The Waypoint Game
How We Play.
We want to teach players how to play basketball — not simply how to run plays.
Waypoint Basketball will draw inspiration from the game wherever good basketball is played: the NBA, college basketball, international basketball, European clubs, historic teams, neighborhood gyms, and coaches from around the world.
We will study the game broadly because no single system, country, league, coach, or era has a monopoly on good basketball.
Our objective is to develop adaptable players who understand the game well enough to make decisions, solve problems, and play with different teammates in different environments.
Principles → Actions → Reads → Decisions → Freedom.
Play fast.
We want to create pressure before the defense is comfortable.
Run after rebounds.
Advance the ball.
Fill lanes.
Sprint into spacing.
Look ahead before looking sideways.
Tempo does not mean playing recklessly.
It means learning to recognize opportunity quickly.
When an advantage exists, attack it.
Move the ball.Move yourself.
The ball should not stick.
Pass.
Cut.
Screen.
Relocate.
Replace.
Make the extra pass.
Five players standing around watching one player dribble is not the basketball we want to teach.
The best possessions force the defense to make multiple decisions.
Our job is to keep making the defense decide until it makes the wrong decision.
Make the defense guard more than one action.
Learn actions.Not just plays.
We will teach basketball actions and the reads that come from them.
Playbook — Actions
- 01Ball screens.
- 02Dribble handoffs.
- 03Split actions.
- 04Pistol actions.
- 05Zoom actions.
- 06Ghost screens.
- 07Back cuts.
- 08Pin-downs.
- 09Flare screens.
- 10Short rolls.
- 11Give-and-go basketball.
Those actions can be combined in hundreds of ways.
Players should understand why an action works, what the defense is trying to take away, and what becomes available next.
A broken play should not mean a broken possession.
Players should be able to play.
Create the advantage.Attack the next one.
Good offense begins by forcing the defense into rotation.
Beat the first defender.
Force help.
Move the basketball.
Attack the closeout.
Make the next defender commit.
Pass again.
The first advantage creates the second.
The second creates the third.
Eventually somebody gets a great shot.
- Create↓
- Force help↓
- Move it↓
- Attack again↓
- Great shot
That is basketball.
Every playerlearns the game.
We believe in positionless development.
That does not mean positions never matter.
It means we will not unnecessarily limit young players because of their current height, body type, or role.
Big players should learn to pass, handle the basketball, make decisions, defend in space, screen, operate in dribble handoffs, and play away from the basket.
Guards should learn to screen, rebound, cut, defend larger players, play without the ball, and operate in different areas of the floor.
Everyone learns to shoot.
Everyone learns to pass.
Everyone learns to defend.
Everyone learns to make decisions.
We do not know what a young player will ultimately become.
Our responsibility is to give him as much basketball as possible before somebody tells him what he cannot do.
Positionless does not mean structureless.
Defend together.
Our defense will be aggressive, communicative, connected, and adaptable.
We want players who can guard more than one position.
We will teach players to switch when appropriate and to communicate through screens, rotations, mismatches, help situations, and recoveries.
Players should learn multiple defensive concepts rather than becoming dependent on one coverage.
Over time, that can include switching, drop coverage, hedging, trapping, icing side ball screens, zone concepts, full-court pressure, and other situational coverages.
But the deeper principle is more important than any one scheme:
Nobody defends alone.
Five players defend the basketball.
Five players communicate.
Five players rebound.
Five players solve problems together.
The best defenders understand what the offense is trying to do.
Understand.Don't memorize.
Players should understand what the opponent is trying to accomplish.
- ?Why did we switch?
- ?Why are we helping?
- ?Where is the next pass?
- ?Where is the advantage?
- ?Where should the rotation come from?
- ?What is the offense trying to create?
Basketball intelligence develops when players are required to recognize situations and make decisions.
Coaches provide structure.
Players still have to solve the game.
Learn from everywhere.
Waypoint will study basketball from all over the world.
American basketball.
European basketball.
International basketball.
Professional basketball.
College basketball.
Historic basketball.
Modern basketball.
Different basketball cultures emphasize different things: pace, spacing, movement, passing, screening, skill, creativity, physicality, improvisation, discipline, and collective decision-making.
We want our players exposed to all of it.
Take good ideas wherever you find them.
Understand why they work.
Add them to your game.
See More. Become More. applies to basketball, too.
Play with freedom.Play with responsibility.
Creativity is encouraged.
Carelessness is not.
Players should have the freedom to make decisions, experiment, attack, and occasionally make mistakes.
With that freedom comes responsibility.
Sprint back.
Share the basketball.
Take good shots.
Communicate.
Compete.
Know the situation.
Trust your teammates.
The objective is not robotic basketball.
The objective is intelligent basketball.
The Waypoint player.
Ultimately, we want to develop players who can walk onto a court with unfamiliar teammates, in an unfamiliar gym, against an unfamiliar opponent, and still understand how to play.
They understand basketball.
That is the kind of player we want Waypoint to produce.
Basketball literacy.
Principles. Actions. Reads. Decisions. Freedom.
Basketball is where it begins.
Waypoint Basketball is currently being built in the Westchester, Maywood, Bellwood, Broadview Area.
We are looking for families, coaches, mentors, and supporters who believe basketball should be taught seriously — and that young players should leave the program understanding more than a playbook.
See More. Become More.