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Basketball · South Africa · Tactics

🏀 Tactics board · Basketball · South Africa

Build your formation, draw your movements and sequence your steps. Export to PNG or GIF, share with one link. How does it work?

Tactics board basketball online: build, draw, animate and share your play.

~14 min read
Tactics board mode · Basketball
A play can't just be told. It has to be shown — and it has to move.
GIF

The next-generation tactical whiteboard, right in your browser.

You've got a clear idea in your head — a pick-and-roll to run, a worked inbound, a zone defence to fix — but the moment you try to explain it, you end up with a board wiped at the timeout, arrows nobody can read or a voice note nobody listens to. TeamBranch's tactics board fills exactly that gap.

In a few minutes you turn an idea into an animated diagram: you set your starting five, draw the screens and cuts, chain the steps and export a GIF ready to send to the team's WhatsApp group, post on your socials or keep for the next practice. No £200 software to install, no account to create: you open the page, set your five, draw, export.

Clean line hardwood Real players + photos GIF & PNG export Free, no sign-up
Headline feature · animated GIF

Your play becomes a moving animation, step by step.

Most whiteboards stop at a still image. TeamBranch animates your play. It works like an animation: each step is a keyframe, and the tool plays them in sequence. You set the starting position, draw the first movement (the screen, the cut, the pass), then add a step — it automatically copies the positions and lines from the previous one, so you only move what changes.

Three to five steps are enough to tell a pick-and-roll, an inbound or a defensive rotation. One click on “Animated GIF”, you pick your format — Standard, Landscape (X / Facebook), Square (Instagram) or Story / Reels / TikTok — and the tool replays each step (~0.8s per frame), adds the watermark and downloads the file. Need a still image? The same menu also exports a high-resolution PNG.

▶ Generate an animated GIF⤓ Export as HD PNG
Storyboard · pick-and-roll▶ GIF
Step 1 · guard
Step 2 · screen
Step 3 · roll
▶GIF
4 steps
Export · share
4steps
~0.8sper frame
4formats
£0to pay
Coach · club, youth, 3x3

Dial in your set play, send the GIF

You're working on an offensive set or an inbound, you generate the GIF and send it to the team's WhatsApp group. Your players turn up to practice already having seen the cuts and screens. The whiteboard that never gets wiped at the timeout.

PracticeSet playWhatsApp
Fan · analyst

Illustrate your breakdown instead of a wall of text

You argue “here's how to defend this pick-and-roll” with a clear visual rather than a wall of text. An animated diagram is worth a thousand tweets: you show the help, the rotation, the spacing, and the NBA debate is off.

AnalysisSpacingDebate
Content creator · TikTok, Insta, X

An animated breakdown in the right vertical format

You put out an animated tactical breakdown in Story / Reels / TikTok format, with the players' real faces, in two minutes. A weight-optimised GIF that sends fast, ready for 9:16. The basketball content that stops the thumb in the feed.

9:16ReelsReal photos
Player · captain

Clear up an inbound play

You get everyone on the same page before a decisive inbound or a last possession. Who sets the screen, who cuts, who spots up in the corner: one share-as-view-only diagram, and the call is crystal clear for the five.

ATOLast possessionShared link
The Tactics Notebook · special issue on systems of play
No. 24 · 1936–2026

A century of systems of play, from set offence to pace-and-space.

A system isn't just a diagram: it's an idea of basketball. From the set offence of the early days to the pace-and-space of the Warriors, every era invented its own way to occupy the floor and create the open shot. On TeamBranch's tactics board you can replay each of these systems, annotate them and animate them to understand — or teach — why they work.

1936–1970 · The origins

Set offence and the birth of the post

In the early days, everything ran through the set offence: slow possessions, patient passing, the post with his back to the basket as the anchor. The 1954 shot clock speeds it all up and forces structure on the offence. The first codified plays and screens appear.

Defence is thought of as strict man-to-man or zone. On a tactics board, these choices read at a glance: who picks up whom, where the help forms, how you wall off the paint.

