Elevate Above the Rest: Inside Tyler Whitcomb’s Elevation Offense

By Coach Kevin Furtado

Championship Vision Basketball Podcast – Episode 396

Basketball coaches are constantly searching for an advantage.

Sometimes that advantage isn't another set play. It isn't copying what the latest college program is running. The advantage can come from finding an offensive system that fits your personnel, forces the defense to make decisions, and then gives your players the freedom to read those decisions.

That was one of my biggest takeaways from my conversation with Coach Tyler Whitcomb, creator of the Elevation Offense, on Episode 396 of the Championship Vision Basketball Podcast.

Tyler has spent his career studying the game. His basketball journey has included high school and college coaching, athletic administration, professional basketball ownership and management, scouting, clinics, and basketball education. He has more than 100 high school coaching victories, but what really stood out during our conversation was how deeply he studies the X's and O's of basketball.

And that study eventually led him to create something different.

The Birth of the Elevation Offense

The Elevation Offense didn't begin because Tyler decided he needed to invent an offense.

It started with an action that worked.

Whitcomb was studying his team's analytics and noticed that one particular Horns action involving an elevator screen was producing exceptional results. In the sample he was tracking, the action was producing approximately 1.57 points per possession.

Why?

The defense became so concerned with defending the player coming through the elevator screen that opportunities began opening everywhere else.

The point guard could attack downhill.

Help could create a kick-out three.

Switches could produce post mismatches.

Ball reversals could lead into another action.

That success led Whitcomb to expand one action into an entire continuity system built around Horns spacing, elevator screening and reads.

That is an important lesson for coaches.

Don't build your offense around what everyone else is running. Build it around what your players can do successfully.

Whitcomb talked about attending clinics as a younger coach and returning home with great offenses and defenses—only to discover that they didn't necessarily fit his personnel. That eventually changed his thinking. Instead of asking, What offense should I run?, he began asking, What offense gives this particular team the best chance to be successful?

That philosophy really resonated with me.

What Is the Elevation Offense?

At its foundation, Elevation is a Horns-based, three-out/two-in continuity offense designed to create spacing, screening actions, downhill penetration, post opportunities and player reads.

The two interior players become the "doors" of the elevator.

A guard cuts through them.

The doors close.

Now the defense has a decision to make.

Chase the shooter?

Switch?

Switch with the opposite big?

Stay attached and risk giving up the shot?

Those decisions are where the offense becomes powerful.

Whitcomb explained that teams generally defended the elevator action in one of three primary ways. Instead of trying to prevent every defensive response, his philosophy was to teach the players the counters to those responses.

If a guard switches onto a post, attack the mismatch inside.

If a big switches onto a guard, reverse the basketball, create space and allow the guard to attack the big.

If defenders become overly concerned with the elevator action, other areas of the floor become available.

That's what makes this more than a screening offense.

It's a decision-making offense.

The Point Guard Can Become the Biggest Beneficiary

When coaches first see the Elevation Offense, their eyes naturally go to the shooter running through the elevator.

But the shooter isn't always the player the offense is really trying to free.

Sometimes it's the point guard.

Think about what the elevator action does defensively. Multiple defenders become occupied with the cutter and the two screeners. Suddenly there isn't much help available for the player handling the basketball.

Whitcomb talked about having a point guard who could attack downhill and stop quickly for a midrange jumper. Because defenses were so concerned about stopping the elevator screen, that guard repeatedly found space in the middle of the floor.

If help comes from the opposite side?

Kick it out.

If the defender drops?

Pull up.

If a big switches?

Attack.

That is one of the reasons I believe this offense can be so effective when you have a point guard capable of making reads.

Transition Directly Into Your Offense

Another part of Tyler's system that I really liked was its connection to transition basketball.

You don't necessarily have to come down the floor, stop, call Elevation and organize everyone.

Whitcomb teaches his players to flow into it.

The floor is spaced in transition with shooters running deep, a rim runner and a trailer. From there, the rim runner and trailer can occupy the elbow areas. Advance the basketball to the wing and the opposite wing can run through the elevator screen.

Now you're in the offense.

