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

Today's edition covers:

🏀 "PNR Cutting: Part II" - Advanced Cuts

🏀 Inside the Episode: Zico Coronel

🏀 Best of the Week

🏀 And more!

Let's dive in...

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PNR Cutting - Advanced Cuts

(To get complete access to every video tagged in the newsletter, as well as over 400 more on SGTV, you can become a member of the thriving SG Plus Community of coaches for less than $30 a month HERE)

Last week we dove into Part I of our PNR Cutting breakdown, which featured highly effective and foundational uses of "45" and "Corner" Cuts around various PNR situations. Today's breakdown builds upon those fundamental actions and explores cuts of a more intricate nature.

If last week's cuts are the Rolling Stones', "three-chord rock n' roll" of PNR cutting, today's are closer to some Louis Armstrong jazz played in a smoky backroom club in Chicago.

#1 - Gravity Cut - Strongside Corner

Up first is a simple but clever Strongside Corner Cut while the ball is going away from the 2- player side. In this situation the offense is using the cut as a way to clear space for the ballhandler to continue attacking downhill against a Drop Coverage...

Zooming In: In almost every other instance, when a player makes a cut they do so by leaving a spot on the floor and filling another. This Strongside Corner cut is a bit unique in that the player is cutting and then replacing themselves in the same spot they left. The reason this cut is effective is that it makes it difficult for the Strongside Corner defender to plug the gap as the ballhandler attacks downhill against a Drop Coverage. Cutting to the block and then replacing back to the Corner opens up a gap for the ballhander and continues to keep the PNR a 2 v. 1 game with the 5 rolling. Another reason this action works so well is the simultaneous backside lifts from the other two offensive players as the Big Rolls. Looking at the GIF above you can see how the lift from the backside corner elevates the Tag Defender enough to open up a passing lane for the dunk.

#2 - "45 to 45" Shallow Cut

To combat an aggressive trapping or hedging defensive coverage, another crafty PNR action is the "45 to 45" Shallow Cut run underneath the ballscreen...

And another way teams can run this action is to add a coinciding "Corner Cut" to the "45 to 45" Cut to clear out a side of the floor...

Zooming In: In both "45 to 45" Shallow Cut actions the offense is essentially toying with the defense in terms of who the "Tag" defender should be as the Offensive Big rolls to the rim. One defensive tactic teams have used to handle a Shallow Cut is to have the Defender guarding the Shallow Cutter stay and bump or tag the roller at the Nail. This tactic can leave the "45 to 45" cutter open as the release pass on any hedge or trap. In the first GIF this leads to a somewhat easy extra pass for a layup to the 5, and in the second GIF, the Corner Cut coupled with the "45 to 45" Cut completely removes and confuses both Tag Defenders on the Roll.

#3 - "Corner to 45" Shallow Cut

Another interesting cut in the "Shallow Cut" family is the "Corner to 45" action where a shooter sprints from the weakside corner to the opposite wing underneath the PNR...

Zooming In: This is another tricky way for the offense to get two behind the ball, much like in the Obradovic Spacing, but by, again, adding a layer of confusion as to who should be the Tag Defender on the Roll. Looking at the GIF above, if the Shallow Cut defender stays to bump the roll, then they do so at the risk of leaving their shooter unoccupied on a throwback.

Zooming In 2.0: It's worth mentioning how great the offensive detail and timing is on this type of cut. Bayern Munich, coached by recent podcast guest Andrea Trinchieri, does a great job of not cluttering the lane for the rim roller while also keeping great spacing around the ballhandler.

#4 - "Corner to Corner Exchange"

The last cut we'll look at works especially well with a "Short Roll" and again against a hedging coverage. Often times the Short Roller is tagged/bumped by one of the defenders on the 2-player side of a PNR, but with a "Corner to Corner Exchange" taking place at the same time as the PNR there can be confusion as to who should be staying to help on the short roll, leaving shooters open on an extra pass...

Zooming In: For players who are great passers in the short roll, like former podcast guest Kyle Hines shown above, this is a great action to get the ball into the heart of the defense with less traffic on the catch.

For much more on all these cuts, here is today's newest deep-dive breakdown on SGTV...

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​Tactical

📺 Slam vs Jerusalem - Creating Isolation Space​

"In their recent FIBA Champions League matchup, both teams opened with isolation sets. Using screens & cuts to open up driving gaps."

