by pawn moves, it is often advantageous for knights to be placed in "" in the enemy position as outposts—squares where they cannot be attacked by pawns. Such a knight on the fifth rank is a strong asset. The ideal position for a knight is the opponent's third rank, when it is supported by one or two pawns. A knight at the edge or corner of the board controls fewer squares than one on the board's interior, thus the saying: "A Knight on the rim is dim!"


A king and one knight is not sufficient material to checkmate an opposing lone king (see Two knights endgame). A king and two knights can checkmate a lone king but


A bishop always stays on squares of the color it started on, so once one of them is gone, the squares of that color become more difficult to control. When this happens, pawns moved to squares of the other color do not block the bishop, and enemy pawns directly facing them are stuck on the vulnerable color.


A "fianchettoed" bishop, e.g. at g2 after pawn g2–g3, can provide a strong defense for the castled king on g1 and often exert pressure on the long diagonal h1–a8. After a fianchetto, giving up the bishop can weaken the holes in the pawn chain; doing so in front of the castled king may thus affect its safety.


In general, a bishop is of roughly equal value to a knight. In certain circumstances, one can be more powerful than the other. If the game is "closed" with many interlocked pawn formations, the knight tends to be stronger, because it can hop over the pawns while they block the bishop. A bishop is also weak if it is restricted by its own pawns, especially if they are blocked and on the bishop's color. Once a bishop is lost, the remaining bishop is considered weaker since the opponent can now plan their moves to play a white or black color game.


In an with action on both sides of the board, the bishop tends to be stronger because of its long range. This is especially true in the endgame; if passed pawns race on opposite sides of the board, the player with a bishop usually has better winning chances than a player with a knight.


A king and a bishop is not sufficient material to checkmate an opposing lone king, but two bishops and a king checkmate an opposing lone king easily.


Rooks have more scope of movement on half-open files (ones with no pawns of one's own color). Rooks on the seventh rank can be very powerful as they attack pawns that can only be defended by other pieces, and they can restrict the enemy king to its back rank. A pair of rooks on the player's seventh rank is often a sign of a winning position.


In middlegames and endgames with a passed pawn, Tarrasch's rule states that rooks, both friend and foe of the pawn, are usually strongest "behind" the pawn rather than in front of it.


A king and a rook is sufficient material to checkmate an opposing lone king, although it's a little harder than checkmating with king and queen; thus the rook's distinction as a major piece above the knight and bishop.


Queens are the most powerful pieces. They have great mobility and can make many threats at once. They can act as a rook and as a bishop at the same time. For these reasons, checkmate attacks involving a queen are easier to achieve than those without one. Although powerful, the queen is also easily harassed. Thus, it is generally wise to wait to the queen until after the knights and bishops have been developed to prevent the queen from being attacked by minor pieces and losing tempo. When a pawn is promoted, most of the time it is promoted to a queen.


During the middle game, the king is often best protected in a corner behind its pawns. Such a position for either of the players is often achieved by castling by that player. If the rooks and queen leave the first rank (commonly called that player's "back rank"), however, an enemy rook or queen can checkmate the king by invading the first rank, commonly called a back-rank checkmate. Moving one of the pawns in front of the king (making a luft) can allow it an escape square, but may weaken the king's overall safety otherwise. One must therefore wisely balance between these trade-offs.


Castling is often thought to help protect the king and often "connects" the player's two rooks together so the two rooks may protect each other. This can reduce a threat of a back-rank skewer in which the king can be skewered with capture of a rook behind it.


The king can become a strong piece in the endgame. With reduced material, a quick checkmate becomes less of a concern, and moving the king towards the center of the board gives it more opportunities to make threats and actively influence play.


Considerations for a successful long term deployment.


Chess strategy consists of setting and achieving long-term goals during the game—for example, where to place different pieces—while tactics concentrate on immediate maneuver. These two parts of chess thinking cannot be completely separated, because strategic goals are mostly achieved by the means of tactics, while the tactical opportunities are based on the previous strategy of play.


Because of different strategic and tactical patterns, a game of chess is usually divided into three distinct phases: Opening, usually the first 10 to 25 moves, when players develop their armies and set up the stage for the coming battle; middlegame, the developed phase of the game; and endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle.


A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a game (the "opening moves"). Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as "openings" and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez or Sicilian Defence. They are catalogued in reference works such as the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings". It is recommended for anyone but the chessmasters that when left with a choice to either invent a new variation or follow a standard opening, choose the latter.


There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening) to very aggressive (e.g. the Latvian Gambit). In some opening lines, the exact sequence considered best for both sides has been worked out to 30–35 moves or more. Professional players spend years studying openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, as opening theory continues to evolve.


The fundamental strategic aims of most openings are similar:


During the opening, some pieces have a recognized optimum square they try to reach. Hence, an optimum deployment could be to push the king and queen pawn two steps followed by moving the knights so they protect the center pawns and give additional control of the center. One can then deploy the bishops, protected by the knights, to pin the opponent's knights and pawns. The optimum opening is ended with a castling, moving the king to safety and deploying for a strong back rank and a rook along the .


Apart from these fundamentals, other strategic plans or tactical sequences may be employed in the opening.


Most players and theoreticians consider that White, by virtue of the first move, begins the game with a small advantage. Black usually strives to neutralize White's advantage and achieve , or to develop in an unbalanced position.


The middlegame is the part of the game when most pieces have been developed. Because the opening theory has ended, players have to assess the position, to form plans based on the features of the positions, and at the same time to take into account the tactical possibilities in the position.


Typical plans or strategic themes—for example the , that is the attack of pawns against an opponent who has more pawns on the queenside—are often appropriate just for some pawn structures, resulting from a specific group of openings. The study of openings should therefore be connected with the preparation of plans typical for resulting middlegames.


Middlegame is also the phase when most combinations occur. Middlegame combinations are often connected with the attack against the opponent's king; some typical patterns have their own names, for example the Boden's Mate or the Lasker—Bauer combination.