1980–2000 · The great schools

Showtime, Triangle, iron defence

Two philosophies clash. The Lakers' Showtime turns the fast break into a spectacle: rebound and run. At the opposite end, the Triangle of Tex Winter and Phil Jackson structures the offence around reads and precise spacing.

On defence, Detroit's Bad Boys impose intensity and coordinated help. Three ideas, three ways to draw the same five players — exactly what a tactics board lets you compare side by side.

2005–2026 · Modern basketball

Seven seconds, splash, pace-and-space

D'Antoni's Seven Seconds or Less ramps up the tempo; then the Warriors impose pace-and-space: the three-pointer reigns, off-ball screens, constant movement. The pick-and-roll becomes the go-to action of the NBA and EuroLeague alike.

Today the vocabulary is everywhere: spacing, drive-and-kick, switch, drop, rotation, corner three. The tactics board puts these concepts within everyone's reach: you don't need a badge to show where to set the screen and when to cut.

Toolbox

Every drawing tool on the tactics board.

A static position tells you nothing. What turns a line-up into a readable system is the lines: cuts, passes, dribbles, screens, shots and notes — each in the colour of your choice. Here's the visual grammar of the board.

Cut / movement
The off-ball run. Trace a player's path from one spot to the next: backdoor cut, flash, relocation. The tool that brings the next step to life.
Pass
The delivery. Link two players to show a pass, an extra pass, a swing. The line tells you who feeds whom.
Dribble / drive
The ball on the floor. A wavy line for the dribble, the drive to the rim or the setup dribble: the difference from a pass is instantly clear.
Shot
The finish. A bold arrow towards the rim to show the jumper, the lay-up or the catch-and-shoot in the corner.
Screen
The block. The signature perpendicular bar: pick-and-roll, off-ball screen, flare, pin-down. Essential for explaining a set play.
Zone & annotation
The space & keyword. Mark out a defensive zone, drop a written marker — “help here”, “switch”, “corner”. And Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y to undo-redo stress-free.
Tactical glossary

The words to know to talk basketball tactics.

Pick-and-roll
The go-to action. One player sets a screen on the ball-handler's defender, then rolls to the rim (roll) or steps out (pop). Pick-and-roll, pick-and-pop, hand-off: it all draws in clean lines.
Screen
The legal block to free a teammate. On the ball (ball screen) or off the ball: pin-down, flare, back-screen. The base of every set play.
Zone vs man-to-man
The two defences. Man-to-man = each guards an opponent. Zone (2-3, 3-2, 1-3-1) = each guards a space. Box-and-one and junk defences to neutralise a star.
Transition / fast break
The break. Rebound and run before the defence sets: 2-on-1, 3-on-2, trailer for the three. The easiest baskets in the game.
Spacing & pace-and-space
Occupying the floor. Spread the shooters to open the paint, play fast, rack up corner threes. The philosophy that rules modern basketball.
Inbound · ATO
The inbound plays (sideline / baseline out of bounds) and the ATO (after time-out) coaches draw at the timeout. The tactics board's favourite playground.
Isolation (iso)
The one-on-one. You clear a side to let the ball-handler attack his defender alone. Maximum spacing, reading the help. The weapon of elite scorers.
Help & rotation
Team defence. When a player is beaten, the help comes, then everyone rotates to cover. The hardest moment to explain — and the clearest to animate.
Half / full-court views
Zoom in on the offensive half-court for a set play, or switch to full-court for a press, a transition or a ball advance. The right scale for the phase.
The five & the positions
The team's skeleton: point guard (1), shooting guard (2), small forward (3), power forward (4), centre (5). Roles colour-coded by line, freely movable for a bespoke set-up.
Step by step · from idea to GIF

How to generate an animated GIF of your play.

The headline feature, broken down. It works like an animation: each step is a keyframe, and the tool plays them in sequence automatically on export. Three to five steps are enough to tell a pick-and-roll, an inbound or a defensive rotation.

