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

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

ICYMI: Last week we studies the defensive strategy of switching guard-to-guard hand-offs or pitches in order to ICE the subsequent ballscreen. Read the full newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Drag Screen Slips - Plant & Go Footwork​

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast - Bob Levant {Author & Performance Coach}

🥇 Best of the Week: Rip Replace & Blocker Mover​

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Drag Screen Slips

The Drag Screen is an action that sounds simple on it's surface: space to corners and wings and run into a screen for the ballhandler. But, if the details are overlooked it's also an action that can turn into a bit of a frustrating, ball-stopping mush of early offense.

So, how can coaches optimize this action as both an entry point into the offense and a legitimate scoring threat capable of puncturing the defense early and creating a chain reaction of offensive opportunities?

One way, which we will highlight today, is through a well-timed and executed Slip Screen. Often, the biggest challenge with a Drag Screen is coordinating the proper screening angle between the big and the point guard to create an "over" (defender chasing over the screen). By slipping out at the right moment, the offense can generate early confusion for the defense, maintain the pace of transition, and apply pressure on the rim through either the cut or penetration.

When to Slip?

With poor screening bigs, the answer might often be to always slip, as it might be better to just slip out and create space rather than clog the area with a subpar screen. However, the ideal conditions for a successful slip typically occur when the big is trailing the ballhandler, sprinting down into the screening area, and the defensive big has yet to establish any physical presence on the screener—allowing the big to move freely without any interference.

Zooming In: Show above, with the defensive big waiting at the 3-point line, the screener has the freedom to move in and out of the screening area unimpeded. Failure by the defensive big to establish a physical presence early makes it difficult to disrupt the movement later, while also splitting attention with the ballhandler.

Zooming In 2.0: The fluidity and execution of the movement works particularly well, especially with bigger bodies, when trailing the play. As will be the main topic today, the trailing angle lends itself nicely to slip but the effectiveness of the slip lies in the ability of the big to transition in and out of the screening area with pace.

Get Out! - "Skip & Go" Footwork

What will ultimately determine the effectiveness of the slip is how well the screener can control their movement when sprinting in and out of the screening area. This boils down to their footwork, which will unlock their ability to change pace, control their movement, and effectively burst out of the screening area.

In today’s video breakdown, we highlight two of the more common footwork patterns of elite "slippers." The first is a three-step footwork, consisting of a long stride followed by two short choppy steps to plant and burst out of the screening area. The second is the "Skip & Go" footwork, which we will take a closer look at for the purposes of today’s newsletter.

The goal of any preferred footwork when slipping is to create a movement pattern that brings the screener close enough to the guard to sell the illusion of the screen without making contact, while also controlling their momentum to enable a smooth change of direction and pace when slipping out.

With this in mind, one fascinating footwork concept we enjoyed studying is what we’ll call the "Skip & Go." In this move, the trailing big, assessing the distance to the on-ball defender, uses a skip to enter the screening area. This skip effectively changes their pace and allows them to load their outside foot. Upon landing, the screener plants, swivels their hips, and pushes out of the screen.

Zooming In: Depending on the location of the screen or the athlete's preference, the screener initiates the slip with a single-leg skip into the screen, ultimately landing on the outside foot to burst out of the screen and begin sprinting toward the rim.

Priming the Athlete

With any footwork pattern or athletic movement, a player’s physical capacity ultimately determines the most effective technical approach for them. When analyzing this specific footwork pattern—particularly how the screener must move out of a slip to sprint behind the big and apply pressure on the rim—we noticed a strong resemblance to concepts covered in our video series with Athletic Performance Coach, Nik Popovic {🎧}. In that series, we focused on foundational techniques and drills {🔒} designed to prepare players for the physical demands of basketball, including strategies to improve efficiency when transitioning in and out of various positions.

