SCORE Framework: Evaluation
How to know if your offense is actually working
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SCORE Framework: Evaluation
How to know if your offense is actually working
Welcome back to our series on the SCORE Framework: A Simple Way to Build Your Offensive Identity.
In case you missed it, here’s an overview of SCORE.
And here are our previous posts on STRUCTURE, CREATION, and OWNERSHIP & ROLES.
This week, we’re wrapping up the series with EVALUATION.
NOTE: We are deep-diving into SCORE and applying it to real teams inside HC3 on Skool.
If the newsletter gives you ideas, HC3 is where we go further with it.
That includes deeper breakdowns, video clip examples, discussion, monthly themed clinics, our resource vault, and more!
E — Evaluation
We’ve talked about structure and spacing, how to create the best shots for our best players, and defining roles within a team’s offensive scheme.
Now we dive into figuring out how to evaluate whether our offense is actually doing what we want it to do.
We’re not necessarily talking about scoring a ton of points (which would obviously be nice and happen more if your offense makes sense) or winning games or even if we shot a high percentage from the field.
We’re talking about answers to these questions:
are we getting the types of shots we want (whether or not they go in)?
are the right players getting those shots?
are our offensive actions producing the outcomes we’ve designed them to produce?
is our offensive identity showing up on film?
Evaluation is deeper than points
It’s quite possible to score 75 points in a game and still have a sloppy offensive game.
It’s also possible to score 42 points and get the types of shots you’ve been trying to get.
Now listen, I know the goal of the sport is to win games and play well and make shots. Obviously.
But if that’s the ONLY way you’re evaluating your team’s offense…you’re going to get stagnant during the season, you’re going to look like an amateur, and you’re going to start trusting the “eye test” and what “feels right” way too much.
High-level evaluation of your offense goes into:
what type of shots you’re creating
who is taking the shots?
where are the shots coming from?
what actions are actually producing the shots we want? (and which aren’t?)
are we creating actual advantage situations within our offense
are our players making good decisions within the roles we’ve defined?
In the long run, making sure you have good answers to these questions will outweigh any short-term or random success in the immediacy of a game.
Suggestion 1 - Grade Your Possessions
One of the easiest things to do is simply grade your possessions…before looking to see if the ball goes in the basket.
A wide open rhythm 3 from your best shooter…is not the same as a rushed and contested pull up from someone who shouldn’t be shooting it. Every coach in America would say the wide open 3 is a better look for your team.
Instead of just evaluating your offense by made shots, start grading possessions.
A simple version might look like:
3 = GREAT SHOT (layups, free throws, open 3s from best shooters, clean paint touches)
2 = DECENT SHOT (shots you can live with…you don’t LOVE them but they are acceptable)
1 = POOR SHOT (contested jumpers, off-balance drives, wrong players shooting)
You can do a number system. Or Gold/Silver/Bronze. Or score 1-10. Whatever works for you. But this should definitely be a part of your language when communicating with your team and players.
There are plenty of systems out there. Use one that makes sense for you.
What matters more is this:
Your players need to clearly understand what counts as great, good, and poor offense for your team.
If they don’t know that, they probably don’t really know your offense.
Suggestion 2 - Evaluate the process over results
6-22 from 3 where 18 of those were shots you love…is better than going 6-22 from 3 when only 11 of those were shots you loved.
Yes, it’s the same result. But AGAIN…over the long-term, good things are going to happen for your team if it is the first set of 6-22.
Traditional stats matter - for sure. But process stats matter as well.
Choose the important things you want to track each game…things like:
paint touches
assisted baskets
quality 3s
post touches
FT attempts
possessions that produced no advantage
possessions where the wrong player took the shot
possessions where you got exactly what you want
Be creative with it. But don’t overdo it. Track a few things you REALLY care about that your team can get behind (and that most impact winning).
Suggestion 3 - Evaluate each stage of your offense individually
Just like we talked about in STRUCTURE and CREATION, evaluation has to happen in all four phases of offense:
Transition
Half-court offense
Zone offense
Inbounds
Maybe your half-court offense is pretty solid, but your transition offense is chaotic. Maybe you’re getting great looks in transition, but you are struggling to score efficiently in the half court.
Maybe your zone offense creates almost nothing.
Maybe your inbounds stuff is actually one of your best offensive situations and you should lean into it more.
You won’t know unless you separate the phases.
Here are some simple questions for each one:
Transition
Are we getting early paint touches?
Are we advancing the ball quickly enough?
Are we creating layups, throw-aheads, and kick-out 3s?
Are we attacking before the defense gets set?
Are we taking bad early shots?
Half-Court
Are our main actions creating advantages?
Are we getting the ball to the right players in the right areas?
Is our spacing helping or hurting us?
Are we creating the types of shots we said we wanted?
Zone Offense
Are we moving the defense?
Are we getting touches in the gaps?
Are we playing inside-out?
Are we settling too much?
Inbounds
Are we getting a clean look?
Are we getting the ball to the player we want?
If the first option isn’t there, do we flow into offense well?
Get clear on this and you’re moving in the right direction.
Suggestion 4 - Use film to keep yourself honest
The art of coaching is having a feel for how your team is playing. It’s an important aspect of being a great coach.
But your feel is not always right.
There have been countless times when I thought something was happening on the floor - either negative or positive. But when I got home and watched it on film, I realized I wasn’t as one point as I thought I was.
Film slows the game down and forces you to be honest about what you saee..
A few things you can track on film:
what action created the shot
who took the shot
where the shot came from
the quality of the shot
whether an advantage was created
whether the possession fit your identity
whether the possession matched player roles
Film should help you answer this:
Is our offense producing what we say we want it to produce?
If the answer is no, good. Now you have something useful to work on.
Suggestion 5 - Let evaluation lead to adjustment and change
If you’re just going to collect the information and keep doing the same things you’ve been doing…you might as not even collect the data or information.
What you learn should lead to making decisions to make your team better.
If something isn’t working, something needs to change.
That doesn’t mean blowing up your offense….but it might mean making tangible changes that make sense.
Sometimes it means:
simplifying your structure
emphasizing one action more often
removing actions that aren’t producing good results
redefining shot expectations
clarifying a player’s role
drilling a decision that keeps breaking down
spending more time on one phase of offense
This is where the whole framework ties together.
If evaluation tells you something is off, you go back and examine:
Structure — Are we organized clearly enough?
Creation — Are we using the right actions to generate good shots?
Ownership & Roles — Do our players understand what they should and should not be doing?
Strong evaluation systems will show you where your attention needs to go.
A simple test for your players
Here’s a good check:
If you asked your players these questions, could they answer quickly and clearly?
What is a great shot for our team?
What is a poor shot for our team?
What are we trying to create in transition?
What are we trying to create in the half-court?
Who are we trying to get shots for?
What do we do when our first action doesn’t work?
How do we know if we played good offense even if we missed shots?
If they can answer that stuff, your offense is probably getting clearer.
If they can’t, there’s probably still too much gray area.
Final thoughts
STRUCTURE gives your offense shape.
CREATION helps you generate the shots you want.
OWNERSHIP & ROLES define who should be doing what.
EVALUATION tells you whether any of it is actually showing up when the game starts.
The goal here is not to obsess over stats over analytics…but to build an offense that is intentional, purposeful, clear, efficient, sensible, and repeatable.
Evaluation helps you see whether you’re actually doing that (or not).
And if you’re not, it gives you a chance to fix it.