Another important strategical question in the middlegame is whether and how to reduce material and transform into an endgame (i.e. ). For example, minor material advantages can generally be transformed into victory only in an endgame, and therefore the stronger side must choose an appropriate way to achieve an ending. Not every reduction of material is good for this purpose; for example, if one side keeps a light-squared bishop and the opponent has a dark-squared one, the transformation into a "bishops and pawns" ending is usually advantageous for the weaker side only, because an endgame with bishops on opposite colors is likely to be a draw, even with an advantage of one or two pawns.


The endgame (or "end game" or "ending") is the stage of the game when there are few pieces left on the board. There are three main strategic differences between earlier stages of the game and endgame:


Endgames can be classified according to the type of pieces that remain on board. Basic checkmates are positions where one side has only a king and the other side has one or two pieces and can checkmate the opposing king, with the pieces working together with their king. For example, king and pawn endgames involve only kings and pawns on one or both sides and the task of the stronger side is to promote one of the pawns. Other more complicated endings are classified according to the pieces on board other than kings, e.g. "rook and pawn versus rook endgame".


A strategist is a person with responsibility for the formulation and implementation of a strategy. Strategy generally involves setting goals, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. A strategy describes how the ends (goals) will be achieved by the means (resources). The senior leadership of an organization is generally tasked with determining strategy. Strategy can be intended or can emerge as a pattern of activity as the organization adapts to its environment or competes. It involves activities such as strategic planning and strategic thinking.


The strategy role exists in a variety of organizations and fields of study.


In large corporations, strategic planners or corporate financial planning and analysis (FP&A) personnel are involved in the formulation and implementation of the organization's strategy. The strategy is typically set by business leaders such as the chief executive officer and key business or functional leaders and is reviewed by the board of directors.


An AI strategist uses evidence and reason to make circumstance-dependent decisions that shape the development of AI towards a set of desired outcomes. The scope of AI development can range from within small organizations to global landscape.


A design strategist has the ability to combine the innovative, perceptive and holistic insights of a designer with the pragmatic and systemic skills of a planner to guide strategic direction in context of business needs, brand intent, design quality and customer values.


An economic strategist is a person who can create a sustainable commercial advantage by applying innovative and quantitative ideas and systems at a sell side financial institution.


A political strategist is a multi-discipline strategist who works within political campaigns. Also known as political consulting, the political strategist will advise a campaign on a range of activities such as media, resourcing, opposition research, opinion polling and engagement strategy.


A sport strategist is a professional that performs scouting and analysis of the players involved in an upcoming competitive match. Sports strategists typically analyze film footage, organize video libraries, and recommend attacks and defensive strategies in order to capitalize on an opponents' weaknesses.


Working closely with investment managers, a principal investment strategist contributes revenue by providing principal investment analytics and alternative product structuring.


A sales strategist develops innovative trade ideas and assists in the marketing of those trades to buy side clients.


A banking strategist partners with investment bankers and capital market experts on corporate finance and capital structure analyses to identify and execute banking transactions.


A trading strategist contributes revenue to the business in which his team is embedded by developing and delivering innovative trade ideas, models and analytic systems to the trading desk.


Within the financial services industry, strategists are known as “strats”.


A military strategist develops strategies in the field of warfare with the objective of outmaneuvering their opponent.


An IT Strategist develops an IT strategy that is aligned with the business strategy to implement systems to give business processes efficiency and productivity gains and therefore a possible competitive advantage.


People who possess a strategist mindset are generally capable of doing well in any possible field due to the various traits that they own. Strategists tend to follow a career path that challenges them mentally in terms of development, and seek to work with people who are in the same caliber in terms of intelligence and competency. As it is highly likely that people with a strategist mindset tend to be more single-minded and may not be appreciative of others' effort, it is crucial for them to work in a suitable working environment.


Common careers that strategists tend to choose are:


Strategists can have a variety of backgrounds such journalism, speech writing, data analyzing, or telemarketing. People with a background of public relations or advertising can be hired as strategists because of their experience in market research and message delivery.


Carl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831) was a Prussian military theorist and strategist who was known for his originality in terms of ideas, influenced mainly by the Napoleonic war. Clausewitz most famous work was called “On War,” however it was not finished and was published posthumously.


Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was the prime minister of the United Kingdom and was in office from 1940 to 1945 and 1951 to 1955. Churchill was known for his leadership role during World War II. However, there were many controversial incidents, which resulted in Churchill's reputation as a strategist to waver between being known as a savior and a scapegoat. The battle of Gallipoli, which started on April 25, 1915 was one of the major setbacks in Churchill's military career, having pressed on the battle of Gallipoli resulted in the casualty of over 200,000 allied soldiers


Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) was a military general who later established the French empire in 1804 becoming emperor as well. Napoleon was known to be the pioneer during the French revolution. Bonaparte was in charge of leading the French army to victory during the Battle of Marengo fought on the 14th of June 1800. His strategic thinking and plans allowed the French to win despite having less in numbers and resources.


Other notable, political strategists include Roger Ailes, Bill Moyers, Bob Shrum, Ben Rhodes, Kellyanne Conway, David Plouffe, and James A. Baker III, who were more recent strategists who worked on presidential elections including those of President Donald J. Trump, Barack Obama, George H. W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton.


A strategic reserve is the reserve of a commodity or items that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events.


Another definition issued by the US Department of Defense in 2005 describes a strategic reserve as follows: "An external reinforcing force which is not committed in advance to a specific Major Subordinate Command, but which can be deployed to any region for a mission decided at the time by the Major NATO Commander."


There are several national and international projects aiming to preserve the existing natural wealth and diversity in case of mass extinction or a global catastrophe. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault facility, opened in 2008, focuses on collecting duplicate samples of plant seeds from all around the world and currently contains close to 1 million different agricultural seed samples. The final storage capacity is said to be 4.5 million seed samples. Another such institution, Frozen Ark, concentrates on DNA preservation of endangered animal species for generations.


Certain countries create their own unusual strategic reserves of food or commodities they value the most, such as cotton, butter, pork, raisins or even maple syrup.


"Strategic reserve is a volume-based capacity mechanism in which a centrally established capacity is kept outside of the electricity market and is only used if the market participants do not offer enough generation to meet short-term demand."