01
Set up your starting position
Pick half or full-court, place your five and the defence, put the ball in the right spot. That's your step 1, the zero moment of the action.
Starting fiveDefenceBall
02
Draw the first movement
Trace the screen, the cut, the pass: everything that describes the opening moment. Pick the colour for each type of line.
ScreenCutPass
03
Add a step
Below the court, click “+ step”. It copies the positions and lines from the previous one: you only have to move what changes.
+ stepAuto-copy
04
Repeat for each key moment
One step = one key moment. The roll, the extra pass, the shot in the corner. 3 to 5 steps tell the whole play.
Key momentsHistory
05
Click “Animated GIF”
Pick the format — Standard, Landscape, Square, Story. The tool replays each step, adds the watermark and downloads. All that's left is to post.
GIFHD PNGShare
“
Basketball is simple: create a good shot, stop one. The hardest part isn't having the play — it's getting five players to understand it at the same time.
The tactics board — exactly the gap this tool fills

Every play & phase you can draw and animate.

9 situations · no sign-up
⛹
Offensive set play

The pick-and-roll

Set your five, trace the ball screen, the big's roll to the rim, the shooters' spacing in the corners. Animate the sequence: screen, drive, reading the help, extra pass. The go-to action your guard and your big know by heart.

1 Guard5 Screen→ Roll
Pick-and-roll · 3-4 stepsGIF ready
⏱
Inbound · ATO

The inbound play

The board's favourite playground: the inbound from the baseline or the sideline, and the ATO drawn at the timeout. Place every player, trace the stacked screens, the cut and the open shot. Everyone knows their job on the last possession.

↓ Inbound× Screens● Shot
ATO · baseline / sidelineView-only
🛡
Defence

The 2-3 zone

Show the zone defence (2-3, 3-2, 1-3-1), who covers which area, how to slide on the swing and wall off the paint. Animate the zone's shift when the ball changes sides. Ideal for protecting the inside against a team that shoots poorly from deep.

2 Front3 Back↔ Shift
Zone · defenceGIF ready
🏃
Transition

The lightning fast break

From the rebound to the basket in seconds: trace the outlet pass, the ball advance, the 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, the trailer arriving for the three. Animate the speed of execution. The easiest baskets, the ones too rarely worked on.

↯ Outlet3v2 Numbers up● Trailer
Fast break · 4 stepsGIF ready
🔁
Team defence

Help & rotation

The concept that's hardest to explain, clearest to animate: when the help comes on a drive, who rotates to cover behind, who takes the open shooter. Show the stunt, the switch, the drop on a pick-and-roll. The defence that speaks with one voice.

A Help↻ Rotation⇄ Switch
Help · rotationGIF ready
🤝
Head-to-head

Your offence against their defence

The board handles both teams: add the opposing defenders, move them, give them a photo. You stage a real head-to-head — your set against their zone — instead of only showing your own offence. Perfect for prepping a specific opponent.

US UsVS Them📷 Photos
2 teams · opponentScouting
🔥
3x3 & playground

The three-man game

Adapt the board to 3x3 or the playground: half-court, a single rim, give-and-go, scaled-down screen-roll, three-man spacing. The court has a margin around the lines for inbounds and outlets. The booming Olympic format, ready to diagram.

3 Three↔ Give-and-go½ Half
3x3 · half-courtMargin included
🧒
Basketball academy · youth

The training drill

Diagram a drill or a session exercise for your U12s to U18s: give-and-go, shooting on the move, triangle play, defence at the rim. Create custom players with photos of your club's kids so they recognise themselves. The animated session plan parents understand too.

U Youth+ Custom player▲ Drill
Youth · coachingSession plan
🎙
Content creation

The breakdown for social

Analyse a basket, a play from a big NBA or EuroLeague game, or “here's how to beat this defence”. Players' real faces, vertical format for Story / Reels / TikTok, a light GIF that sends fast. The animated tactical breakdown that turns an opinion into shareable content.

9:16 Vertical📷 Real players▶ GIF
TikTok · Insta · XSocial format
The five, half or full-court

Set your starting five, pick your system.

Place the five positions — point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, centre — on the hardwood, in half-court for a set play or full-court for a transition or a press. The players already placed (name + photo) keep their identity when you switch system; the roles are colour-coded by line for instant reading.

