Teams will benefit by developing a low post player

The best way to surprise an upset winner in the tourney is to go inside first and outside second.
Back-to-basket, low-block post players are almost extinct today at all levels. Coaches and players seem content to play games from outside, especially with the 3-point shot.
Go to a gym today and you’ll see most kids just shooting 3-pointers. They practice the perimeter game, which is a finesse game, instead of the inside, workman’s game.
My championship teams always had good back-to-basket post players and they were the first option. Before the 3-pointer’s implementation in the high school game in 1987, we went inside first and then took what defenses gave us second.
The toughest spot on the floor to defend is the low block because the player with the ball, going one-on-one, knows when he’s going to leave the floor to take a power layup and the defender doesn’t.
When a defender leaves the floor before a post player, there is an advantage of gaining an open shot or going to the foul line.
Effective post players have to be double-teamed and this leaves their teammates open for a perimeter shot and an open layup if they can cut to the hoop.
The 3-pointer didn’t change my philosophy of inside first and outside second. Given that, here are some tips for other coaches and players on how to develop post players.
— Teach them to shoot power layups and how to use ball fakes, head fakes or a combination of both as well as footwork for a drop step.
— Make them realize if they get the ball in the lane before three seconds is called, they have additional seconds as long as they were trying for a basket.
— After mastering those fundamentals, work on foul shooting.
— Work on how to seal the defender, depending on how they are being guarded, and show a teammate looking to pass the ball where it should go by extending an arm straight up into the air on the open side. Signal the passer when to pass by wiggling your fingers.
— If the post player is being fronted to deny the ball, then they signal the passer to fake an overhead pass where their hand was by making a closed fist, then roll to the hoop after a fake.
— If the passer can’t get the ball to the post player, they signal them to go screen away a teammate with two head taps with the ball.
My teams used these signals for years and few teams caught on to them. When we had outstanding post players, we used a simple rule. They had to touch the ball once before we shot the ball, unless it was a layup. Players breaking this rule sat on the bench.
As a player, I preferred the inside game because while playing in college as a 6-footer, I learned how to post up against bigger players successfully by getting them in the air with fakes before leaving the floor for a power layup. This adds to your game if you can also take them outside and to the basket. All result in more foul shots.
Unfortunately, it seems fewer players are adopting this style of all-around play and are becoming more one-dimensional by concentrating on the 3-point shot.