A slasher is a basketball player who primarily drives (slashes) to the basket when on offense. They are typically a guard, but can also be a forward. A slasher is a fast and athletic player who attempts to get close to the basket for a layup, dunk or teardrop shot. This style of high-percentage two-point play is commonly referred to as slashing.


Slashers usually take more free-throw shots than other players due to the increased amount of contact made on them as they constantly and aggressively run towards the basket. Many different kinds of slashers gain extra free-throws by "drawing fouls", which is deliberately causing contact with a defending player. They may spend many hours working on increasing their free-throw percentage.


Many players who begin as slashers typically develop their game (especially their jump shot), as age and injuries occur, which may prevent them from being as effective as a slasher (for example, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant both developed a fadeaway jump shot as they got older).


Line defense is a strategy used in basketball. It is referred to as the "line defense" because of its formation on the court, which consists of two lines of defense. Three players at the front of the defense (at the half-court center line) and two players behind (between the center line and the team's own key). The line was the first zone concept to be used in basketball. The line defense was developed to counter the fast break plays that were being developed, and adopted, at the time. The line defense was the catalyst of the future 3-2 zone defense.


Teams started to break down the line defense when they were able to get an offensive player(s) behind the line before the defending team was able to set up the defensive line. This helped to create plays such as the fly fast break, the fast break, or the 2-Out Fast break.


A back screen is a basketball maneuver involving two players, called a cutter and a screener. The screener remains stationary on the court while the cutter moves toward the basket and attempts to use the screener to separate himself from his defender.


The screener positions himself with his back to the basket on the same side of the court as the cutter. The cutter positions himself outside of and above the screener. "Outside" implies that the cutter is closer to the sideline than the screener. "Above" implies that the cutter is closer to the midcourt line than the screener. Neither player has the ball. With the screener completely stationary, the cutter moves toward the basket and passes close enough to the screener that they almost touch shoulders. If the cut is properly made, the player defending the cutter will be disrupted by the screener (who has not moved while setting the screen) and the cutter will have an opportunity to receive a pass very near the basket.


A back-screen becomes effective when the cutter is defended very closely. An over-playing defender often has their back turned to the basket and cannot see the screen being set. Without time to adjust, the defender will collide with the screener.


The 5 man weave is a basketball drill introduced at Lindsey Wilson College, in Columbia, KY in 1991. Assistant Coach Ed Yuhas introduced the drill as a pre-season conditioning drill. The initial drill consisted of 5 players spaced evenly along the baseline, with the middle player holding the ball. On the smack of the ball players pass the ball repeatedly to the nearest player, while traveling up the court. They then run behind two players. Thus the terminology, "pass and go behind two".


Upon reaching the other end of the court the drill turns into a 3 on 2 drill, with the person who shot the layup and the last passer returning to play defense. The ballhandler amongst the group of the 3 will retreat to the other end after attacking the goal. The 2 defenders attack the single defender resulting in a 2 on 1 to the other side. These remaining 3 players then execute a 3 man weave to the far baseline.


This drill became very popular amongst high school and small college coaches throughout the south and midwest as Coach Yuhas introduced it on the summer camp circuit. He even introduced it at Coach Mike Dunleavy's Los Angeles Lakers Camp in 1992. Today the drill is used in programs of all sizes across the country.


This drill was featured in the "Hoops and Caroms International Playbook" authored by Ed Yuhas in 1992, as well "More Five-Star Basketball Drills" by Howard Garfinkel in 2003


Zone defense is a type of defense, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area (a zone) to cover.


A zone defense can be used in many sports where defensive players guard players on the other team. Zone defenses and zone principles are commonly used in basketball, American football, association football, ice hockey, lacrosse, Australian rules football, netball and ultimate among others.


The names given to zone defenses start with the number of players on the front of the zone (farthest from the goal) followed by the numbers of players in the rear zones. For example, in a 2–3 zone two defenders cover areas in the top of the zone (near the top of the key) while three defenders cover areas near the baseline.


Match-up zone is a hybrid man-to-man and zone defense in which players apply man-to-man defense to whichever opposing player enters their area. John Chaney, former head coach of Temple University, is the most famous proponent of this defense. Hybrid defenses also include Box-and-one, in which four defenders are in a 2–2 zone and one defender guards a specific player on the offense. A variant of this is triangle-and-two, in which three defenders are in a 2–1 zone and two defenders guard two specific offensive players.


Zone defenses are common in international, college, and youth competition. In the National Basketball Association, zone defenses were prohibited until the 2001–2002 season, and most teams do not use them as a primary defensive strategy. The NBA has a defensive three-second violation rule, which makes it more difficult for teams to play zone, since such defenses usually position a player in the middle of the key to stop penetration. The Dallas Mavericks under coach Rick Carlisle are an example of an NBA team that have regularly used zone defenses.


Frank Lindley, Newton, KS High School basketball coach from 1914 to 1945, was among the first to use the zone defense and other innovations in the game and authored numerous books about basketball. He finished his career with a record of 594–118 and guided the Railroaders to ten state titles and seven second-place finishes. Jim Boeheim, coach of the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team, is famous for using a 2–3 zone that is among the best in the NCAA. His zone, which typically features athletic, disruptive, and aggressive defenders, has become a prototype for use on other teams including the United States men's national basketball team, where he has spent time as an assistant coach.


Some of the reasons for using a zone defense are:


While strategies for countering zone defenses vary and often depend on the strengths and weaknesses of both the offensive and defensive teams, there are some general principles that are typically used by offensive teams when facing a zone.


A zone defense in American football is a type of "pass coverage". See American football defensive strategy and zone blocking.


The zone defence tactic, borrowed from basketball, was introduced into Australian football in the late 1980s by Robert Walls and revolutionized the game. It was used most effectively by Essendon Football Club coach Kevin Sheedy.


Another kick-in technique is the "huddle", often used before the zone, which involves all of the players from the non-kicking team huddling together and then breaking in different directions. The kicker typically aims in whichever direction the designated target (typically the ruckman) runs in.


In ice hockey, players defend zones in the neutral zone trap and left wing lock.


