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

Welcome all the new SG subscribers this week, it's great to have you as part of the community!

Today at a Glance:

🏀 SGTV: Coach Luka Bassin Clinic- Implementing the "Box and 1"​

🎰 Viva Las Vegas: European Trends

🎤 Inside the Episode: Niko Medved​

🥇 Best of the Week: High Quad "Shakes" and "Turnout Entry" Option​

📋 Coaches Corner: July Roundtable Announcement!

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Let's dive in...

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Viva Las Vegas!

We had a blast this past week at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas! If you haven't had the opportunity to attend the Summer League yet, mark your calendars for next summer as it's really turned into one of the coolest events in sports. It was a busy few days attending games, meeting with coaches, and we had fun nerding out about "European Chess Matches" during our presentations at Pure Sweat's Pro Scout School.

At Pro Scout School we took bits and pieces from a number of breakdowns on SGTV to look at a few fun trends in Europe on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. We broke them down into three themes which were:

• "The Battle for the Corner"
  • Offense: We dove into how offenses are utilizing the "Quick Extra Pass" to the corner to create closeouts and attacking opportunities.
  • Defense: We then examined the response by defenses to the Extra Pass by way of "2 v 1 Closeouts" and "Tagging from the Low 2 Man Side."​
• The "Short Roll": A Primer
  • Offense: We looked at the number of ways teams can attack out of the short roll in the form of rim attacks, off-ball cutting actions, unique spacings, and more.
  • Defense: On the flip side, we showed a few ways teams are attempting to minimize the effectiveness of a good short roller. We included the "Don't Help Up" philosophy, as well as different "High and Low I" tagging techniques.​
• Utilizing and Defending "Ghost Screens"
  • Offense: There are so many great ways that teams are using the "Ghost Screen" within an offense, especially in late-clock situations. We looked at a number of these actions.​
  • Defense: With the rise of the "Ghost Screen" on offense, we then broke down a few techniques teams are utilizing to defend the pesky action.​

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to chat about any of the ideas presented...info@slappinglass.com

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Luka Bassin - Implementing the "Box and 1"

This weekend we're excited to add another clinic to the growing list on SGTV, this time from Player Development Coach and Advanced Scout Luka Bassin! Coach Bassin has tremendous experience coaching and working with all levels across Europe and shares with us his thoughts on implementing, teaching, and running a successful "Box and 1" Defense. Below are a few interesting points he makes in the full clinic video.

Rules, Roles, & Responsibilities

Coach Bassin opens the clinic by detailing the Rules and Positional Roles of the Defenders within the "Box and 1," with one of the most important being the assignment of one defender to blanket the chosen "Star" while the remaining four defenders play a match up zone. This matchup zone can be either a "box" or "diamond" depending on the alignment of the offense. This building block of the defense is something Coach Bassin details during his film analysis of the Toronto Raptors' executing the "Box and 1" against the Warriors and Steph Curry...

Defending the "Star" in Screening Action

To have success in running a "Box and 1" the defense must be prepared to defend screens and understand how responsibilities change when the "Star" player both is and is not involved in any type of screening action. One example, is when the "Star" is receiving an off-ball pindown. The "Chaser" will fight over the top while the nearest "zone" defender sells out to prevent the catch and/or curl to the rim...

Another strategy offenses will deploy is to turn the "Star" player into a screener, aiming to free a teammate or shake his defender loose for a catch. Having discipline and understanding responsibilities, the "Chaser" will provide no help, leaving the other defender to fight over the screen or pass off the player to the next defender...

Defending Screening Actions Away from the "Star"

When it comes to navigating screens not involving the "Star" the defense will either switch or go under the action. With these types of screens the defense has made the decision the other four players are less threatening, so a defender should not put themselves in a disadvantage by chasing over any screen or trying deny a pass outside the operating area. The key is to maintain tight positioning within the match up zone...

The Gamble

As touched upon earlier, the "Box and 1" strategy is built on some predetermined, calculated risks, betting that the offense does not have enough shooting, playmakers, or IQ to punish the defense, whether that be for a single possession or over a longer period of time. One example of that gamble, as shown below, is Panathinaikos leaving Ricky Rubio unguarded and daring him to shoot...

Beyond understanding the Rules, Roles & Responsibilities within the "Box and 1", Coach Bassin's 48 minute clinic covers:

• Player requirements for the coverage
• Why to run a "Box and 1"
• When and What time to run a "Box and 1"
• Weaknesses
• Methodology to implementation
• Film analysis

Now available today on SGTV!

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Inside the Episode

It was a great week on the Slappin' Glass podcast as we were joined by one of college basketball's best coaches, Colorado State MBB Head Coach, Niko Medved. Coach Medved and the Rams enjoyed a terrific 21'-22' season where they went 25-6 and enjoyed a trip to the NCAA Tournament. We enjoyed picking Coach Medved's brain on a number or topics including:

• Building Confidence in Your Program: We discuss the process for Coach Medved in instilling confidence throughout a program and the lessons he's learned in doing that along his journey at different stops.
• Staying Seamless on Offense: Coach Medved is considered one of the best offensive coaches in the country, and has a history of having his teams be in the top tier of college basketball in that realm. In this discussion we dive into how he teaches his teams to "stay seamless" in their ability to flow from action to action on offense.
• "Start, Sub, or Sit?!": During this always interesting segment we have fun exploring late-game play calling, maintaining standards, defending DHO's, and more.

Listen to the entire episode with Coach Medved here...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 BC Lietkabelis - Turnout Entry, Executing for the High Man​

"Executing for the top wing out of the turnout entry. Ghosting or Slipping Out of his screen into the Flare."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on BC Lietkabelis' Iversoon Loop Elbow Series.

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📺 Seth Cooper - Attacking the Tag with the High Quad Shake​

"Coach Cooper explaining an ATO they used frequently, starting the shake man in the high quad and occupying the strong side defenders with a corner pin. Opening up the roller to get behind the big in drop coverage."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on 12 Modern Ways to Attack the Tag.​

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Interesting Reads

📚 Humor: A Key to Great Leadership ​

"Laughter accelerates feelings of trust, closeness and comfort. When people share a laugh, their brains release certain hormones — endorphins and dopamine — that emulate the feeling of a runner’s high, or a brief state of extreme joy and delight."

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📚 Lifestyles - by Morgan Housel​

"I have no idea how to find the perfect balance between internal and external benchmarks. But I know there’s a strong social pull toward external measures – chasing a path someone else set, whether you enjoy it or not. Social media makes it ten times more powerful. But I also know there’s a strong natural desire for internal measures – being independent, following your quirky habits, and doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want. That’s what people actually want."

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📚 Jeremy Sochan is the Spurs' Latest International Man of Mystery​

"San Antonio could hardly find a player better suited to follow in the footsteps of the team’s storied international history—be it Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Patty Mills, or Boris Diaw, who embodied the organization’s cultural diversity over the years."

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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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