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Monday, April 26, 2021

Basketball: Are We Leveraging Hard to Defend Actions?

Have a process to score. The UCONN women find points one-third in transition, one-third on threes, one-third running sets. Yes, Coach Auriemma backstops it with high level talent, but eleven titles show he doesn't just roll the balls out there. 

"Great offense is multiple actions."

Even top professional players have limited points per possession isolation. And they're great. 


NBA leaders, isolation by PPP (minimum 1.5 isolations/game). If the top players in the NBA struggle to generate 1 point per possession in isolation, why expect young players to be better?

What are some actions that are hard to defend? 

Pick-and-roll. The challenge is always twofold, the read and the execution. Mason Waters shares the long version. If you want, put it in your teaching file and come back to it. 

Shorter version but excellent, brief review for teachers and students. 

Give-and-go. "Movement kills defense." 


Jokic is the best since Bird, Sabonis, and Walton at the give-and-go. Even if you only watch fifteen seconds, it's great. Give defenses a chance to make mistakes

Screen-the-screener forces more decisions and reaction


Great actions to free GSW's elite shooters. Throwing back against the grain adds even more deception. 

Screen-the-roller. The downside is the implementation time for younger players. 


You know it as Spain pick-and-roll but teach it as screen the roller.

Staggered screens. I've shown this before and the beauty of this Iverson action was how Pentucket used it to break open a game in the fourth quarter of a post-season game. 

They ran this twice and scored five points in a couple of minutes. 2.5 points per possession.

Back cuts. "Counter overplays with screens and back cuts." Simplify. 

I grew up in a 1-4 high offense which is why I have some love for horns actions. Charlotte implies DHO action and scores off the back cut. This is another great reason to install DHOs to impact defensive decision-making. 



Summary:
  • Be hard to defend. 
  • Have a concrete plan to mine points. 
  • Master the pick-and-roll.
  • Leverage give-and-go.
  • Exploit complex screening - screen-the-screener, the roller, the stagger
  • Defeat over play with back cuts
  • Hold something back for crunch time. 
  • A few possessions decide many games. 

Lagniappe. Spread twin downscreens into give-and-go. 



Lagniappe 2. Preach the primacy of process. Pick, stick, and check our process. 
- Become a learning machine. Read, think and think again, ask better questions.
- Study player development - build athleticism, skill, and game knowledge. 
- Study great teachers - Aristotle, Feynman, Doug Lemov, Wooden, Newell, Knight. 
- Be positive. 
- Share.