If the defense takes away the transition opportunity, Elevation simply becomes the team's half-court continuity.

If the elevator action develops too quickly, the two interior players can essentially become a double ball-screen action that allows the guard to attack downhill.

That ability to connect transition offense to half-court offense is extremely valuable because you're eliminating unnecessary organization time.

The Real Strength: Counters and Mismatches

Good offensive systems don't just produce shots.

They force the defense to choose what it is willing to give up.

The elevator screen naturally encourages switching because fighting through two screeners can be extremely difficult.

And every switch creates another question.

Where is the mismatch?

That may mean throwing the basketball inside against a smaller defender.

It may mean attacking a big away from the basket.

It could mean reversing the basketball and running the action again.

It could mean using a diagonal elevator screen.

It could even mean entering a Horns set after the defense believes it has successfully defended the original action.

That's one of my favorite concepts from the conversation: the offense doesn't have to end when the first action is defended.

Keep playing.

You Don't Need Perfect Personnel

Another reason Elevation caught my attention is its adaptability.

Whitcomb has run versions of the offense with different personnel. He discussed using a guard as one of the elevator screeners when he had a bigger player who was an outstanding shooter. That inverted the traditional alignment and created entirely different matchup problems.

He believes the offense can even be adapted to five guards.

The ideal combination, however, is pretty appealing:

A point guard who can get downhill.
A legitimate shooter.
At least one interior player who can punish a mismatch.

Give the offense two interior players capable of scoring and the possibilities increase even further.

But the larger lesson is the same:

Don't force players into an offense. Adjust the offense to the players.

Practice the Reads, Not Just the Pattern

This may have been my favorite teaching portion of the podcast.

Whitcomb doesn't simply put five players on the floor and repeatedly run the entire offense.

He breaks it down.

His teams use five-on-zero transition work to learn how to flow into Elevation at full speed. He described a timed progression where all five players must eventually score from the different opportunities created within the offense.

He also uses a transition drill called Blitz, where players immediately convert into offense and attack with the purpose of flowing directly into Elevation.

Then the teaching gets smaller.

Three-on-three.

Two-on-two.

Four-on-four.

Point-guard development.

Post reads.

Guard reads.

How do we respond to a switch?

What does the post do?

When does the point guard attack?

Where is the drift pass?

How do we get back into our continuity when the original action breaks down?

Whitcomb stressed the importance of small-sided games because players need to understand why something is happening instead of simply memorizing where they're supposed to stand.

He even builds shooting development around the offense, using simulated elevator-screen actions so the shots players take in skill development are shots they will actually see within the system.

That is great offensive teaching.

My Coaching Takeaway: Purpose Over Complexity

I've been coaching basketball for a long time, and I'm still looking for ideas.

That's part of being a coach.

I don't believe we ever reach the point where we have the game figured out.

What interested me about Tyler Whitcomb's Elevation Offense wasn't simply the elevator screen. It was the philosophy behind the system.

Create an advantage.
See how the defense responds.
Teach the counter.
Attack the mismatch.
Keep playing.

Too often coaches collect plays.

What we really need to develop are players who can recognize advantages.

The Elevation Offense gives players structure without removing their ability to make decisions. It gives coaches a continuity offense while still providing opportunities to call specific actions. And because the system can flow from transition into the half court, it can create an offensive identity instead of simply becoming another play in the playbook.

I'm studying this offense because I believe there are concepts that can help my own program.

That's what coaching development should be.

We study.

We borrow.

We experiment.

We adapt ideas to our personnel.

And then we teach our players to make the game their own.

As Tyler's philosophy reminded me during Episode 396:

Don't run something simply because everyone else is running it. Find what gives your team an advantage.

That may be the most important lesson of the Elevation Offense.

Championship Vision Basketball Podcast

Listen to Episode 396: The Elevation Offense with Coach Tyler Whitcomb for the complete conversation and a deeper breakdown of the Horns alignment, elevator-screen reads, transition entries, defensive counters, personnel adjustments and practice drills.

Coach Kevin Furtado
Championship Vision Basketball Podcast
Teach. Develop. Lead. Win.