Zooming In: As demonstrated in the top left by Coach Popovic, to maximize efficiency when changing speed and direction while slipping out of a screen, the screener should position their inside foot toward their intended direction—in this case, the rim. This proper foot placement enables the screener to transition seamlessly into a sprint, eliminating the need for adjustments in foot or hip positioning during the second stride.

Creating Dominos

Throughout today's deep-dive of the "Skip & Go" Slip Screen, we see several examples of the slip leading directly to assisted finishes at the rim or open three-point attempts. While these represent ideal outcomes, the screener's ability to properly execute a slip and apply early pressure on the rim will inevitably force the defense to collapse in an effort to contain the roll and support the recovering big. This defensive compression forces the defense to defend from the inside out, weakening their ability to disrupt subsequent actions. As a result, the offense benefits from improved flow, greater freedom of movement, and opportunities to attack longer closeouts.

To dive deeper into these two Slip Screening footwork techniques, SG+ Members can now view the full breakdown on SGTV!

Together with Dr Dish

This February secure your own Dr. Dish CT+ for as low as $3,900 down when using Dr. Dish’s Buy Now, Pay Later payment plan options. These plans are for schools only and have zero interest, no monthly payments, and no hidden fees.

Slappin' Glass Podcast

Last week we sat down this week with author and performance consultant for some of the best coaches in the NBA and NCAA, Bob Levant. In this highly insightful conversation we dive into Bob's thoughts on building emotional IQ, the role of fear in coaching and leadership, responding vs. reacting, and discusses "dripping" culture daily to your team and sticking to the process during the always fun "Start, Sub, or Sit?!"

Together with Hudl

The transfer portal has changed the landscape of college basketball and professional scouting and Hudl Instat is here to help. Find and scout the future of your team with robust search tools, then keep track of your prospects on a virtual board. You can access all of your prospects' recent games and highlight videos as soon as they are uploaded right from your office. With video from over 460 international basketball competitions, you can rest assured that the perfect player for your program is just a click away. Visit Hudl to get started today.

Tactical

📺 Shuffle - Rip Replace​

"A Rip Replace action to bring the shuffle cutter back to the ball."

✚ Pair With: Virtus Bologna using two screeners in the shuffle action to set up a subsequent veer screen for a shooter.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on the Shuffle Cut Offense and Alba Berlin's use of the Shuffle Cut.

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📺 Turnout • Blocker Mover - Baseline Stagger​

"A Blocker-Mover action initiated out of the Turnout entry to set up a baseline staggered screen."

✚ Pair With: Lithuanian club, Lietkabelis, using the turnout/diamond alignment to screen for the player on top.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Unicaja Malaga's Arrive Offense and Turnout for the Top Player.

Interesting Reads

📚 Athletes and Career Success​

"Gompers, a standout former runner at the College, points to six factors that could contribute to athletes’ career success: resilience, built by dealing with losses and training through adversity; the support and friendship of teammates on and off the field; a commitment to teamwork; long-term goal-setting to achieve excellence; a willingness to take instruction from a coach or mentor in order to improve performance; and efficiency and organization—because athletes’ academic commitments come on top of many hours of weekly practice."

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📚 How to Survive a Nate Oats Practice with Alabama Basketball​

"After the first practice with Oats, Johnson returned to his dorm room that spring night in 2019 and made a proclamation to his friends.

This guy’s legit. We’re going to win.

Johnson saw not only how hard Oats ran practice but how he ran practice."

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📚 The Art of Calling Out Room Dynamics​

"Discover how naming what's happening in the room can defuse tense meetings, improve team dynamics, and elevate your leadership skills. Learn practical tips from an experienced tech leader on using this powerful communication technique to transform difficult conversations and drive better outcomes."

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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

We're proud to partner with the leading Sports Travel company in the basketball world, Beyond Sports! Follow the link above to learn more about why more than 600 universities have trusted Beyond Sports for their team's foreign trips. Let them know Slappin' Glass sent you!

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