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Today's edition includes:

Manresa's "Quick Show" PNR Coverage
Best of the Week
Inside the Episode: Paul Mills

Let's dive in...

Manresa's "Quick Show" PNR Coverage

(This week's deep-dive breakdown is sponsored by our partners at FastModel Sports. More after this section on the special offer from FastModel for newsletter subscribers!)

Last year we spent a week breaking down the offensive playbook of Baxi Manresa Head Coach, Pedro Martinez, and their terrific use of cuts and spacing around the Reverse Angle PNR. This week, we revisited Baxi Manresa playing in Spain's top division, the ACB, and changed sides of the ball to look into how they're using the "Quick Show" PNR Coverage in much of their on-ball coverage.

As coaches know, with any successful offense or defense it's not necessarily what you run, but how you run it that separates the great from the good.

In today's breakdown we'll take a look at some of the finer details of Manresa's "Quick Show" PNR Coverage that makes it such a difficult defense to play against; specifically, their use of off-ball stunts, low-tag rotations, ball swipes, and active hands in lane recoveries.

The "Quick Show" Advantage

Last year, in our podcast episode with Indiana St. assistant, Zak Boisvert, covering 2nd Side PNR actions, we discussed the teaching point from G-League Head Coach, Ryan Pannone, who said, "two quick passes beats any aggressive ballscreen coverage."

The podcast conversation centered around ways that teams effectively attack a Hard Hedge or Trap and force the defense into closeouts the rest of the possession. Unlike the Hard Hedge or Trap, the "Quick Show" Coverage aims to NOT have the defense get into rotations and attempts to keep the PNR a 2 v. 2 game as much as possible, similar to a Drop Coverage. The "Quick Show" is similar to the Hedge or Trap in that it tries to prevent the ballhandler from attacking downhill coming off the on-ball, but it does so without switching or needing to rotate a third player onto the Rolling or Popping Offensive Big (sometimes a third player is needed and we'll discuss emergency backside rotations below as well).

To refer back to the point "two quick passes beats any aggressive ballscreen coverage", here's a look at teams trying to use two quick passes to get Manresa into a rotation, but Manresa's "Quick Show" coverage allows the helpside defenders to maintain their alignment...

Zooming In: In both examples in the GIF above, the "Quick Show" does a nice job of forcing the ballhandler to become a Passer, rather than an Attacker, and the helpside defenders are sitting in great position to guard the rest of the possession without having to closeout after the initial PNR.

Another small detail from above, is that the job of the Defensive Big who is doing the "Quick Show" is to make the first dribble by the ballhandler go backwards toward half-court, or at least more "East-West", rather than toward the rim. More on how Manresa tries to do this below...

Outside Hand "Ball Swipes" and "Stunt Angles"

As you'll notice in all of these examples, Manresa's Bigs do a great job with their "Ball Swipes" and "Stunt Angles" when Quick Showing. See below how Manresa's big will take one active "swipe" or "stab" at the ballhandler as they dribble off the PNR, and how their foot angle is parallel to the sideline...

It's important for Manresa's Bigs to momentarily turn the ballhandler away from the basket to allow time for the defensive guard to fight over the top of the screen and recover. The "swip/stab" and high foot angle closes any gap for the ballhandler to attack into.

Also important, is the stunting by the same-side off-ball defender. If the ballhandler is able to start turning the corner then Manresa will rely on a good stunt by the corner guard to cause some indecision for the ballhandler as the Defensive Big recovers to the rim and the Defensive Guard tracks back into the play. Here's an example...

Defensive Big Active Hands in Recovery

The next detail for the Defensive Big, once they've stunted and swiped at the ballhandler, is to quickly recover with active hands in the passing lane. With the "Quick Show" coverage there will be brief moments where passing windows may be available to an adept offensive guard. For this reason, tt's important for Manresa's Bigs to recover with high hands in the lane. Doing this helps either 1) dissuade the pass completely like shown here...

Or 2) lead to deflections and steals like the second example below...

Zooming In: Another advantage of the "Quick Show" that you can see in the last few seconds of the GIF directly above, is that it provides a good solution for the defense whether the Offensive Big is Rolling or Popping. It can be especially helpful as a way to guard the Empty Side PNR and handle whatever RPO ("Roll-Pop Option", thanks to the coaches in the JVG Master Group for that term) the offense might use.

The Pop can be especially difficult on an Empty Side PNR because the help often has to come from the defender under the rim, which is a long closeout. In the "Quick Show" the defense can mostly solve that problem by recovering after the show with the same defender.

Off-Ball Help Rotations

Manresa would love to keep the ballhandler from attacking downhill during the PNR every possession, but the reality is that they're playing against complex offenses with some of the best guards in the world every night, so their will be breakdowns.

In a situation where the ballhandler is able to attack after the "Quick Show", then Manresa will rotate the bottom tag (help) defender from the "two player side" onto the ball and keep the Defensive Big dropping to the rim to cover the Roller. Here's a nice full rotation leading to a steal...

And here's another where the "Quick Show" leads to a collision by the two defenders, but the Low Tag does a nice job of rotating over to contest the floater. Also notice how the Defensive Big does a great job of sprinting back into the play to get the defensive rebound on the miss...

For much more on Manresa's "Quick Show" PNR Defense and all the small details that help make it an effective coverage for them, here is this week's full breakdown on SGTV...

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Tactical

📺 Shantay Legans - Portland 1-3-1 BLOB Zone Defense

"The Portland Pilots runs an aggressive 1-3-1 Zone BLOB defense. Looking to trap the strongside corner and turn the offense over."

