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

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

ICYMI: Last week we looked at Telekom Bonn's "Hedge & Plug" PNR Defense, which dove into how they apply pressure on the ball with the defensive big and tasking the on ball defender with momentarily plugging the short roll passing lane. View the full breakdown HERE.

Today at a Glance:

🚨 Gonzalo Rodriguez Training Camp and Season Mentorship

🔒 SG Plus Content: Utah Jazz - 5 Out Top Flare

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Sito Alonso {UCAM Murcia}

🥇Best of the Week: DHO Peels & Empty Side 77

📋 Job Board: Full-Time International Assistant Coach Position Open!

Let's dive in...

We are excited to announce two exciting new mentorship opportunities for SG Plus Members with Obradoiro Assistant Coach, Gonzalo Rodriguez! After a highly success first program with Coach Rodriguez this past May, we're happy to offer two different mentorship opportunities this upcoming season:

A 5-week small group "Training Camp" Mentorship (August 22 - September 19) and/or
A 7-month Season-Long program (October - May)

Coach Rodriguez has over 30 years of experience as a coach and more than a decade in Spain's top division, the ACB. For a better understanding of the program and what it will entail, view a sneak peek into last sessions program HERE.

To learn more about each program, including our early bird pricing become a member below...

Join SG Plus!

Space is limited and preference will be given on a "first come, first serve" basis. Applications close August 14th.

Utah Jazz - 5 Out Top Flares

Whether it's helping build advantages in Delay, being sprinkled into backside action during a PNR, added to the always tricky Ghost screen, or layered into a large variety of offensive actions... Flares have been sitting at the cool kids' table these days and showing up to parties in the deepest of V-Necks...

The benefits of the Flare is something we enjoyed discussing in one of the most popular podcasts from last year with Virtus Bologna/Spanish NT Head Coach, Sergio Scariolo as well. The blind nature of the screen and its ability to take advantage of defenders jumping to the ball makes well-timed Flare screens an absolute nightmare for defenses to solve in real-time.

Enter Coach Will Hardy and the Utah Jazz's use of the Top Flare screen in both Transition and Half Court Offense to create quick advantages and connect actions.

Playing to the strength of their roster, this past season Coach Hardy was able to run out lineups with four, sometimes five shooters on the court, giving them the ability to play positionless and prioritize shooting in the trail position. The Flare Screen became a devastating weapon to take advantage of their offensive versatility.

Transition Offense Effectiveness

We have come to appreciate offensive actions or concepts designed to take advantage of sound defensive principles. Since most defenses are taught in transition defense to load up to the ball and/or get to the nail to stop the initial thrust of the break, the Jazz skillfully use this principle to their advantage by flowing into a flare screen on that top defender. As shown in the GIF above, both defenders are focused on the ball, with the trail defender heavily loaded up at the nail, leaving them in a poor position to defend against the flare screen.

Another important detail is making sure the corner is filled, flattening the defense to the baseline behind the top flare screen and making it very difficult for the corner defender to provide help or a stunt at the shooter...

Zooming In: In the above example, with Kelly Olynyk properly spaced to the corner, the rotation up to wing for Zion Williamson is too great to expect a reasonable stunt without opening up the corner 3.

Even when attacking set defenses, the Jazz found success with the flare screen by masking it in a number of different triggers or initiations to bait the defense into jumping towards/watching the ball. These triggers came through the use of a simple DHO (shown above) or flowing into the flare screen via a "Pistol Keep"...

Zooming In: Above is a great example of the trail defender caught loading to the nail and watching the ball.

Positionless Attack

With Olynyk and Lauri Markkanen often sharing the court at the same time, the Jazz played a lot of Three "Big" lineups, and sometimes had two players running to the trail position. In such situations, the flare screen served as a solution to help get themselves in proper spacing while also maintaining pressure on the defense.

To further that point, the Jazz's early flares maintained effectiveness even when running their wings, guards, or "smalls" in the trail spot. The flare screen is not an action dependent on positional size to be effective, because, as mentioned early, its blind nature makes it difficult to switch. Defenses trying to switch out to a shooter off the flare can find themselves vulnerable to a slip if that top defender doesn't jump/switch under that flare.

In contrast, with "top-down" screens, the offensive player is running off the screen into the switch. However, a flare screen sends the offense away from the switch, creating, at the very least, a closeout situation...

Zooming In: With the screener's defender the only one with vision on the flare, he must linger longer in the screen to hold up any slip possibilities but leaves him chasing out on the pass to the shooter.

For much more on the Jazz's 5-Out Flare, including how they connect the Flare with a variety of their other 5-Out actions, please enjoy this week's newest breakdown on SGTV!

*Big thank you to SG contributor, Ben Ostrow, and his work on this week's breakdown.

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.

Slappin' Glass Podcast

"If the player...realizes he or she has a problem, the coach immediately gives them the solution. And for me, this is the first problem we have. When you are a child, everybody thinks it's the best moment to understand or to learn different language. And because it's the best moment, because your mind is open and it's the best, why, in this age, we don't give them the opportunity to think without our help?" - Sito Alonso

Coach Sito Alonso is widely considered one of the best coaches in the International game, and it goes without saying that we were more than excited to have him join us on the podcast this week. As you'll hear in the episode, the current Murcia Head Coach in Spain's ACB is highly thoughtful on every aspect of the game and went into great detail this week discussing:

In-game play calling and managing an offense
Layering actions into offensive sets
Balancing flow vs. structure
And we talk "sources of creativity", "Post Offense", and "Goalkeeper Defense" during a highly entertaining "Start, Sub, or Sit?!"

Please enjoy the entire great conversation with Sito Alonso here...

Listen Now!

Tactical

📺 DHO Deny & Drop - Backdoor Peels

"Applying the peel switch to an aggressive DHO denial, by dropping the big into centerfields to pick up any backdoor cuts or passes."

✚ Pair With: Applying the Peel Switch to off ball back cuts.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Understanding down the Peel Switch and Denying DHOs with the big.

📺 Iverson Entry - Empty Side 77

"Using the strength of a shooting 4-man to create an empty side high quad shake PNR off the Iverson Entry."

✚ Pair With: Cody Toppert's Double Drag series.

🔒 SG Plus Content: The Art of the Pop with Ben McCollum's NW Missouri State.

Interesting Reads

📚 Everything is Cyclical

"Maybe that’s the cycle: Start with a dream, accomplish that dream, then what was previously considered a dream becomes a new baseline, and the gaze of your ambition moves to the next dream. Inadequacy, hard work, elation. Inadequacy, hard work, elation. Everything is cyclical."

📚 ‘No Joke’: How Chiefs Coach Andy Reid’s Grueling Training Camps Shape Team’s Success

“I think hard work can build unity… You’re up here, you get to room with somebody, you get to eat with them (and) meet with them … You’re always busy doing something, and you’re doing it with your teammates.”

📚 First $1B Contract in Sports: When Will We See This?

"In terms of other sports leagues — unless the Saudis offer $1B to an athlete I think 2067 is a reasonable estimate as well."

Join the conversation, gain insights from others, and help your fellow peers by becoming an SG Plus Member! As we use this community of coaches to make ourselves and our teams better,.

📋 Full-Time International Assistant Coach Position Available!

One of our SG Plus members has posted details of a Full Time Assistant Coaching position that he is interviewing for. Details of the job provided in the post on the Coaches Corner!

Quote of the Week

"Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." - Zen Proverb

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

Slappin' Glass

🏀 Basketball Jazz