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 🙏

ICYMI: Last week, we released Episode 3 of our "Modern Game Truths" series with The Pro Lane on Shooting Under Pressure. View the full breakdown HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Sacramento Kings - Get & Zoom Spacing​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Tyler Gatlin {Tokyo Hachioji}

🥇Best of the Week: PNR Reject Veers & Flare the Inbounder​

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Let's dive in...

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Sacramento Kings- Get & Zoom Spacing

*Big thank you to Coach Ben Ostrow for his work and collaboration of today's breakdown.

Since Mike Brown took the helm in Sacramento, the Kings have emerged as one of the most creative and efficient teams in the NBA. While numerous aspects of the Kings’ offense contribute to their efficiency, one aspect stands out: their adept utilization of "45 cuts." This particular cut remains among one the most prevalent actions in contemporary offenses, and the Kings are among the best at utilizing its effectiveness and versatility in unlocking their Get & Zoom DHO's.

Today we'll explore the variety of ways this space-clearing, rim-attacking cut is used within the flow of the King's offense.

Removing the Nail Defender

The Kings frequently employ high ball screens, Gets, and Zooms as triggers to create advantages, with a 45 cut often baked into each one. The triple threat of these 45 cuts coupled with Sabonis' masterful feel for adjusting handoffs {🔒} and the shooting prowess of their wings, the Kings can consistently generate "overs" and execute downhill attacks out of their Get & Zoom actions.

In response, defenses often resort to plugging the nail to aid the defender chasing hard over the handoff. However, the 45 cut naturally eliminates any potential nail help.

Zooming In: The 45 cut, in conjunction with a Get or Zoom action creates a chain reaction of decisions a defense must make where there is often no right answer. First, does the nail defender want to stay on the nail to prevent the ball handler from getting downhill? If he does, his man likely gets an open layup. If not, this creates a double gap for the ball handler.

Once the double gap has been created, the player guarding the shooter in the corner is faced with a similar dilemma. Does he commit one of basketball’s cardinal sins and help one pass away off the ball side corner? If he does, he gives up an open corner 3, if not he is relying on his teammates' weakside rotations to clean up and prevent a layup.

The sneaky part of this whole action, is that the defender guarding the 45 cutter technically becomes the "low tag" who should be helping on the drive instead of following their man's cut out to the weakside. The Kings are often able to take advantage of these small, but crucial milliseconds of indecision this action creates defensively to attack the rim before that defender is able to get back to contest.

Rescreens

One common coverage to prevent the Kings' ball handlers from getting downhill off a DHO is to go under. The Kings prefer to attack this under by using a rescreen.

Zooming In: In this instance, the 45 Cut happens before the rescreen takes place, still making it an effective cut. Instead of the ballhandler playing into the space the 45 Cut created via a dribble, the roller after the rescreen is able to take advantage of that same space. With this action the Kings create a "single side tag" situation on the backside where the helpside defender is tasked with bumping a roller and then potentially make a long closeout back to the corner/wing. This is an extremely long tag and a very tough rotation to make.

*For more on "Under Solutions", see our Deep Dive on how Olympiacos solves this issue in a similar fashion. {🗞}

Maintaining Flow

Another situation where the Kings utilize 45 Cuts is when their initial action fails to generate an advantage. If no early advantage is created they typically re-center the ball through their Center at the top of the key, maintaining their offensive flow through Gets and DHO's while adhering to their 45 cutting principle. This approach not only facilitates the Kings' ability to rebalance the floor but also ensures they maintain optimal spacing as they seamlessly transition from one action to another.

Zooming In: This principle can also be seen when the center "keeps" the ball off their Gets. As shown above, Sabonis keeps the ball rather than immediately handing it back to Monk on the early Get. Fox (highlighted) still executes the 45 cut allowing Monk to flow into a Wide Split with Murray which turns into Zoom action. Once Murray receives the DHO in the Zoom, Barnes executes another 45 cut creating the same double gap scenario discussed above.

Today's breakdown on Coach Mike Brown's and the King's offense shows how a simple cut can be used in a variety of ways to create space and simpler reads for already talented players. For much more on this 45 Cut and how the Kings break their "3 in a row" spacing, become an SG Plus member...

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Slappin Glass Podcast

Japan has become one of the fastest growing basketball countries in the world, reflected in both the Pro and youth development in the country, so we were excited to bring on Tokyo Hachioji Head Coach, Tyler Gatlin, to the podcast this week to discuss a variety of topics including:

• The Growth of Basketball in Japan
• The Value of 3 v. 3 in Youth and Pro Development
• Creating Advantages for Big Men
• And much more

Listen to the entire episode here...

Listen 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.

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Tactical

📺 Valencia - PNR Reject • Stagger Veer​

"A nice opening set ATO from Valencia Basket last week in their Euroleague match up against Alba."

✚ Pair With: Valencia's use of backcourt screens to create downhill attacks and trail 3's.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on the PNR Reject, from its tactical advantages to player development.

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📺 SLOB - Flare the Inbounder​

"Flaring the inbound passer of the short corner entry pass."

✚ Pair With: Unicaja Málaga's SLOB Corner DHO.

🔒 SG Plus Content: The OKC Thunder & Utah Jazz use of the Flare Screen.

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Interesting Reads

📚 Talent Development of German Coaches​

"5. Great teachers don’t just accept the evidence they’re presented with Top coaches go deeper, show initiative and challenge the status quo to find the best possible version. Even in failing, the attempt at taking the initiative often enlightens a changing of the game."

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📚 Inside the NBA's Chess Club​

"Chess might seem an unlikely pursuit for an NBA star given its historical association with nerdom. But the game has become a fixation in recent years for many of the most talented basketball players in the world, with players across the league cultivating serious chess hobbies—and helping fuel chess’ rise as a spectator sport."

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📚 Untold Stories of Nick Saban​

"He's the epitome of an elite CEO, and one of the greatest things you learn from him is that he has a relentless attack on human nature because his belief in upholding the standards of an organization is as prioritized as it can be. He made it very clear to us that once you don't hold people to that elite standard, an entire organization could fall to pieces. He made sure he kept us on edge, and he challenged us all the time."

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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