➕Pair with: Coach Oren Amiel's playbook last season with Nymburk.

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📺 Partizan - Horns Dive and Pop​

"A simple but effective action to put a stretch 4 man in space to rip & attack on the pop. Fill the corners and have the big create a driving gap by sealing his defender out on the dive."

➕Pair with: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on the offensive and defensive concepts of Zeljko Obradovic during his time with Fenerbahce.

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📺 Brad Stevens - BLOB 1-3-1 Matchup Zone​

"Under Brad Stevens the Celtics utilized a 1-3-1 Matchup Zone on BLOB the past few years."

➕Pair with: Our podcast conversation with Brad Stevens, on making adjustments and mental health.

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Interesting Reads

📚The Longest Winning Streak In College Basketball Belongs to... Yeshiva ​

*Note: A big thank you to Yeshiva Head Coach, Elliot Steinmetz, for giving us a mention in this ESPN article. Coach Steinmetz was our first ever guest on the Slappin' Glass Podcast.​

➕Pair With: Our deep-dive breakdown of Yeshiva's terrific Motion Offense. ​

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📚 NBA Offenses are in a Funk. Will it Last?​

"At a glance, it would appear the gains of the last five years have been almost entirely erased in a single offseason. But is this really the case? Is the league about to experience its first true drop in offense during the modern spacing era?"

➕Pair With: Our breakdown of Team USA's Offense in this this Summer's Olympic's.

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📚Pain Plus Reflection Equals Progress​

"You have a choice: You can prefer that the people around you fail to point out your blind spots, or you can prefer that they do. If you want them to, it’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s going to be awkward. It’s going to hurt. Embracing this approach, however, means that you will learn faster and go further."

➕Pair With: This great article from former podcast guest and ACB player Mike Carlson on how players learn for struggle. ​

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We headed to Japan in this week's newest Slappin' Glass podcast as we sat down with the the assistant coach for the Shimane Susanoo Magic, Zico Coronel. Coach Coronel joined the Magic in Japan after winning the the NZNBL Title as the Head Coach of the Wellington Saints in New Zealand. Coach Coronel brought his championship pedigree to the podcast as we talked about a variety of subjects including:

• Coaching and Motivating Underperforming Players: A discussion about coaching players who are not meeting expectations for whatever reason, and the types of approaches coaches can use to get them performing at a higher level.
• Choosing a Tactical Approach to a Season: We talk about the how Coach Coronel thinks about choosing a certain tactical strategy from season to season. We work through questions about personnel, style of play, and much more.
• Defending Ghost Screens: A part of our "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" segment included a discussion on how to defend the ever popular "Ghost Screen". Coach Coronel talks about how important it is to dislodge the screener before the action ever takes place, as well as other thoughts on defending "grey area" situations.
• Attacking the Switch: In this video breakdown, Coach Coronel details why he prefered to play through the 2nd side before attacking the mismatches generated by the initial PnR switch. Finding success in generating a post duck in against the smaller defender...

• And much much more...

You can listen to our entire conversation with Coach Coronel here...

Listen to Zico Coronel

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​For members of SG Plus we are excited to be joined by Ireland U18 National Team Head Coach and former podcast guest, Paul Kelleher, for November's Live Q&A! Coach Kelleher recently implemented "Peel Switching" into his defensive scheme and we'll begin the session with his thoughts, teaching points, and advice for implementing "Peel Switching" into your coverage. As always, this will be a free flowing conversation so bring your questions!

Details:

When: Sunday, November 14th

Time: 8am PST/17:00 Central European Time

Where: Private Zoom Link will be posted in the "Coaches Corner" this week!

Featured Topic: Installing and Teaching the "Peel Switch"

You can watch the replays of past Q&A Sessions with Fran Fraschilla, Steve Donahue, Moncho Fernandez, Ryan Pannone, and Tobin Anderson here...

Q&A Replays!

Speaking of the "Coaches Corner", a couple of other great questions and discussions popped up this week including...

• From Coach Camara asked the questions "As an assistant coach, what type of tendencies do you look for in the opposing team?" Read and join the discussion here...

Looking for Tendencies

• ​Coach Dettering shared his thoughts and experience with making film sessions more engaging for players in the "Marketplace". Coach Dettering is also the creator of the Hoopsalytics System, which you can read more about as well...

Making Film Engaging!

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Thanks for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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