➕ Pair with: Our breakdown of Coach Joe Gallo's "No 3s" Zone Defense with Merrimack College, another zone designed to take away 3 point attempts and turn the offense over.

📺 Mons-Hainaut - Shuffle Reverse Hook Screen

"A screening action from HC Vedran Bosnic to bring their stretch for off the DHO with an advantage. After the shuffle screen, Mons sets a reverse hook screen to bring him back to the ball."

➕ Pair with: The Boston Celtics use of the Reverse Hook Screen in their Open Offense during the NBA Summer League.

📺 Maccabi Tel-Aviv - Elevator Ram Screen

"A creative inverted screening action of running the big off an elevator screen prior to the PnR."

➕ Pair with: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on the Inverted Screen. Showcasing the confusion & difficulty it puts the defense in.

Great Reads

📚 Hot Streaks in Your Career Don't Happen By Accident

"The point is not that exploration is good and exploitation is bad. It’s that all success—career success, corporate thriving, national flourishing—requires that we pay close attention to the interplay between scouting new ideas and pumping established wells."

➕ Pair With: Our conversation with the author of "The Hot Hand", Ben Cohen, the science and psychology of hot streaks.

📚 Defining Success

"The common thread? Long lasting success that resulted from consistently showing up, adjusting to changing circumstances, and sustaining above average performance for long periods of time."

➕ Pair With: Our conversation with BC Andorra Head Coach, Ibon Navarro, on measuring "Player Value Statistics" and the things that matter the most.

📚 Avoiding Stupidity is Easier Than Seeking Brilliance (Recommended)

"We often focus on trying to be brilliant, yet many great people get far more mileage out of avoiding making stupid mistakes. Amateurs win the game when their opponent loses points, experts win the game by gaining points."

➕ Pair With: Our conversation with Indiana State Head Coach, Josh Schertz, on limiting defensive mistakes.

"I can remember walking out of meetings just so mad, like, 'if we guard middle thirds that way I am telling you, we're gonna lose'! Coach (Drew) would always caution us about the 'meeting after the meeting'. You don't run back to your office and then have another meeting after this meeting. Have the courage to say whatever it is you need to say now, because when we leave here we're all on the same page." - Paul Mills

Oral Roberts MBB Head Coach, Paul Mills, joined us on the podcast this week to discuss a variety of helpful on and off the court topics. Coach Mills led Oral Roberts to the Sweet 16 last year and he lent a ton of wisdom on topics including:

Maintaining Focus and Energy as a Head Coach During the Season: Coach Mills talked about the strategies he has learned over the years when it comes to keeping his energy and attention on the right things during the season.
Keeping a United Front as a Staff: We discuss how coaches and staffs can have differing opinions in meetings behind closed doors, but why it's so important for you team to leave that meeting as a united group when they step onto the floor.
Teaching International Concepts at the College Level: Coach Mills is a huge student and fan of the International game and talked discussed how he tries to implement certain aspects of it with his teams at Oral Roberts. A great conversation about only taking things that will work for your team.
Limiting Turnovers While Playing with Pace: Oftentimes, playing with a faster pace can lead to more turnovers. Last season, Oral Roberts played with one of the fastest paces in college basketball while also having one of the best turnover margins in the game. We discuss his concepts and teaching points on how they try and do both, especially when it comes to playing in transition.
Different Ways to Apply Defensive Pressure: During the "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" segment we dove into subtle ways teams can apply pressure defensively even if you're more of a "Gap", Zone, or "Packline" type of team.

Podcast Extras:

You can listen to the entire episode with Coach MIlls here...

Listen to Paul Mills!

OUR ASK: If you find the Slappin' Glass Podcast useful, will you go to Apple Podcasts and write a review (and rate the show... hopefully 5 stars)? We know you likely hear/see podcasts asking for this all the time. Why? Because it really helps the show get in front of coaches who haven't heard it yet. Thank you for the support of the show!

Extra Content in SG Plus

Some great content and discussions the past week in the "Coaches Corner", specifically on the concepts of "Peel Switching" and "Tagging Up".

First, we had a terrific conversation with Ireland U-18 National Team Head Coach, Paul Kelleher, during the November Q&A Session all about implementing "Peel Switching". Coach Kelleher brought both game and practice film to the session and went through a variety of great teaching points about the system. You can watch the entire replay here...

Peel Switching Film Session

And there's another great discussion going on in the "Coaches Corner" about "Tagging Up" and the measurements used to determine its success. This thread was started by Coach Rocco asking...

"For those tagging up...what are your success measures? We are using offensive rebounds, scoring via an offensive rebound and transition baskets given up. Also, how will you measure tag up effort? The first challenge for us to make tagging up a habit. You can drill, after drill, but at some point it's game day and tag up habits needs to be reinforced with data. What is the data? Thanks! "

You can read and add to the conversation about "Tagging Up" measurements here...

"Tagging Up" Stats

“Not every problem needs to be overcome, just the ones stopping you from getting where you want to be.” - Ann Hill

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

P.S. We love to connect with coaches, feel free to email us anytime at info@slappinglass.com

We are happy to partner with InStat for all of our video, shot charts, analytics, and much more. With InStat we get complete access to the Euroleague, NBA, WNBA, NCAA, and much more. Slappin' Glass subscribers can get 10% off by emailing us at info@slappinglass.com.

Slappin' Glass

"Quick Show" PnR Defense, Paul Mills, and Avoiding Stupidity