Chris Oliver and TJ Saint talk basketball. Saint has worked with excellent basketball minds like Stan Van Gundy, Brad Stevens, Drew Hanlen and more. Saint is Director of Basketball Strategy and Video with the University of Georgia.
Saint began as a video coordinator.
He discusses how he watches film...starting with transition, into early offense, pick-and-roll game, BOBs, SLOBs, and ATOs. Use the technology to organize your analysis of the opponent. He focuses off the ball (tip from Brad Stevens).
As an offensive player, you know where the ball is...so see your defender's reaction.
"A high percentage of (NBA) rebounds go toward the nail." This is particularly true for three-point shots...nail versus rim doubled. The point guard going to the nail gets 2 1/2 to 3 more rebounds a game AND avoids needing an outlet. That's a real edge.
Oliver discusses the importance of covering the nail in defensive transition.
How do top NBA teams get open corner threes? Sink situations 25% and Transition Two-side 14% were the two highest. Drive and skip also important especially from guys driving down the slot.
"Traditional transition defenses is about loading down the middle." That opens the wings. Reorganization of that may change where the openings are.
Driving down one slot there is an opposite dunker and opposite corner. When the dunker defender rotates and the helper helps off the corner, that exposes the open corner three.
"Hit the roller and skip." We see this a lot in Boston with Al Horford. Oliver calls this "Tim Duncan." At about 2:59 in the above video, Thomas and Horford run PnR into a pass for a corner 3.
On the pick-and-pop with the big, if you have a big who can drive, there's a there there (because it creates a closeout). Oliver notes that (for his team) the pick-and-pop from the top three point percentage is lower than the wing catch-and-shoot three.
"Any shot outside the lane, I would never jump at." Why? The number of blocked shots is low and the number of fouls is high. The whole "never foul a jump shooter" concept has an edge. "There is no talent for not going for a shot fake."
Enormous sample size of data to mine in the NBA leads to more credible conclusions.
Terms:
"Veer" (a coverage) or an emergency switch. On the high ball screen, the guard can't recover to his man and gets under the big. "Absorb and contain." This may need to a secondary switch (e.g. getting the 4 onto the roller and the guard switches out). Saint uses the term "scram" for this. Oliver says, "it's not that hard IF you communicate."
NITE communication: NAME first alerts the action...NAME INFORMATION TONE EYE contact.
Oliver, "coaches give too much general feedback."
Trust components: 1) Authenticity 2) Logic (explain the why) 3) Empathy (put yourself in their shoes)
Connection restores the joy for the player. NBA players want to play well and not playing well gnaws at their identity...understand that performance affects identity.