In lacrosse, a zone defense is not as often as the normal man defense. It has been used effectively at the D-III level by schools such as Wesleyan University. They almost always use a 6-man “backer” zone, where they have three guys up top and three guys down low and they try to stay in their zone and not rotate as much as possible. When teams are man down, many teams employ a “box and one” zone defense, where the four outside players stay in their designated zone while the fifth player follows the ball while staying on the crease man.


Netball is a sport similar to basketball with similar strategies and tactics employed, although with seven players per team. Zone defense is one of the main defensive strategies employed by teams, along with one-on-one defense. Common variants include center-court block, box-and-two zone, diamond-and-two zone, box-out zone and split-circle zone.


Ultimate allows for a number of zone defence tactics, usually employed in poor (such as windy, rainy or snowy) conditions, to discourage long passes and slow the progress of the opposition's movement.


The Death Lineup was a lineup of smaller basketball players on the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2014 to 2019. Developed under head coach Steve Kerr, it began during their 2014–15 run that led to an NBA championship. Unlike typical small-ball units, this group of Warriors was versatile enough to defend larger opponents, while also aiming to create mismatches on offense with their shooting and playmaking skills.


The Death Lineup was considered to be indicative of a larger overall trend in the NBA towards "positionless" basketball, where traditional position assignments and roles have less importance.


The Death Lineup ended after the 2018–19 season, when Durant left the Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets and Iguodala was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.


After the 2018–19 season, the free agent Durant announced that he would sign with the Brooklyn Nets, while Thompson agreed to re-sign with Golden State. Eyeing a replacement for Thompson while he recovered from his injury, the Warriors traded Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies in order to free salary cap space to acquire All-Star guard D'Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade package with Brooklyn for Durant. After Durant's and Iguodala's departures, Warriors CEO Joe Lacob announced his intention to eventually retire their numbers.


In 2019–20, the Warriors moved into their new arena, Chase Center, which includes a hallway featuring drawings of each member of the Hamptons Five. Golden State finished with a league-worst 15–50 record. Thompson missed the entire season rehabbing his injury, and Curry was limited to five games all season after breaking his left hand in October. The Warriors' season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As for Russell, he was eventually traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for former first-overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins.


The UCLA High Post Offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, used by John Wooden, head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles. Due to UCLA's immense success under Wooden's guidance, the UCLA High Post Offense has become one of the most popular offensive tactics, and elements of it are commonly used on all levels of basketball including the NBA. Wooden sought the advice of Press Maravich, then coach of NC State, whether to implement it into his offense.


The UCLA High Post offense can be run to both sides of the court, and has a variety of options or "reads". It is a near relative of Tex Winter's triangle offense, featuring a three-man triangle game on the strong side and a two-man game on the weak side. Its strengths include simplicity, superb offensive rebounding coverage, a weak-side attack, consistent spacing, flexibility based on personnel and the ability to penetrate the defense. However, due to the presence of a strong-side high-low-wing triangle formation, the ability to penetrate with the dribble is highly limited.


The four corners offense, technically four corner stall, is an offensive strategy for stalling in basketball. Four players stand in the corners of the offensive half-court while the fifth dribbles the ball in the middle. Most of the time the point guard stays in the middle, but the middle player would periodically switch, temporarily, with one of the corner players. It was a strategy that was used in college basketball before the shot clock was instituted.


The team running the offense typically would seek to score, but only on extremely safe shots. The players in the corners might try to make backdoor cuts, or the point guard could drive the lane.


Even if the team wanted to hold the ball until the end of the game, some such strategy was necessary since the rules did not (and still do not) let a player hold the ball for more than five seconds while closely guarded. So some mechanism to facilitate safe passes would be needed, which the four corners provided. There were other slowdown strategies, but the four corners was the most well known.


It was most frequently used to retain a lead by holding on to the ball until the clock ran out. The trailing team would be forced to spread their defense in hopes of getting a steal, which often allowed easy drives to the basket. Sometimes it was used throughout the game to reduce the number of possessions in hopes of getting an upset against a stronger team.


The "5 seconds closely guarded" rule was originally introduced partly to prevent stalling, and other rule changes were made to the college rules through the 1970s in hopes of eliminating stalling without using a shot clock as the National Basketball Association had since the 1954–55 season. (Thus, the four corners has always been a strategy of high school and college basketball.) There was a perception that the NBA shot clock did not allow time to work the ball to get a good shot, and that it would reduce the opportunity for varied styles of play.


The offense was created by head coach (Neal Baisi of WV Tech fame in the mid-1950s) John McClendon, and popularized (at the Div.1 level) by longtime University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head coach Dean Smith in the early 1960s. He used it to great effect under point guard Phil Ford; it was during his career that some writers referred to the offense as the "Ford Corners."


However, by the 1980s, fans were fed up. In the nationally televised 1982 ACC championship game between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the University of Virginia Cavaliers, UNC held the ball for roughly the last seven minutes of the second half to nurse a small lead, eventually winning 47–45. This style of offense was so distinctive that a local restaurant-bar in Chapel Hill, NC, was called Four Corners in homage to Smith, a local hero.


The next year, the ACC and other conferences introduced a shot clock experimentally, along with a three-point line to force the defense to spread out. In 1985, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted a shot clock nationally and added the 3-pointer a year later.


On February 21, 2015 the Tar Heels, coached by Smith protege Roy Williams, successfully ran the offense on the opening possession against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as a tribute to the recently deceased Smith.


The dribble drive motion is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed by former Pepperdine head coach Vance Walberg during his time as a California high school coach and at Fresno City College.


The offense was popularized at the major college level by John Calipari while at The University of Memphis, and was sometimes called the "Memphis Attack". Originally called 'AASAA' by Walberg (for "Attack, Attack, Skip, Attack, Attack"), the offense is also sometimes known as the 'Walberg offense' or abbreviated to DDM, and has been described as "Princeton on steroids".


The offense focuses on spreading the offensive players in the half court, so that helping on dribble penetration or skips becomes difficult for the defense, because the help will leave an offensive player open without any defenders near him. As an example a guard can drive through the defensive gaps for a layup or dunk, or pass out to the perimeter if the defense collapses onto him.