Pick & roll
Go-to
Iso
One-on-one
Triangle
Reads
Motion
Movement
Horns
Two screens
Zone 2-3
Defence
Man
to man
⚙
Free
6 play templates · 1 click to start
01
Middle pick-and-roll
Ball screen, big rolls, shooters spaced in the corners. Ready to animate as a GIF.
▶
02
Inbound · ATO
Baseline play with stacked screens for an open shot at the buzzer.
▶
03
2-3 zone defence
Areas, shift on the swing, walling off the paint. Dialled in at a glance.
▶
04
Horns with two screens
Double ball-screen at the top, roll / pop / backdoor options.
▶
05
3-on-2 transition
Outlet, advance, numbers up, trailer for the three. 4 steps.
▶
06
Full-court press
Full-court pressure and a corner trap to win the ball back.
▶
Visual dictionary

The 12 tactical concepts you can illustrate in two minutes.

From the pick-and-roll to the defensive rotation, every big idea in basketball is drawn better than it's explained. Here are the most searched-for concepts — and they become crystal clear the moment you animate them on the tactics board. Set your five, draw, animate, share.

P&R
Pick-and-roll
Go-to action
Ball screen then roll to the rim. Pick-and-pop, hand-off. Drawn with the screen + the pass.
rollpop
ISO
Isolation
One-on-one
Clear a side to let the scorer attack alone. Maximum spacing, reading the help.
isospacing
SCR
Off-ball screen
Off-ball
Freeing a shooter without the ball: pin-down, flare, back-screen. The salt of the modern set play.
pin-downflare
ZON
Zone defence
2-3 / 3-2 / 1-3-1
Each guards a space, not a man. Protects the paint, forces the outside shot.
2-31-3-1
H2H
Man-to-man
Defence
Each follows his opponent. Switch, drop or hedge on the screen. The base to teach the kids.
switchdrop
TR
Transition
Fast break
Run before the defence recovers: outlet, numbers up 2v1 / 3v2, trailer. The easy baskets.
fast breakoutlet
SPC
Spacing
Pace-and-space
Spread the shooters to open the paint and rack up corner threes. The modern philosophy.
corner threedrive-kick
G&G
Give-and-go
Pass and cut
Pass then cut to the rim to receive on the move. The basic move, devastating.
cutbackdoor
POST
Post play
Post-up
The big with his back to the basket: position, ball call, inside-out game. The classic anchor.
post-upduck-in
AID
Help & rotation
Team defence
When a player is beaten, the help comes and everyone rotates. The hardest to explain.
stuntrotation
PRS
Full-court press
Pressure
Defend the whole court to trap the ball advance and force the turnover. Changes the tempo.
full-courttrap
ATO
Inbound
ATO · inbound
Inbound play (baseline / sideline) and ATO from the timeout. Placement to the inch.
baselinebuzzer
Export · animated GIF & high-res PNG

A format for every platform, in one click.

The export menu offers the animated GIF (replaying your steps) and the high-resolution PNG (a still for a thumbnail or print), each in the right ratio. Landscape for X / Facebook, square for Instagram, vertical for Stories, Reels and TikTok. The GIF is weight-optimised to send fast by message.

Standard GIF
16:10 · animated
Full board
Landscape GIF
16:9 · animated
X · Facebook
Square GIF
1:1 · animated
Instagram post
Story GIF
9:16 · animated
Story · Reels · TikTok
HD PNG
High resolution
Thumbnail · print
Landscape PNG
16:9 · still
Banner · article
Square PNG
1:1 · still
Instagram post
Story PNG
9:16 · still
Story · poster
Save & share

Your play, in one link.

You save your tactic and get a view-only replay link: the person plays the sequence back step by step. A tactic that's full enough (the five starters placed) also appears in the feed and the country's best five; below that, it stays private and re-editable.

Frequently asked questions

Everything about the basketball tactics board.

A pick of the questions most asked on Google and in our user messages.

