Team success mirrors player success. Success follows separation with or without the ball. Few players have athletic gifts allowing separation with speed and quickness alone. Other rely on guile and skill.
Skilled 'screen teams' present a myriad of defensive challenges. No brief article offers more than a survey.
Fundamentals backstop successful screens. Xs and Os without execution are just art. Useful consideration for screeners and cutters:
- Screen the body ("head hunt")
- Sprint to the screen
- Deception (angle into the screen) helps
- Know what angle you're looking to screen
- Be stationary (legal)
- Cutters, say "Wait, wait, wait" for the screen. Better late than early.
- Set up your cut.
- Read the defender - will you curl, back cut, or bump off?
- The screener is the second cutter. Screen for opportunity.
Off-ball screens come in a variety of flavors:
- Cross screens
- Down screens (pin downs)
- Back screens
- Flare screens
- Flat screens (often drag screens in transition)
- Diagonal screens
Examples:
Cross screen
Pistons 15 (1-5 cross-screen, ideal to create 'switchmatch'.
Diagonal screens:
Sequential screening (GSW) with corner rip action created so many great scoring chances for us.
Combination (Flexish):
BOB with flex action with pindown for inbounder.
Flare screen with combination:
Celtics' initial flare screen option with second chance for shooting guard off stagger.
5 Out with ball screen and off-ball hammer
Flat screen:
"But UCLA cuts never work." If cutters don't read the defender and don't cut urgently, then it never works. And when you call the play UCLA, every decent coach knows what's coming.
Phoenix (old video) running through a UCLA set. Hard cuts or casual cuts?
Back screen:
Iverson cut back screen.
NBA teams love backscreen lobs.
Lagniappe (something extra).
The action at 0:37 is particularly beautiful.