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Welcome to the Slappin' Glass Newsletter, exploring basketball's best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world.

We're headed out to Las Vegas for the NBA Summer League this week and looking forward to watching games and hanging with coaches!

Today's edition will cover:

• Perth's Flex Offense: Video and Breakdown
• Olympic Trends: Defending Dončić
• Inside the Episode: Simon Mitchell
• Moncho Fernandez Q&A + JVG Mastergroup
• Best Sets of the Week
• Watch | Read | Quote

Let's dive in...

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Perth's Dynamic Flex Offense

Australian basketball has thrust itself onto the international basketball stage in recent years, becoming one of the "must-study" countries in the world. From the success of the Australian National Team, to the media/TV deal the NBL recently inked with ESPN, Australian basketball is drawing attention from coaches and fans around the world for their passionate, clever, and entertaining style of play.

And while much of the basketball world is running some form of "5-Out", "Princeton" or "Euro Ballscreen" offense, one of the winningest teams in the Australian NBL has been finding success with an "old school" offense... Flex.

Perth's Head Coach for the past 8 season, Trevor Gleeson, was recently hired by the Toronto Raptors and has enjoyed a fantastic run in the NBL. Today we peek under the hood of his Flex Offense at the reads, rules, and variations that's made it so dynamic.

The full video and analysis extends into Perth's:

• Speed Cuts and Initial Flex Alignment
• 2nd Cut Patience and Reads
• Full 2-Man Game Options
• UCLA Action
• Triple Screen Action
• Double Curls
• "GUT" DHO's and Pin Downs

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Defending Dončić - PNR Decisions

Luka Dončić continued to show why he is one of the top players in the world over the past few weeks, helping lead Slovenia to their first Olympic Final Four appearance ever. Along the way, opposing coaches chose a variety of ways to attempt to slow both Dončić and the high-powered Slovenian offense.

It's a complex task, specifically in the PNR, as Dončić, at 6'8, possesses the ability to read and manipulate any PNR coverage with the option to either score himself or set up a teammate for an easy shot or finish. And, not only does he have the ability to make all required plays and passes, he also has the willingness to give the ball up at the right time. The combination of skill, poise, and unselfishness makes any PNR with Dončić an extremely difficult problem for opposing coaches, but...

So, depending on personnel, defensive philosophy, and "time and score", here's a few of the interesting strategies teams used to defend a great player in "must-win" games by electing to...

1. Eliminate Luka
2. Switch and Live with Luka
3. Eliminate the Roller

Option 1: "Eliminate Luka" - Spain & France

Spain - "Box and One"

The first decision we saw teams make, especially in the way of Spain, was to "eliminate Luka" completely as a scorer and decision maker in the PNR. Spain consistently forced Luka to give the ball up to someone else to be a decision-maker with their "Box and 1" coverage...

Zooming In: Luka still nearly recorded a triple-double, but the game plan was clear that Spain was not going to let Dončić operate against a switch or drop coverage. Though a "Box and One" is risky, the coverage makes a lot of sense when considering the personnel of Spain's bigs, Marc and Pau Gasol. Coach Scariolo and staff likely did not want to take their chances of Dončić operating against either Gasol in a switch or drop situation, and neither one is at a point in their careers where trying to Hard-Hedge all night would be productive either. The "Box and One" gave Spain the chance to keep the Gasol's as rim protectors while also doubling the ball out of Dončić's hands with smaller, more athletic defenders.

Credit to Dončić, as he was willing enough to give the ball up early to Mike Tobey on a short-roll where the ball could be sprayed to Slovenia's shooters.

France - "Hedge Outer 1/3 Reverse Screens"

France was finally able to slow down Slovenia in their thrilling semi-final win over them. Anchored by a terrific defender and rim protector in Rudy Gobert, France used a variety of different coverages on Dončić throughout the night. One specific coverage they used to "eliminate Luka" in the PNR, was to use a "Hard Hedge" during an "outer 1/3 Reverse Screen". Here's a look...

Zooming In: France used plenty of "Drop" and Switch coverages with Gobert throughout the game, but here they strategically used the sideline as a third defender to try and get the ball out of Dončić's hands. With three defenders stacked in help, Hedging on the outer 1/3 screen can be less risky than hedging in the middle 1/3 of the floor and offer greater rim protection while the big is recovering from the perimeter.

Option 2: "Switch and Live"

France - Drop to Switch

Teams that had the personel, or where comfortable "living with Luka" isolating against a switch found a number of ways to do so. France, once again, has the luxury with Gobert to mix up coverages. Rather than bring Gobert all the way onto the perimeter to switch on Dončić, where Luka could use his speed advantage to pull Gobert from the rim, France let Gobert play in a "Drop" coverage on middle PNR's and switch out late once Dončić was inside the three point line...

Zooming In: This "Drop to Switch" coverage helped keep the Middle PNR a "2 v. 2" game and allowed the rest of France's defenders to stay attached to Slovenia's perimeter shooters. And...sticking with the theme of this segment, France was willing to "live with Luka" shooting tough mid-range jumpers over Gobert. This coverage is similar to what the Milwaukee Bucks did throughout the later parts of their Finals series with the Suns, shrinking the floor to a 2 v. 2 game and living with a Chris Paul or Devin Booker contested mid-range shot.

Option 3: "Eliminate the Roller"

Germany and Argentina: "Jam and Under"

Slovenia also benefited the entire Olympics from the play of Mike Tobey at the center position. Tobey can finish at the rim on a roll, hit the 15-17 foot jumper consistently on a pop, and make good decisions on a short roll catch. So, the other tactic seen with a Dončić PNR with Tobey was to "eliminate the roller" as an option with a "jam and under" coverage. This was used at times by both Germany and Argentina. Here's a look at Germany...