Like most motion-type offenses the Dribble Drive is predicated on reading the defense rather than set plays, as it relies on the speed and decision making of its players. "I feel we're teaching kids how to play basketball instead of how to run plays" says Walberg of the offense. Coaches that rely upon the offense have said that they do most of their coaching work in practices rather than games. However, the offense contains a lot of initial entry sets, which are used as starting-out points. The sets serve as a way to get the defense different looks, a way to feature a certain player, or exploit a defensive weakness.


In 1997 Vance Walberg developed the offense, which he named the AASAA, meaning "Attack-Attack-Skip-Attack-Attack", while coaching at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. Walberg adopted the offense to take advantage of the skills of his point guard Chris Hernandez, later the starting point guard at Stanford. After several years of tweaking the system, he took it with him to Fresno City College, where he coached from 2002–2006.


While at dinner with Memphis coach John Calipari in October, 2003, he described the basic principles of the offense. John Calipari would implement the offense for the 2005–2006 season at Memphis, for which it is sometimes known as the "Memphis Attack" offense. After he implemented the offense, Calipari took the Memphis Tigers to great success. His teams made 3 consecutive Elite Eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and made it to the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game in 2008. That same season, Calipari's Tigers set an NCAA single-season record for most victories, with 38, though this season would later be expunged from the record books per imposed sanctions on Memphis.


In 2012 Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA Championship utilizing the Dribble Drive offense.


By the 2007–2008 basketball season, at least 224 junior high, high school, college, and professional teams were using some form of the Dribble drive motion.


During the 2012-2013 NBA Season the Denver Nuggets led by coach George Karl implemented a version of the dribble drive offense behind point guards Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, leading them to the highest ranked offense in the NBA by points scored, and the 3rd Seed in the Western Conference, while winning a franchise best 57 games.


Filipino coach Chot Reyes has used the dribble-drive motion offense for his Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters team of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has resulted in his team winning four PBA championships. In his Philippines men's national basketball team stint, Reyes also used the dribble-drive offense, also proving to be effective in the international level, where the Philippines placed second in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship and qualified for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.


A continuity offense is one of two main categories of basketball offenses, the other being motion offense. Continuity offenses are characterized by a pattern of movement, cuts, screens and passes which eventually leads back to the starting formation. At this point the pattern of movement is repeated, hence the name continuity offense. The best-known continuity offenses are the shuffle offense, flex offense, wheel offense and John Wooden's UCLA High Post Offense.


A full-court press is a basketball term for a defensive style in which the defense applies pressure to the offensive team the entire length of the court before and after the inbound pass. Pressure may be applied man-to-man, or via a zone press using a zone defense. Some presses attempt to deny the initial inbounds pass and trap ball handlers either in the backcourt or at midcourt.


Defenses not employing a full-court press generally allow the offensive team to get halfway down the court (a half-court press) or near the basket before applying strong defensive pressure.


Effective press breaks employ quick passing more often than dribbling to advance the ball up the floor. Short, quick passes are less prone to turnovers than either long passes or dribbling. Another effective way to break a man-to-man press is to pass to the center. Most presses keep a "last man back" (usually the center) whose job is to disrupt a potential fast break resulting from the press; this may leave the offensive center unguarded and able to receive a pass near midcourt or near the basket for an easy score.


In the 1950s, the full-court press style of play was invented by John McLendon, an American basketball coach who is recognized as the first African American basketball coach at a predominantly white university and the first African American head coach in any professional sport. McLendon is often not credited because he invented it within the African American college league. Due to segregation, African American teams could only compete against other African American teams. For years, his style of play went unnoticed by white society and later was called unrefined until white coaches adopted it . McLendon's contributions to the game of basketball also include an increase in tempo and the four corners offense.


Gene Johnson, head coach at Wichita University (now called Wichita State University) is credited with creating the full court press.


In the 1960s, Hobbs High School, New Mexico boys' basketball coach Ralph Tasker began using a man-to-man pressure defense from baseline to baseline, buzzer to buzzer. This defensive strategy resulted in numerous turnovers and scoring opportunities for his teams. The 1969-70 Hobbs Eagles team scored 100 points or higher in 14 consecutive games, a national record held for 40 years. Tasker's teams set the New Mexico scoring record for most points scored in a game with 170 points against Carlsbad High in 1970 and with 176 points against Roswell High in 1978, and scored above 150 points in three games in 1981.


Arkansas's coach Nolan Richardson observed and adopted Tasker's up-tempo pressure defense while coaching at the high school level. He called his version of full court pressure "40 minutes of Hell." VCU's former coach Shaka Smart calls his form of full court pressure "Wreaking Havoc" or "Havoc Ball".


The Serbian coach Đorđe Andrijašević was the first one to use this technique in Europe. His zone press was an adapted and improved version of Gene Johnson's full-court press. He used it for the first-time with French team JA Vichy in 1965. This defensive style was then reproduced by other French squads and quickly became popular in other European leagues.


The flex is a type of continuity offense, similar to (and in fact derived from) the earlier shuffle offense.


Gonzaga University runs a modified version of the simplistic flex offense. The University of Maryland ran a modified version of the flex offense under previous head coach Gary Williams. Maryland's prior offense attempted to run a version of the flex offense that allowed for closer shots at the basket, and was less focused on obtaining open perimeter jump shots. Boston College under Coach Al Skinner also ran the flex; the BC version was very compact, creating an extremely physical game and limiting a team's ability to help because of how collapsed the floor is.


Variations of the flex include the 5 man flex, utilizing all 5 players in the cutting and screening action and the 4 man flex, which utilizes 4 players. Since this offense is classified as a continuity offense, in which players repeat specific actions, some teams will build in options within the offense to keep defenses from anticipating a particular cut or screen.


This strategy has also sometimes been employed against other prolific scoring guards. The Jordan Rules were an instrumental aspect of the rivalry between the "Bad Boys" Pistons and Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This style of defense limited players including Jordan from entering the paint and was carried out by Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.


This strategy was later used by the New York Knicks from 1992 to 1998. However, the Knicks were not as successful as Detroit in containing Jordan and the Bulls. Jordan faced New York in the NBA Playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996. The Bulls eliminated the Knicks and captured NBA titles in all four of those seasons.


