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

Happy Sunday! Welcome to all the newest subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we looked at how patient, well-timed jumps can help Hedge and Plug defenses disrupt the offense’s most dangerous next pass and buy the coverage time to recover. View the newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: ICE Coverage Solutions - Rim Sprints​

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Baldur Ragnarsson​

🔑 The Practice Lab: Micro Closeouts

🥇 Best of the Week: Zipper Entry​

But first...

📣 2026 Slappin' Glass SoCal Summit!!

The Slappin’ Glass SoCal Coaches Summit returns August 14–15 to sunny Southern California at Chapman University, presented by Hudl.

Our first four confirmed speakers:

• Alex Pribble — University of Idaho
• Mike Magpayo — Fordham University
• Matt Majkrzak — Northern Illinois University
• Kyle Bossier — Cal Poly SLO

Two days of on-court teaching, film, and coaching conversation. More speakers and event details to follow.

SG+ Members are eligible to receive an invitation. Free newsletter subscribers interested in attending must first join SG+.

Attacking ICE: The Rim Sprint

As long as ICE coverage remains popular we're going to have our eyes glued to teams that have unique ways to attack it, and today we're checking in on one of the most simple and effective solutions that we've come across.

Some solutions are more unique, like Coach Moncho Fernández using a wide reject to trigger off-ball screening actions against the coverage.

Others are much simpler.

Today’s solution is built around taking what the defense gives you and not over complicating it. Against ICE, a well-timed sprint to the rim can be enough to stress the defense’s principles and put the coverage big in a bind. Here's an example...

The solution can also fit a wide range of personnel. The screener does not have to be an elite lob threat or finisher. Sometimes, simply running hard and creating pressure behind the coverage is enough.

Today is all about the sprint, so get to the starting blocks.

On your mark. Get set. Go.

Pressure Cooker

Rim pressure drives many of the best offenses, and ICE creates a clear opportunity to generate it immediately.

The coverage big is often responsible for protecting against two threats at once: keeping the ballhandler from turning the corner while also preventing the screener from getting behind the coverage.

ICE becomes much easier to guard when the screener hesitates. Hanging around the action to pop, short roll, or re-screen gives the on-ball defender time to recover and allows the coverage big to manage both threats.

The immediate rim sprint removes that indecision.

As soon as the on-ball defender shifts into the ICE position, the screener aborts the screening action and explodes to the rim. That sprint creates instant half-court pace and forces the coverage big to make a decision: drop with the screener and concede space for the ballhandler, or stay with the ball and risk giving up something behind the coverage.

The screener does not need to be an elite lob threat for the action to work. Simply getting behind the coverage can create offensive rebounding position, force a late tag, and open space for the ballhandler to attack deeper into the paint.

Sometimes the best answer to a quality coverage is not more complexity. It is recognising the space the defense has already conceded and attacking it before they can recover.

🔐 For the complete breakdown and newsletter, including:

• The screener’s trigger
• The ballhandler’s read
• The opportunities created against the backside tag

Become an SG+ Member for full access.

The Learning Loop

Thoughts from Drew Dunlop in building The Practice Lab

One Brick. One Takeaway. One Tinker.

A mentor once told me, “The day you stop learning is the day it’s time to retire.”

That has stuck with me.

The goal of this space is to show more of what actually goes into building the work.

Not just the clean clips or finished thoughts, but the misses, adjustments, failed assumptions, and small details that help move an idea forward.

Brick

This week I went down a rabbit hole studying the Hedge & Plug {🔒} deep-dive. What started as film study quickly turned into redesigning parts of our workouts around "micro closeouts."

The more I watched, the more I became interested in the tiny positional and spatial advantages these coverages create. How do players recognize them? More importantly, how do they capitalize on them?

We began experimenting with live dribble starts. The first rep the offensive player initiated while the defender reacted. And the next rep the defender became the trigger. I wanted both players working off lateral angles, so the offense had to take an initial lateral dribble before attacking while the defender recovered and reconnected.

From there we progressed to an on the catch finishing setup. The offensive player started without the ball and continuously shuffled side to side, the defender started with the ball, passed it, then stepped up to connect. The offense had to catch on a one-count with only one dribble to solve the problem.

Then, during a conversation with the Slappin' Glass team, someone pointed out an angle I had completely missed.

Not every micro closeout comes from lateral recovery.

Sometimes the defender is simply trying to counter backward momentum after retreating before stepping back up chest-to-chest with the ball handler.

Takeaway

It was another reminder that sometimes the biggest improvements don't come from inventing something new.

They come from changing where players start.

Subtle adjustments to the starting positions of the offense and defense completely change the information players pickup on, the movement solutions they discover, and the decisions they have to make.

Almost immediately I found myself watching Jalen Brunson differently.

Instead of only appreciating the shot he created, I started paying attention to how he attacked UNDERs or defenders re-routing OVER after pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.

His pace, sharp angles, and ability to recognize space allowed him to stretch tiny positional advantages into high-quality scoring opportunities.

Creating a micro closeout is one skill.