And here's Argentina...

Zooming In: A couple of reasons a team may employ this "jam and under" are:

• Avoids an unwanted switch

Both Germany and Argentina, like Spain, had bigs on their roster that they didn't necessarily want switching out onto the perimeter all night against Dončić, so this "jam and under" helps keep the matchup they'd prefer.

• Eliminates the "rim threat" by the roller

With Dončić's size, scoring, and ability to throw "late-decision" lobs to a roller at the rim, jamming the roller helps eliminate at least one, and often the most dangerous, option at his disposal once he gets into the paint. This is a tactic aimed at forcing Dončić to be a scorer in traffic without the option to throw a late-lob once a help defender commits.

The Olympics have been a lot of fun to watch, and we'll have more in the coming weeks about the tournament, but it has been especially interesting to see what some of the best coaches in the world do tactically to try and slow a terrific player like Luka Dončić. Even more interesting because many of these teams don't have the same athletes that the NBA does to simply switch the PNR.

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Inside the Episode: Simon Mitchell

Our love of Australian basketball extended beyond Perth's Flex Offense this week, as we had the opportunity to sit down with another fantastic coach in the NBL, South East Melbourne's Simon Mitchell. Coach Mitchell led SE Melbourne to the NBL playoffs this past season in only the second year of the club's existence. Here's a peek inside the episode...

3 Key Tactical Concepts:

1. The Fundamentals of Great Cultures: Coach Mitchell discusses the planning, implementation, and execution of SE Melbourne's basketball culture both on and off the court. We dove into the types of players and personalities he targeted in his first two seasons at the helm and how Coach Mitchell worked with all members of the organization to establish a winning culture. One of our favorite conversations on culture yet.
2. Generating Offensive Pace: SE Melbourne has been an offensive powerhouse in the NBL the last two season thanks to an upbeat and entertaining style of play. We go into detail on Coach Mitchell's thoughts about generating pace early in the offense and why he believes it's so important to do so.
3. Transition "GET" Action and DHO's: Within our conversation about generating pace we also discuss Coach Mitchell's love of "GET" Action and DHO's early in an offensive possession. Some terrific insights on when, why, and how he teaches these actions.

2 Key Quotes from Coach Mitchell

1. On holding people accountable: "Culture in a nutshell is behaving. Walking the walk, talking the talk. If you're going to hold anyone in your organization accountable, one, you go about it respectfully, and two, that the other person that you're holding accountable knows where you're coming from. That you're coming from a place of 'I want this to be better, and I want to win'. And it's from a place of trust and a place of respect."
2. On the "flip or toss to PNR" action: "The little flip or toss pass...it's such a hard one to defend. I love that action because teams will come in to a game (saying) 'we're going to defend a DHO this way, we're going to defend a pass-and-follow action this way'. But when you get that little 'toss-pass' or flip, that's somewhere in between, and you might get a little miscommunication from the defensive side of things."

1 Interesting "Start, Sub, or Sit"

• Topic: Favorite National Team to Study
• Choices: Spain, France, or Italy
• Coach Mitchell's "Start": France

Here are the links to listen to the full "Start, Sub, or Sit?" segment and our full interview with Coach Mitchell...

Listen to Simon Mitchell

We also did a deep-dive breakdown of Coach Mitchell's high-powered offense a couple months back, which you can watch on SGTV as well...

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We're excited for this month's Live Q&A in the Coaches Corner with Moncho Fernandez, Head Coach of Obradoiro in Spain's top professional league, the ACB! Coach Fernandez is one of the great minds in the game and has graciously offered to speak and field questions with SG Plus Members.

When? Thursday, August 19th, 1:30pm Eastern/19:30 Central European

Who? Free for all SG Plus members!
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We had Coach Fernandez on the podcast last year, and have done a couple of deep-dives into his playbook and "4-Corner PNR" offense. Here are the links to all of those...
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Prep Material:

• ​4 Corners Pick n Roll Offense​
• ​Obradoiro Playbook ​
• ​Podcast Interview​
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We're really looking forward to connecting with you all and learning from one of the best coaches in Europe. See you soon!

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Speaking of learning and connecting, we're excited to partner with Jeff Van Gundy to offer a unique opportunity for SG Plus members this fall! Fresh off calling another fantastic NBA Finals, as well as spending time with Team USA in Japan, Coach Van Gundy has seen the highest level of basketball over the past couple months and has graciously offered to lend his expertise and insights to coaches who are SG Plus members. (*must submit an application, extra costs apply to Mastergroup)

What are the sessions?

• A small group of coaches will join us and Jeff Van Gundy in 3 x 90-minute private sessions over the course of three months (one session per month starting in September).
• In addition to the 3 sessions with JVG, the Mastergroup also includes 3 x 30 minute follow-up/prep sessions with us to talk through learnings, insights, film, and more from the JVG sessions.
• Each JVG Session will be themed around a specific topic...
  • Session 1 (September): Pre-Season Planning
  • Session 2 (October): All things Offense
  • Session 3 (November): All things Defense

We'll be taking applications from SG Plus members only until August 27th.

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Best Sets of the Week

The best we saw from the week that was, including another look at Perth and a clever ATO post set. An always fun collaboration with Coach Cody Toppert, looking at Kyle Hines and Julius Randle playmaking out of the inverted screen. Lastly, Coach Simon Mitchell explains a few ways his team combated Melbourne United's aggressive DHO defense.

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Watch | Read | Quote

Watch

📺 Linfield (NCAA DIII)

📺 Canada WBB National Team

Read

📚 From Morgan Housel: Why We're Blind to Probability​

📚 From Shane Parrish: Adding Too Much Value​

📚 From The Ringer: No Bull: Chicago's Reshaped Roster Could Be a Threat​

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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