NBA Playbook: Best Sets for Alley Oops

The alley-oop is basketball's most exciting play and NBA coaches have found some creative ways to find lob opportunities in their offenses

While the uneducated will tell you that the alley-oop was popularized by NC State’s David “Skywalker” Thompson in the 1970s, true basketball fans know that Jackie Moon invented it after his mother came to him in a dream as his Flint Tropics battled for fourth place in the ABA. Regardless of its origin, the alley-oop is the most exciting play in basketball. It involves everything that makes the sport amazing: athleticism, creativity, teamwork, timing, and unselfishness.

Most alley-oops happen in transition when the court is wide open and players have the time to communicate. My all-time favorite alley-oop, the one where Lebron James jumped from just inside the free-throw line to wreck Jason Terry, took place off a backcourt steal. These fast-break lobs are basketball’s answer to football's deep passes aka “da bomb.” The crowd can see it coming, they stand up in anticipation, and the players often pay off the excitement with ferocious slams.

But those aren’t the alley-oops that we are talking about. We are delving into the ones that happen in half-court offense off designed plays. These can sneak up on a fan. One second, a point guard is flying off a screen, seemingly looking for his own shot. Then, BOOM a very large man flies through the air, untethered from mortal gravity, and yams home a dunk.

Enjoy the playbook in PDF form, available for download, and in video form on YouTube! If you have more great sets for lobs or ever use one of these plays, please send over a clip so I can steal it from you admire your efforts.