How to Run a Circle Offense in Basketball

• By Grant Young

Basketball offensive philosophies have undergone multiple complete makeovers over the past few decades. 

Perhaps the most influential shift came by way of the Golden State Warriors, during their four NBA Championship title victories from 2015 to 2021. Seeing the sharpshooting “Splash Brothers” Steph Curry and Klay Thompson open up the floor and make the Warriors the most lethal, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing basketball many people have ever seen in their lives.

And this prompted the next generation of basketball players to fall in love with the three-pointer, which is already creating a massive offensive shift in the game’s youth levels. 

But what if the three-pointer wasn’t the actual key to the Warriors’ mesmerizing offensive success? Don’t get me wrong; Curry and Thompson being wizards from three-point range is a huge reason for their success. But head coach Steve Kerr’s offensive strategy made it possible for the Warriors to score in bunches even when his shooters weren’t shooting well. 

How did Kerr do this? By utilizing schemes inherent to the circle offense. 

And very few coaches know the ins and outs of the circle offense better than Steve Gomez. 

Coach Gomez recently concluded his 21st season at the helm of the Lubbock Christian University women’s basketball team, and the 11th season at the NCAA level. He opens the campaign with a 500-143 record, which includes a 24-3 record in NCAA postseason play.

In his first 10 seasons at the helm, as LCU was an NAIA institution, the Lady Chaps made 10 consecutive trips to the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament. But Coach Gomez’s astounding success (namely on offense, by utilizing the circle offense) convinced officials that his team should join the Division 2 ranks. And that’s where Coach Gomez remains today.

Coach Gomez’s ‘Circle Offense’ course divulges the most important teaching point about installing this strategy into your own offense. It lays the groundwork for how to turn any stagnant offense into a fluid, rhythmic scoring machine that doesn’t need players like Steph Curry or Klay Thompson to thrive. 

Why Circle Offense?

Before getting into the specifics, let’s start with exactly what a circle offense is, and what it entails. 

The circle offense utilizes cuts and continuity patterns to create scoring opportunities near the basket.

Additionally, the circle offense features five players which fill five perimeter spots near the top, the wings, and the corners. 

The main premise behind the circle offense is to have at least three players in constant motion at all times, ideally doing some form of screening, cutting, or otherwise moving without the ball. The reason for this is that it often leads to a breakdown in communication within defenses, which incites chaos (and easy baskets). 

The circle offense is particularly effective with smaller, guard-centric teams, and teams who have elite shooting because of the spacing opportunities that it provides offenses. 

Sample 1

Coach Gomez relays some excellent points about why to run a circle offense, and how you can utilize it to be beneficial for whatever roster composition you’re currently working with during any given year. 

One of the best parts about running a circle offense is that it creates both a pattern and set sort of offense, and also allows for what Coach Gomez calls “freelance” opportunities. 

In other words, there is a solid foundation to the circle offense. There are specific play sets that can be drilled in practice and that should create consistent, steady looks during games. This is crucial because, as I alluded to earlier, it’s tough for a team to consistently succeed if they have to rely on their outside shooters catching fire. So with a playbook of set plays that can be turned to in crunch time, when a basket is direly needed, the circle offense comes in handy.

But Coach Gomez also references these “freelance” opportunities, which are the times when your players’ talents and skillsets can shine. Back to the Warriors example, this is what Steph Curry or Klay Thompson would whip up their specific sort of magic and drain a deep three-pointer, despite the excellent defense against them. 

Although this doesn’t have to be just deep shooting. If you have a post player who is a beast on the block or a guard who specializes in slashing to the rim and getting fouled, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to execute their games to a tee in the circle offense. 

This malleable style is why the circle offense has been so useful for so many different teams. 

Baseline Drive Reactions

An imperative part of finding success with the circle offense is winning the battle on the baselines.

Much of the circle offense’s crucial action (such as back cuts and off-ball movement) takes place along the baseline in every possession. In addition to this meaning that having shooters who are good at making midrange and three-point jumpers from the corner is a huge benefit, Coach Gomez stresses that instilling the importance of backside baseline reactions will free your circle offense up for a lot of success. 

This means that, when one of the guards is driving to the basket, whichever players (likely two) are along the baseline will have multiple options as to how they can help support. 

They can either fade out to the backside corner to be available for a kick-out jump shot, move up to the wing to prepare for a kick-out jump shot, clear out then prepare to crash the board in case the driving guard goes for a layup, or if they’re on the weak side, flash to the basket along the baseline in hopes for an easy layup.

This is just one example of the various opportunities that the circle offense can (and will) provide success to any coach who'll utilize it with their team.