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

Happy Sunday and welcome to all the new subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week we released a "Switching Primer," highlighting several considerations and concepts when executing a switching scheme. Read the full Newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Tony Miller - Bob Jones University 2-1-2 Zone Defense​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Shantay Legans {Portland University}

🥇Best of the Week: SLOB Flares & Pistol​

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Mastering The 2-1-2 Zone

We’re excited to dive back into a brand new edition of our unique "Film Room" series this week with Bob Jones University Assistant Coach and A Quick Timeout podcast host, Tony Miller. Together, we analyzed Bob Jones' extended, pressuring 2-1-2 zone defense—a zone that is highly intriguing for its unique blend of concepts from the 3-2 "Monster" Zone and Coach Joe Gallo's 2-3 Zone {🔒}.

With the aid of Coach Miller, we dissected the merits, rotations, and pain points of the 2-1-2 Zone at length. This also included a handful of practice drills designed to implement positional rotations and responsibilities. Below we will highlight a few of the unique characteristics of the Zone and key rotations.

Narrow > Wide

The first thing that stands out with the 2-1-2 is its preference to be narrow and compact versus wide, particularly when the ball is in the middle 3rd. Here's a look...

As Coach Miller explains in today's video, when possession begins in the middle third, the guards extend out and up on the ball, the forwards stay compact on the blocks, and the center positions high between the ball and the rim. Emphasis is placed on the forwards and center maintaining a tight formation, avoiding the tendency to flatten or widen into a more traditional 2-3 alignment.

If the forwards drift too wide, threatening gaps can emerge along the baseline. Similarly, if the center drops too low towards the rim, as we’ll explore later, a vulnerable gap opens in the middle.

The 2-1-2 Zone prioritizes taking away penetrating passes into the heart of the defense. While guards are tasked with disrupting passing lanes and forcing lob passes, the defense is less concerned with ball movement up the floor or even certain types of penetration, as it is quick swings and passes into the heart of the zone that stress its integrity.

Never Square on the Ball

Beginning to look at a few key responsibilities, the guards are tasked with attempting to force long, lob passes along the perimeter to buy time for the zone to rotate behind the pass. With this goal in mind, the two guards position themselves in the passing lanes, never directly square on the ball...

Zooming In: Even when the ball is in the middle, neither guard will square up or match up directly on the ball. Instead, they prioritize acting as passing deterrents and anticipating quick swing passes that could exploit the zone.

And when the forward "taps" out on a wing pass, the guard overtaking the ball will remain on the high side, playing the pass line back to the middle of the court.

Now the obvious question becomes, what about the gap in the middle if the guards are never defending square on the ball?

Plugging the Middle

The center in the 2-1-2 must always plug the middle gap by getting his nose on the outside shoulder of the ballhandler, placing themself between the ball and the rim.

Zooming In: At times, it may appear as though the center is defending the high post, which he would if the ball enters there. However, this is not necessarily his primary responsibility. The center’s main focus is to position himself to defend against penetration and prevent any straight-line passes to the block. This is achieved by staying on the outside shoulder of the ballhandler, impeding both their vision and space to attack.

A Quick Timeout 😉: The center in Bob Jones' 2-1-2 Zone will never lift so high as to give the appearance of a 3-2 formation, but this approach in using the center to plug free throw line and below is similar to how the center is utilized in the 3-2 "Monster" Zone {🔒}.

While the 2-1-2 zone may initially appear to open up middle penetration for perimeter players upon the catch, if the center is executing his role correctly, the gap will quickly close. Here's a clip from a practice segment working on that coverage from the center. The ballhandler should run out of real estate and be forced into contested midrange shots or play blind to the help, as the forwards collapse on the blocks and the guards fan out for deflections.

Peel on Penetration

If the offense does take the bait and penetrates the zone, upon breaking the 3-pt line, the guards will immediately peel out to either the corners or closest perimeter player, looking to pick up steals or get deflections.

As we discussed in our filmroom breakdowns with Merrimack Head Coach, Joe Gallo {🔒}, peel switching has become a crucial concept for the success of any zone defense. To state the obvious, a zone defense is not man-to-man. So, when a perimeter player is beaten beyond their area of responsibility, they should not continue chasing the penetration. Instead, they should shift their attention to picking up deflections by peeling off the drive and into potential kick out passing windows. Zone defenses are built around having a strong presence at the rim, so very rarely will the rim be naked or a drive left unchallenged, freeing the perimeter player to get off the penetration and into pass lanes.

Above, we highlighted just a few key elements that contribute to the success of the 2-1-2 Zone Defense. In today’s Film Room, Tony Miller dives deeper, showcasing numerous other details they emphasize when teaching and executing this zone, including:

• Adjusting their Level of Aggression
• How they Closeout

• Defending Pin and Skips
• Defending Weakside Overloads
• Defending PNR's
• And more

For much more on this unique, suffocating 2-1-2 Zone, SG+ Members can enjoy the full "Film Room" session now on SGTV...

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Slappin' Glass Podcast

We sat down this week with the Head Coach of Portland MBB, Shantay Legans! In this highly entertaining conversation we dive into Coach Legans' thoughts on coaching with an edge, teams becoming an extension of yourself, and explore the "Deep" BLOB defense, along with protecting foul-prone players during the always fun "Start, Sub, or Sit?!"

Listen to the entire conversation here...

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

📺 Phoenix Suns - Diagonal Clear Flare​

"Clever design to clear out a side and flip the Center into a Flare Screen."

✚ Pair With: Flaring the inbound passer off the short corner entry pass.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on the effectiveness of the Flex Offense in sideline situations.

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📺 Manresa - Pistol 4 • Burn & Backcut​

"Play through the 4 in Pistol and use a 45 burn cut to set up a backcut our of the corner for a layup."

✚ Pair With: ALBA Berlin using the Pistol to mask a gut screen for the weakside corner.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown of Manresa creating pace and space off the initial Empty Side Flat Screen in their Flow Offense.

Interesting Reads

📚 9 Techniques to Help You Become a ‘Master of Disaster’ in Any Crisis​

"In the film Bridge of Spies, Tom Hanks plays lawyer James Donovan, who is tasked with defending an accused Soviet spy during the Cold War. In multiple scenes, Donovan is struck by how the spy, Rudolf Abel, remains calm, even in life-threatening situations.

At one point, Donovan asks Abel, 'Do you never worry,' to which Abel responds with, 'Would it help?'

Abel’s repeated response, 'Would it help?' becomes a powerful mantra, demonstrating how staying composed helps him navigate difficult circumstances."

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📚 When was the Last Time You Howled with Laughter?​

"But the thing I love about the kind of howling-in-your-seat laughter I’m talking about is that element of surprise. While I can get behind the practice of actively searching for joy in our daily lives, part of what makes a good laugh session so satisfying is its unplanned nature. It just … happens to you. For me, the best kinds of laughs are summoned by twin elves, Goofiness and Delight, sneaking up on you at the moment when you least expect them."

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📚 So You Want to De-Bog Yourself​

"The try harder fallacy has a cousin called the infinite effort illusion, which is the idea that you have this secret unused stock of effort that you can deploy in the future to get yourself unstuck. I'm always a week late responding to emails? No problem, I'll simply uncork my Strategic Effort Reserve and clear my correspondence debt.

This never works because there is no Strategic Effort Reserve. All of my effort is currently accounted for somewhere. If I want to spend more of it on something, I have to spend less of it on something else. If I’m consistently not getting something done, it’s probably because I don’t want to—at least, not enough to cannibalize that time from something else—and I haven’t admitted that to myself yet."

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Quote of the Week

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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