In an interview with "Sports Illustrated", then Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly described the Jordan Rules as:


When doing an ESPN "30 for 30", Joe Dumars said that,


In basketball, small ball is a style of play that sacrifices height, physical strength and low post offense/defense in favor of a lineup of smaller players for speed, agility and increased scoring (often from the three-point line). It is closely tied to the concepts of pace and space, which pushes the speed of the offense and spreads out the defense with extra shooters on the court. Many small ball lineups feature a non-traditional center who offers skills that are not normally found from players at that position.


Teams often move a physically dominant player who would typically play the small forward position into the power forward position. Examples of players who have been used in this role include Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James. That individual would play alongside either a traditional power forward (shifted into the center position), or alongside a center.


While the style of play does have advantages, there are several disadvantages. The addition of speed and agility comes at the cost of strength and height; the lack of traditional "big men" can make it more difficult to guard the space under the basket while on defense and can also prevent the team from having a low-post offensive threat when attacking. Rebounding is often sacrificed; for example, in the 2012–13 season, the Miami Heat, playing small ball, had the most wins during the season, but were the worst team in the NBA in rebounding.


The Golden State Warriors in 2014–15 used small ball to a greater extent in the NBA Finals than any prior champion, swapping out big man Andrew Bogut from the starting lineup for Andre Iguodala, who would eventually be named the Finals MVP. The Warriors small lineup came to be known as the Death Lineup. The Warriors have attained a historic level of success, winning three NBA titles and setting the NBA wins record during the period from 2014-2017. The success of the Warriors' small ball lineups has caused some analysts to consider small ball to be the future of basketball, eschewing traditional lineups in favor of a brand of "positionless" basketball that allows teams to play small.


The triangle offense is an offensive strategy used in basketball. Its basic ideas were initially established by Hall of Fame coach Sam Barry at the University of Southern California. His system was further developed by former Houston Rockets and Kansas State University basketball head coach Tex Winter, who played for Barry in the late 1940s. Winter later served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s and for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000s, mostly under head coach Phil Jackson.


The system's most important feature is the sideline triangle created by the center, who stands at the low post, the forward at the wing, and the guard at the corner. The team's other guard stands at the top of the key and the weak-side forward is on the weak-side high post—together forming the "two-man game". The goal of the offense is to fill those five spots, which creates good spacing between players and allows each one to pass to four teammates. Every pass and cut has a purpose and everything is dictated by the defense.


It has been claimed that the triangle offense is the optimal way for five players to space the floor on the basketball court.


The offense starts when a guard passes to the wing and cuts to the strong-side corner. The triangle is created from a post player on the strong-side block, the strong-side corner, and the extended strong-side wing, who gains possession on the first pass. The desired initial option in the offense is to pass to the strong-side post player on the block who is in good scoring position. From there the player has the options of looking to score or pass to one of the perimeter players who are exchanging from strong-side corner and wing, a dive cut down the lane, or the opposite wing flashing to the top of the key which initiates another common option known as the "pinch post".


If the strong-side wing-to-guard pass is not possible, the third option is for the weak-side forward to flash to the strong-side elbow, take the pass, and cut to the basket on the trademark backdoor play of the offense. Meanwhile, the wing and corner guard exchange on a down screen. The forward with the ball can pass to the cutting guard or to the corner guard coming off the wing's screen. If nothing's available, he can shoot the basketball himself.


Head coach Phil Jackson, with help from assistant coach Tex Winter, won 11 NBA Finals with the triangle offense. Jackson coached the Bulls from 1989–1998. He next served as the head coach of the Lakers twice, first from 1999–2004, and then from 2005–2011. The Chicago Bulls under Jackson won six championships in the 1990s playing in the triangle. His first three title-winning teams in Chicago featured superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Jackson's later three titles with the Bulls came with Jordan, Pippen, and fellow superstar Dennis Rodman. Jackson's Los Angeles Lakers won five championships employing the triangle. His first three Lakers championship squads fielded superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, while his last two title teams saw him pair Bryant with fellow All-Star Pau Gasol.


The triangle offense was used very effectively by the Bulls during the 1995–96 season. Jordan, back at the helm for the team in his first full season since coming out of retirement, won his fourth NBA MVP award. He also finished the season as the league's leading scorer for the 8th time. The Bulls recorded a then NBA-record 72–10 season en route to what was then their fourth NBA championship. Jackson won his first (and only) NBA Coach of the Year Award for his efforts during his team's record-breaking season. Overall, the Bulls won six NBA titles during the 1990s, and the team is considered to be one of the NBA's greatest dynasties.


When Phil Jackson retired as a head coach at the end of the 2010–2011 season, he finished his career with over 1000 victories over the course of his coaching career, regular season and playoff games combined. Jackson, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, and O'Neal are all Hall of Famers. Kobe Bryant will be posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 2020 class. Tex Winter earned induction into the Hall of Fame in 2011 for his contributions to basketball involving the triangle offense. He was an assistant for both the Bulls and Lakers on the first nine of Jackson's 11 championship teams, and served as a consultant to the Lakers on the final two.


Tim Cone, the current head coach of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, continued the movement in triangle offense and brought it in the PBA in 1989, thus aiding him to win a league-record 23 championships with three different franchises.


The Blocker-Mover or Wheel offense is an offensive scheme used in basketball, primarily, college basketball. The offense was popularized by Dick Bennett when he was the coach at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Washington State.


Now used by teams like Virginia and San Diego State, the Blocker-Mover offense consists of two "blockers" and three "movers." The offensive scheme usually works in pairs. A blocker is paired with a mover, but the blockers must stay on their sides of the floor. One blocker stays on the strong side of the floor in between the key and the three-point line where the other blocker remains on their side of the floor between the key and the three-point line. The movers use the screens to create separation and find open shots, or drive to the hoop.


The blockers are usually forwards and centers. Blockers usually are under the three-point line (on the wings) and are always looking to set screens for movers. By setting a screen for a mover, the blocker seeks to free their teammate for a shot. However, the screener usually gets open themselves when their defender is forced to help on the screen. Because of the over help by the opposing defenders, blockers often get easy points near the basket off of post-ups or slips.