Maintaining it, manipulating it, and exploiting it is another level entirely.

Tinker

This is going to be a big area of exploration over the next few weeks.

How do we design more opportunities to attack these micro closeouts from different contexts?

Off the catch.

Off the live dribble.

After a bump.

After a stop.

Out of pivots.

And maybe most importantly...

How can we continue changing the starting positions of both the offense and defense to expose players to a wider variety of these moments?

Together with the NABC

If you’re a basketball coach, you belong in the NABC community!

The NABC is the leading professional development and advocacy organization for coaches, serving over 5,000 members across all levels of basketball.

Why join? Members gain access to the NABC Convention and regional clinics, exclusive awards and mentoring opportunities, valuable discounts, and a voice in shaping the future of basketball.

If you're serious about growing as a coach and staying connected to the game’s biggest conversations, this is where you belong.

Become a member today and make your impact as a Guardian of the Game. Learn more HERE.

🎙10 Lessons from Baldur Ragnarsson

Icelandic professional coach Baldur Ragnarsson joined us on the podcast this week and breaks down how he builds opponent scouts, identifies the passing and scoring patterns that shape a game plan, and prepares teams to execute multiple defensive coverages. He also details his approach to in-season conditioning, basketball-specific strength work, aggressive handoff defense, and applying pressure after made free throws.

Here are 10 lessons from the conversation:

1. Scout passing patterns, not just scoring tendencies. Where a player can and cannot deliver the ball should shape your help, tags, and coverages.
2. Reduce the scout to decisions. Deny the scorer, make the passer finish, run the shooter off the line, and identify which post players require a second defender.
3. Use full games for context and filtered clips for confirmation. Full-game film shows rhythm, substitutions, and flow. Databases fill in the specific tendencies.
4. Keep an identity without becoming predictable. Establish your pressure and aggression, then adjust the coverage to the personnel involved.
5. Add complexity as the season advances. Build energy and habits first. Demand greater opponent-specific precision once the foundation is established.
6. Train coverage flexibility through five-minute games. Change the defensive task each segment and coach between games rather than interrupting live play.
7. Separate teaching from testing. Clean up the tactic during lower-intensity work, then present the same problem unannounced in competitive play.
8. Revisit weaknesses until they hold up under pressure. Recurring problems require spaced repetition across team practice, small-sided play, and individual development.
9. Build physical preparation into basketball actions. Use extended top locks, box-outs, post battles, and body contact to train game-specific strength and conditioning.
10. Pressure the offense before it is organized. Tag all five players after made free throws, disrupt the primary handler, and attack handoffs before they reach the intended receiver.

Listen to the full conversation now on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast.

Together with Hudl

The Month Everything Matters

Peach Jam. Live period. Every circuit peaking at once. This is the month every coaching staff earns their off-season. The difference between programs in July is who's actually organized - who can pull a player's film from the morning session and have it ready for the staff meeting that night. Hudl has exclusive access to EYBL content. Your staff shouldn't be scrambling to find the footage. Hudl puts it all in one place, so you're evaluating instead of searching.

Learn more at hudl.com/slappinglass​

Subscribers to Slappin' Glass can also directly email Winston Jones of Hudl at winston.jones@hudl.com.

Tactical

📺 Zipper Entry - Step Up • Flare Skip or Swing​

"Following the zipper entry and step-up action, flare screen the screener to the deep corner for the skip or swing pass."

🔒 Pair With: Use the zipper entry to create a pinch post catch, followed by a guard-to-guard flare screen at the opposite elbow.

🔒 Pair With: Counter an opponent's attempt to be aggressive and deny the zipper entry with a well-timed backdoor through the post entry.

🔒 SG Plus Content: A few of our favorite breakdowns on Coach Sito Alonso’s use of inverted post screening and his “Spy” or “Goalkeeper” defensive strategy.

Interesting Reads

📚 People Who Get Promoted Do These Things Differently​

People hate uncertainty more than they hate bad news. Your boss can handle problems. What they can’t handle is being blindsided by something they should have known about weeks ago. The ability to manage relationships with those above you isn’t some corporate game. It’s a core skill that separates people who advance from those who stagnate, regardless of their technical abilities. When done well, it reduces friction, builds trust, and creates conditions where everyone can do their best work.

📚 The Only Thing You Need to Get Good At​

To the Stoic, life isn’t a juggling act between a thousand competing concerns. You have one concern, and that’s to tend your own garden, small or large as it is...

As hard as life is, the only refuge you need, or ever have, is your own will to do what you can within your own sphere. That’s all you need to attend to, all you need to think about, all you need to get good at. You carry this refuge with you wherever you go, and nobody can take it away.

📚 Great News For Coaches!!​

Although the relationship between caffeine and cardiovascular health is complex, the latest research indicates consuming up to 5 cups of caffeinated coffee per day (up to 400 mg of caffeine/day) is safe for most adults and may be linked to cardiovascular health benefits in some individuals, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement

Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat, Eric, and Drew

info@slappinglass.com