Zoom Action Offense

From the Coach's Clipboard Basketball Playbook

Zoom action offense is a relatively new, popular 3-player action that combines two key movements: a down screen (pin-screen) followed by a dribble hand-off (DHO). This combination often creates double and triple gaps for driving, and other scoring opportunities such as kick-out 3-pointers. It is used at all levels, pros down through youth. Some youth coaches believe it is better and easier to teach than the pick and roll.

This article will present the basic actions and some options and counters.

Basic Zoom Action

Hallmarks of this action are having two skilled creative, smart players (receivers) starting deep in the corners. Your post player O5 (bigman) is a big part of the action, as O5 will have the ball at the top and create the dribble hand-off. The wing players are screeners.

Diagram 1. The basic zoom action is a 3-man action which consists of a pin-down screen of wing (O1) to corner (O3) screen, followed by a dribble hand-off (usually by your post player O5). O5 dribbles at O3, as O3 sprints hard over the screen and around the DHO (diagram 2) for the hand-off (or pitch). O3's goal is to attack the paint, as O5 rolls to the hoop, and O1 refills the wing.

After the DHO, O3 has several options:
1. Drive to the hoop and finish... we usually want O3 to get into the paint.
2. Pull-up jump-shot or floater.
3. Pass or lob to O5 rolling inside.
4. Step-back 3-point shot if defender goes under O5's screen (diagram 3).
5. Kick-out pass to either the opposite wing, or kick-back to O1 filling the ballside wing (diagram 4).


So this is the basic zoom action: a down-screen followed by a dribble hand-off action. The dribble hand-off is mostly executed by your bigman O5. It is important that the receivers start deep in the corners for spacing, so don't allow them to "creep" up toward the wing (a common mistake).

This zoom action can be used as an offensive continuity scheme. Continuity can occur when O3 drives the paint and kicks a pass out to the opposite wing. Now you can re-set the zoom on that side (as O5 sprints back to the top for the pass). Or on the kick-out pass from O3, O4 or O2 might have an open 3-point shot, or O4 and O2 can run their own 2-man game action (pick and roll).

Or use the zoom action as a simple called play, or as an ad lib action that can be integrated into any motion offense. It can even work against zones. It creates defensive confusion and mis-matches with its multiple moving parts.

Zoom Action - Transition

Here's how to get into the zoom action from transition when your primary or secondary break is stopped (diagrams 5 and 6).

O1 passes to the trailing O5, as O4 down-screens for O3 in the corner. O3 sprints around the screen, as O5 dribbles toward O3. O3, at high speed cuts around O5 (diagram 2) and gets the dribble hand-off (or pitch), and attacks the paint. O5 rolls to the hoop.


You can also see here that the zoom action can be run to either side.

Zoom Options and Counters

Here are several options and counters for when the defense overplays the actions.

Corner Back-cut

Diagram 7. Also called "zoom reject", here the receiver's defender is overplaying, so O2 back-cuts to the hoop for a pass from O5. Notice that if the pass to O2 is not open, O4 turns and sprints over O5 for the dribble hand-off.

Screener Slip

Diagram 8. The wing screener O4 might fake the corner screen and quickly slip-cut to the hoop for the pass from O5. Diagram 9 shows the rotation if that pass is not open. Now O5 dribbles to the opposite side to run the zoom there.

Screener DHO

Diagram 10. While running the zoom action, the corner player O2 is aggressively denied the DHO, so he/she continues on to the top. The screener O4 turns, sprints around O5, takes the DHO and attacks.

Wing Zoom Action

Up to this point, we have been discussing the basic corner zoom action. You can also use this wing zoom action. Diagram 11 shows O2 screening for the wing player O1. O5 takes a dribble or two toward O1, and O1 cuts around O5 for the DHO, and attacks the paint (diagram 12). You can include and mix in this wing zoom action with your basic corner zoom action.

Zoom Set Plays

You can incorporate zoom action into set plays. Use it with baseline (BLOB) and sideline (SLOB) out-of-bounds plays.

It has also been combined with the Spain pick and roll action, where a zoom action is faked in order to create a distraction and disguise the Spain pick and roll.

Zoom action can be used in various offensive sets, e.g. 5-out, 4-out, etc. Here is a Horns set play used by the Boston Celtics.

Horns Celtics

Diagram 13 shows the horns set with two high post players and two corner players. O1 passes to O5 and cuts through to the right corner, as O2 moves up to the wing. O4 downscreens for O3 (diagram 14) and O5 dribbles toward O3 and makes the zoom dribble hand-off to O3 (diagram 15). O3 attacks the paint.

Finally, isn't Zoom action just the same as Pistols actions?

They look similar but they are not. Pistol actions start WITH the ball on the wing. In zoom action, the wing-corner actions start WITHOUT the ball, as the action begins with a pass to the top.

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