Exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches around the world

Happy Sunday and welcome to all the new subscribers from around the world! We're excited to have you as part of the community 🙏

For all the new coaches who've joined recently, here are the Top 3 most read newsletters so far in 2024:

1. ​Death By a Thousand (45) Cuts​
2. ​Australia's "Reverse" Offense​
3. ​Inside Job​

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This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Alberto Diaz - DHO & Off Ball Screen Defense​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Stan Van Gundy​

🥇Best of the Week: Ghost Screens & Spain PNR out of the Stagger Screen​

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Let's dive in...

The Helping Hand

In today's newsletter, we're going to dive even deeper into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of effective individual and team defense: handwork. Last week we explored Spanish guard, Alberto Diaz' ability to apply ball pressure and fight through screens {🔒}, and this week we'll look at his strategic use of hands on the defensive end to produce numerous benefits including closing gaps, disrupting passing lanes and applying pressure.

So let's "run it back" this week with Alberto Diaz as we examine the vital role his hands play in navigating through and disrupting dribble hand-offs and off-ball screens.

Getting a Hand into the Mix

Just as in his defense of on-ball screens, Diaz strategically inserts himself into handoffs and off-ball screens by closely shadowing his opponent, positioning himself hip-to-hip, and wedging his hand between his matchup and the handoff or screen.

Zooming In: In the case of DHOs, Diaz leads with his hand, making it difficult for the offense to execute clean exchanges or set effective screens.

When chasing off-ball screens, Diaz gets "skinny" by dipping his inside shoulder and extending his hand out past the screen. This maneuver presents a smaller target for the opposition to screen effectively, thus reducing the likelihood of Diaz getting caught in the screen and allowing him to maintain defensive pressure on his opponent.

Zooming In: By dropping his inside shoulder Diaz avoids running over the screen "squared", which makes him a bigger target to hit. Instead his body is "narrow," or turned side to side, presenting less surface area for the opponent to screen and allowing Diaz to stay in close pursuit.

Zooming In 2.0: Also depicted in the clip above, Diaz's hand consistently leads the way in breaking through screens. Once his hand successfully navigates past the screen, the rest of his body naturally follows suit. This proactive approach enables Diaz to effectively maneuver around screens and maintain his pursuit.

Staying in Pursuit & Running Through Catches

Diaz's utilization of his hands extends beyond simply navigating over screens or handoffs; it also provides him with advantages during his recovery back to the ball handler or post-catch. For instance, as discussed previously, by extending his hand out, he can employ a technique known as the "Chicken Wing" to propel himself back to the ball over any screen.

This involves swinging his elbow into the screener to generate momentum and close the distance more rapidly, enabling him to maintain defensive pressure.

In situations where Diaz successfully navigates through an off-ball screen without being impeded, opportunities arise for him to take a calculated risk and "run through the catch."

Zooming In: This strategy involves Diaz anticipating the intended pass and decisively moving to intercept it before it reaches the intended recipient. Once again, he leads with his hand to break up the pass.

Zooming In 2.0: Diaz demonstrates a greater willingness to take this risk and gamble for the steal when the off-ball screen is carrying the opponent's momentum away from the rim, as seen in examples like stagger screens or zipper screens. If the steal attempt fails, opponents are in a less opportune position to directly rip and attack the rim. This strategic awareness showcases Diaz's ability to analyze the game situation and make calculated decisions on when and how to disrupt the opponent's offensive actions.

If Diaz can't or doesn't "run through the catch" for steals, his next best tactic is to "crowd the catch" and win the momentum battle off the screen. On the catch, Diaz swiftly closes the space between himself and his opponent while simultaneously inserting his hands into the opponent's "halo" to swipe at the ball.

Diaz obviously excels in several aspects of individual defense, including his body balance, physicality, and relentless effort. However, particular attention should be paid to the use of his hands, as they play a crucial role in his defensive effectiveness. His adept use of hand positioning, timing, and activity allows him to disrupt offensive plays, navigate screens with agility, and recover quickly to contest shots or passes.

To continue learning more on Alberto Diaz's DHO and off ball screen defensive techniques, view the full breakdown now on SGTV! {🔒}

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Slappin Glass Podcast

It's always a great week on the podcast when one of the Van Gundy brothers stops by. This week we were joined for the second time on the podcast by Stan Van Gundy, who gave an interview that will no doubt be one we revisit with our notebooks over and over again. In this episode we have fun exploring the areas of:

• Biggest learnings from Stan's first Miami Heat team
• Style vs. Philosophy
• Segmenting a Season
• ​"Seeing All Ten"​
• The Game's Most Efficient Shots
• And much more

Listen to the entire episode here...

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Together with Hudl

We're proud to partner with one of the best tech companies in the world of sports, Hudl! Every play, every stat, every breakdown. On their own, they’re essential. But all together, they’re undeniable. Hudl recently introduced their newest product, Hudl Instat – a new advanced data platform that integrates with Sportscode and every Hudl product you rely on to create an all-in-one data powerhouse. Hudl Instat’s advanced tagging and next-level stat reports help you develop your team – and its global film library helps you find the missing piece to get the most out of every second of film. Visit ​hudl.com/slappinglass​ to learn more.

Tactical

📺 Ghost Screen - Horns • Stagger Entry​

"After catching off the Stagger Screen, sprint the strong side corner player up into a Ghost Screen to create a downhill attacking opportunity or isolation."

✚ Pair With: Bilbao pairing the Ghost Screen with a Get.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on Defending the Ghost Screen.

📺 Gut Stagger Screen - Spain PNR • Corner Exit​

"A common and hard-to-guard play: the Spain PNR with a strong-side corner exit screen, while employing the Gut Stagger screen to initiate and conceal the impending action."

✚ Pair With: Coach Milicic weaving his PG into the Horns screens.

🔒SG Plus Content: Turkish club Gazaintep Basket's use of the Spain PNR.

Interesting Reads

📚 Traditional Leagues: And Their Struggle Against Downstream Development​

"Traditional leagues (NBA, MLB, NHL, NFL) have created a monopoly for themselves as the top players have nowhere else to go. Although in golf (and soon in tennis) we’ve seen that “sports monopolies” aren’t as strong as once believed…With developmental programs in the U.S. taking a downturn because of TikTok and YouTube-styled play, leagues are looking to fix the downstream movement."

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📚 First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge​

"First-principles thinking is one of the best ways to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibility. Sometimes called “reasoning from first principles,” the idea is to break down complicated problems into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up. It’s one of the best ways to learn to think for yourself, unlock your creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results."
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📚 String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis​

"Imagine that you’re a person with preternaturally good reflexes and coordination and speed, and that you’re playing high-level tennis. Your experience, in play, will not be that you possess phenomenal reflexes and speed; rather, it will seem to you that the tennis ball is quite large and slow-moving, and that you always have plenty of time to hit it. That is, you won’t experience anything like the (empirically real) quickness and skill that the live audience, watching tennis balls move so fast they hiss and blur, will attribute to you."
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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

We're proud to partner with the leading Sports Travel company in the basketball world, Beyond Sports! Follow the link above to learn more about why more than 600 universities have trusted Beyond Sports for their team's foreign trips. Let them know Slappin' Glass sent you!

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