The movers are usually guards because they have to be well-conditioned because they are in constant motion, moving all over the court seeking scoring opportunities to score. The movers are usually the team’s best scorers. Also, they utilize screens in hopes of breaking free from defenders for open shots. Movers must be agile and intelligent cutters who can read opposing defense properly. Rarely, movers may also screen for other movers.


The pindown screen usually creates a lot of space and open shots for the movers on the wings. If the blocker can shoot three-pointers, they can pop out after they set a pindown screen to have a wide-open attempt if the defense over-commits to the pass. The flare screen doesn't create as much separation as the pindown screen, but can still be effective off the boomerang pass concept.


The scheme doesn't work well when the players don't know who they're paired up with. It also doesn't work well when the movers get bad angles off of the screens, forcing in confusion and turnovers. A well-coached team can counter the Blocker-Mover by switching everything, but it only works if the players are around the same size, creating no mismatches.


Box-and-one defense is a type of defense used in basketball. The box-and-one defense is a hybrid between a man-to-man defense (in which each defensive player is responsible for marking a player on the other team) and a zone defense (in which each defensive player is responsible for guarding an area of the court).


In a box-and-one defense, four players play zone defense, and align themselves in a box protecting the basket, with typically the two larger (or frontcourt) players playing directly under the basket, and the two smaller (or backcourt) players playing towards the foul line. The fifth defensive player in a box-and-one defense plays man-to-man defense, typically marking the best offensive player on the other team.


A box-and-one defense is usually used against teams with one dominant scoring threat. The idea is to try to shut that player down by forcing them to score against a dedicated man-to-man player, and a supporting zone. Players such as Allen Iverson and Ray Allen often faced box-and-one defensive schemes while competing for Georgetown University and the University of Connecticut, respectively.


One variation is the "diamond-and-one defense", where the four players in the box are arranged in a diamond pattern (one under the basket, two between the basket and foul line, and the fourth at the foul line). Another variation is the triangle-and-two defense, in which three defenders play zone defense while the remaining two play man-to-man defense.


The biggest weakness of a box-and-one defense is its vulnerability to a pass to the middle of the "box". As there is no defensive player responsible for this area of the court, offensive teams are able to exploit the gap. A pass to the middle of the box or to the top of the box will generally yield a short-range shot from inside the key. Or, it will “collapse” the box, causing the four zone defenders to fall inside the key and, upon a second pass, yielding a wide open and uncontested look from the perimeter. It is for this reason that the box-and-one defense is not often seen in professional leagues.


The Raptors once again used this defense in the 2020 NBA Playoffs during the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics. Throughout the series, the Raptors employed the defense again against Jayson Tatum in Game 4 and Kemba Walker in Game 6, winning both games. The box-and-one was used again in Game 7, but the Raptors ultimately lost the deciding game.


This strategy is also used in a man down situation in lacrosse. When a team has a penalty and is down a man, the team will send out a Long Stick Midfielder to add to the three Long Stick defensemen. As well there is one short stick midfielder. The Long Sticks make a tight box in front of the goal with the short stick on the crease. The four long sticks will play zone defense, with the closest man to the ball playing man to man, and the farthest splitting two offensemen. Every time the ball is passed the formation rotates to the next man. The short stick will play man to man if there is an attackman on the crease, otherwise he will join the rotation.


This strategy is also used in the sport of ultimate frisbee, which relies on defenses sometimes similar to basketball in its mixture of man and zone formats. In ultimate, the box-and-one defense is usually incorporated into a defensive strategy called the "cup", where 3 other players play a zone around the player in possession of the disc. If the boxed player is a handler (similar to a point guard in basketball) in possession of the disc, the cup will include the boxed player temporarily in their zone.


A motion offense is a category of offensive scheme used in basketball. Motion offenses use player movement, often as a strategy to exploit the quickness of the offensive team or to neutralize a size advantage of the defense.


Motion offenses are different from continuity offenses in that they follow no fixed repeating pattern. Instead, a motion offense is free-flowing and relatively unrestricted, though following a set of rules. Some examples of basic rules that are commonly used are:


Instead of relying on set plays, Knight's offense is designed to react to the defense. His motion emphasized post players setting screens and perimeter players passing the ball until a teammate becomes open for an uncontested lay-up or jump shot. Players are required to be unselfish and disciplined and must be effective in setting and using screens to get open.


Fast break is an offensive strategy in basketball and handball. In a fast break, a team attempts to move the ball up court and into scoring position as quickly as possible, so that the defense is outnumbered and does not have time to set up. The various styles of the fast break–derivative of the original created by Frank Keaney–are seen as the best method of providing action and quick scores. A fast break may result from cherry picking.


In a typical fast-break situation, the defending team obtains the ball and passes it to the fastest player, who sets up the fast break. That player (usually the smaller point guard, in the case of basketball) then speed-dribbles the ball up the court with several players trailing on the wings. He then either passes it to another player for quick scoring or takes the shot himself. If contact is made between him and a defender from behind while on a fast break, an unsportsmanlike foul is called. Recognition, speed, ball-handling skills, and decision making are critical to the success of a fast break.


In basketball, fast breaks are often the result of good defensive play such as a steal, obtaining the ball off a block, or a missed shot by the opposing team and a rebound, where the defending team takes possession of the ball and the other team has not adjusted.


A fast break can sometimes lead to an alley-oop if there are more offensive players than defenders.


In basketball, if the fast break did not lead to a basket and an offensive rebound is obtained and put back quickly, this is called a secondary break.


A fly fast break (also known as a one out fast break, the technical term for the play) is a basketball move in which after a shot is attempted, the player who is guarding the shooter does not box out or rebound but instead runs down the court looking for a pass from a rebounding teammate for a quick score.


How to play the Fly fast break.


The coach designates a certain guard or guards to carry out the Fly fast break. This is often the guard that defends the opponents' shooting guard. When the designated opposing guard makes an attempted shot. The defending guard (referred to as 'Fly') will contest the shot but then sprints down the court to the other team's key. When the defending team obtains the rebound or has to inbound the ball (after a made basket), they throw the ball into the other team's key, knowing that there is a 'Fly' waiting to catch the ball and score.


Breaking down the Fly fast break can be done in two ways:


The 'Fly' is a term in fly fishing where the actions of this type of fishing are similar to the actions of the basketball player in Fly fast break.