How do I make an animated GIF of my play?
Every step you add below the court becomes a keyframe of the animation. You set up your starting position, draw a movement (screen, cut, pass), click “+ step” (it copies the positions and lines), move what changes, and repeat. Then you click “Animated GIF” and pick the format. The tool replays each step (~0.8s per frame), adds the watermark and downloads the GIF. The more steps you create, the more detailed the movement.
Is the TeamBranch tactics board really free?
Yes, completely. Line-up, drawings, steps, PNG and GIF export, replay link: no sign-up and no payment. No £200 software to install, no account to create. You open the page, set your five, draw, export. Make as many plays as you like.
Can I put real players on the court?
Yes. Tap a marker to open the search and drop in a real player — their photo and position arrive automatically (NBA, WNBA, EuroLeague, BBL…). You can also create a custom player (one of your club's kids, a mate) with their own image. Roles are colour-coded by line — guards, wings, bigs — for instant reading.
Can I place the opposition too?
Of course. Add opposing defenders, move them, give them a photo: you stage a real head-to-head, not just your own offence. Ideal for prepping a specific opponent — your set against their 2-3 zone, for example — or for scouting work.
Half-court or full-court?
Both. Stay in half-court to detail a set play, a pick-and-roll or an inbound; switch to full-court for a press, a transition or a ball advance. You pick the right scale for the phase you want to show — handy too for zooming in on the zone that matters on a small screen.
What drawing tools does the board offer?
Six families, each in the colour of your choice: cuts/movements, passes, dribbles/drives, shots, screens, and zones + text annotations. That's what turns a static position into a readable system. With a full history and the Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y shortcuts to undo/redo stress-free.
How do I animate several phases of a play?
Every step you add becomes a frame of the animation. The new step automatically copies the positions and lines from the previous one: you only have to move what changes (roll the big, move the ball, add the shot). Three to five steps are usually enough to tell a pick-and-roll, an inbound or a defensive rotation. The tool chains them automatically on GIF export.
Which format should I pick for social media?
Landscape for X / Facebook, square for an Instagram post, vertical (9:16) for Stories, Reels and TikTok, or Standard for the full board. The GIF is weight-optimised to send fast by message. Need a still image? The same menu also exports a high-resolution PNG — perfect for a thumbnail or a diagram to print.
Can I place a player or the ball off the court?
Yes. The court is drawn in clean lines (sharp at any size, dark mode included) with all the markings — keys, centre circle, three-point lines, free-throw lines, rims. Because there's a margin around the lines, you can place a player or the ball off the court: inbound, outlet, behind the baseline. Handy too for 3x3 and the playground.
How do I share my play with my team?
You save your tactic and get a view-only replay link: the person plays the sequence back step by step. You can also export the GIF or the PNG and send it straight to the team's WhatsApp group, post it on your socials, or keep it for the next practice.
Are my plays public?
Only if they're complete enough: a tactic with the five starters placed joins the feed and the country's best five. Otherwise it stays private and editable, and your share link stays view-only. You stay in control of what's visible.
Does the board work on a phone?
Yes, it all happens right in the browser, on desktop and mobile alike — nothing to install. It's actually the headline use case: you prep your play, generate the GIF, and your players watch it on their phones before practice. The half-court views help you zoom in on the zone that matters on a small screen.
Does it work for 3x3 and recreational basketball?
Yes. The margin around the lines and the freedom of placement let you adapt the board to every format: 3x3 (half-court, give-and-go, scaled-down screen-roll), playground, rec basketball. You diagram plays, screens and inbounds just like in 5-on-5.
Can I use it to coach youth players?
Absolutely. Diagram a drill or a session exercise (give-and-go, shooting on the move, triangle play, defence at the rim), create custom players with photos of your club's kids, and generate an animated session plan that players and parents grasp at a glance. The whiteboard that never gets wiped, for the academy.
Are there other sports besides basketball?
Yes. TeamBranch offers boards and line-ups for many sports — football, handball, rugby, volleyball, water polo — each with its own pitch, positions and terminology. The basketball tactics board mode is built to animate a play and export it as a GIF, from the pick-and-roll to the inbound.
Is the tactics board available in South Africa?
Yes. The basketball tactics board is available everywhere, in each country's language, South Africa included. You build the team of your choice — national side, NBA franchise, club or your own team — draw your plays and export your GIF, with nothing to install.