December brings tournaments, back-to-backs and finals week, and practice time disappears. Here is how to prepare your team and manage games when you barely practice.

Define basketball offensive roles players actually accept. Get the index-card shot lists, the five-minute role talk and drills that make it stick.

Stop forcing your roster into someone else’s system. A four-step method for auditing the players you actually have and building an offense that fits them.

Teach players to play off two feet: jump stop cues, two-foot gathers, four drills, and the sideline calls that turn wild drives into balanced finishes.