Wheel offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed in the late 1950s by Garland F. Pinholster at the Oglethorpe University. It is a kind of continuity offense in which players move around in a circular pattern to create good scoring opportunities. The wheel offense is a popular offensive play, frequently used by teams from middle school to college levels because it can effectively work against any defense, including zone defense and man-to-man defense.


There are various ways to run the wheel offense. The original form of the wheel offense developed by Garland Pinholster starts with a 2-1-2 formation, where two players stand edge by edge at the free throw lane.


The wheel offense is very advantageous to use. First it is very flexible and easy to set up. All the positions in the wheel offense are interchangeable (i.e. the point guard doesn’t have to be the first cutter).This enables the ball-handler to start the wheel offense from either wing without the other players changing their positions. With its flexibility, the wheel offense blends well with both half-court attack and fast break.


Once the play is set up, the wheel offense can work effectively against both man-to-man defense and zone defense. The various cuts and double screens will create open shot opportunities if the defense fails to react quickly. Even if the defensive players manage to cover all the cutting offensive players, they are forced to switch match-ups. Switching match-ups often causes mismatches between offensive players and defensive players, and when mismatch happens, the offensive team often take advantage of it to score. Also, when a team runs the wheel offense, their game tempo will be very hard to disrupt.


The wheel offense can also integrate other offensive plays. Pinholster's Oglethorpe team would often run some concealment plays before they start the wheel offense. This made the wheel offense very hard to detect, and they could catch the defense off guard. During the play, when the wheel offense is in the 1-3-1 formation, it can also switch to other plays based on the same formation. This greatly increases the variation of the wheel offense, making it very hard to defend.


Moreover, the wheel offense is very helpful for team-building. Because the wheel offense demands every player to have good ball-handling and shooting skills, each player is forced to develop more fully. In the wheel offensive play, five players play as a team rather than individuals. Thus practicing and running the wheel offense is very helpful for developing a team spirit among the players.


There are a few conditions need to be satisfied before using the wheel offense. Some are listed below.


Player tracking refers to technologies used to track players and the ball (if applicable) in various sports. The National Basketball Association (NBA) first tracked all games at the start of the 2013-14 NBA season. Second Spectrum is the current Official Optical Tracking Provider of the NBA and began league-wide tracking in the 2017-18 NBA season, replacing STATS SportVU which previously held the league-wide contract.


The NBA (via Second Spectrum) uses an optical tracking system that leverages multiple cameras placed in the catwalks in all 29 NBA arenas. The cameras receive and update data at a rate of 25 frames per second. The cameras feed the data into proprietary software, where computer vision algorithms extract positional data for all players on the court and the ball.


The NBA provides a variety of statistics to the public based on the data produced by player tracking to the public on its website. This includes information for players covering categories such as drives, defensive impact, catch and shoot, passing, touches, pull up shooting, rebounding, shooting efficiency, speed, and post ups among others. Similar information is available for teams.


In addition, more sophisticated and detailed tools are available to teams and broadcasters that are not currently available to the public.


Player tracking systems introduce many new statistics, automate the collection of data and provide precision which would be impossible without the use of camera technology and tracking software.


Statistics collected, and available to view during the game and throughout the season include (all statistics are per player):


Match-up zone defense is a type of defense used in the game of basketball. It is commonly referred to as a "combination" defense, as it combines certain aspects of man-to-man defense and zone defense.


College head coaches Jim Boeheim and John Chaney were advocates of the match-up zone defense.


With the match-up zone defense, the on-ball defender will play tight as if he was playing man-to-man. At the same time, the zone away from the ball will resemble "help-side" man-to-man defense. This creates one of the advantages for the match-up zone, as it may confuse the opponent as to what defense you are actually playing. The match-up zone also resembles a "switching man-to-man" defense, where the big men stay down low in the post and the guards stay around the perimeter. When asked to describe Chaney's match-up zone, Saint Joseph's Hawks coach Phil Martelli replied: "In college basketball, there's the Pete Carril Princeton offense, the John Chaney Match up Zone defense, then everything else. Those are the only two truly unique syles designed and being used today."


The triangle-and-two defense is a particular type of defense used in basketball.


The triangle-and-two defense is a hybrid between a man-to-man defense in which each defensive player is responsible for marking a player on the other team, and a zone defense in which each defensive player is responsible for guarding an area of the court.


In a triangle-and-two defense, three players play zone defense, and align themselves in a triangle protecting the basket, with typically the power forward and center playing directly under the basket, and the small forward playing towards the foul line.


The shooting guard and point guard in a triangle-and-two defense play man-to-man defense, typically marking the opposing team's best offensive players on the perimeter.


The biggest weakness of a triangle-and-two defense is its vulnerability to cutters through the lane, and also against good passing from the forward spots. Teams with good passers on the floor are often able to easily find flaws in this defense.


One variation of the triangle-and-two defense is the diamond-and-one defense, where the four players in the box are arranged in a diamond pattern (one under the basket, two between the basket and foul line, and the fourth at the foul line). Another variation is the box-and-one defense, in which four defenders play zone defense in a box shape around the key, while the remaining defender plays man-to-man defense.


Main reasons a team would want to play man-to-man are:


Some risks and downsides of playing it:


Man-to-man defense is still the primary defensive scheme in the NBA, and some coaches use it exclusively.


The shuffle offense is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed in the early 1950s by Bruce Drake at the University of Oklahoma. It was later used by Bob Spear, who was the first head basketball coach of the United States Air Force Academy in 1957–71. The shuffle offense has all five players rotate in each of the five shuffle positions. This offense would be an option for a team that has good ball-handlers but is not blessed with height or a strong dominant post player (which may be why Spear used it at Air Force, which has a height restriction).


Coach Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill also taught the shuffle offense.


The pick and roll (also called a ball screen or screen and roll) in basketball is an offensive play in which a player sets a screen (pick) for a teammate handling the ball and then moves toward the basket (rolls) to receive a pass. In the NBA, the play came into vogue in the 1990s and has developed into the league's most common offensive action. There are however many ways in which the defense can also counter the offensive screen.