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Welcome to all the new subscribers this week, it's great to have you as part of the community! Those interested in getting access to every piece of content in this newsletter (plus thousands of hours more) can join SG Plus HERE. ​

Today at a Glance:

🏀 SGTV: Inside the Set - Simon Mitchell's "Bolt" Transition​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Alan Keane & Simon Turner​

🥇 Best of the Week: Attacking a Shot Blocker​

📋 Coaches Corner: August 21st Roundtable - Practice Design

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Let's dive in..

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"Bolt" Transition - Attacking 1st Side DHOs

This week we're excited to bring back one of our favorite coaches to study, SE Melbourne Phoenix Head Coach, Simon Mitchell, for our next edition of "Inside the Set". Coach Mitchell has long had our admiration for his team's ability to play with tremendous pace and flow, something we had a conversation with him about last summer on the podcast and then proceeded to devote an entire deep-dive breakdown to on SGTV. In today's Part One of a two-part series, Coach Mitchell generously shares his knowledge and teaching points in the film room, detailing how he builds the pace, reads and actions of their "Bolt" Transition Offense.

This week, in Part One of a two-part series, we look at SE Melbourne's use of DHOs and quick "Gets" to build advantages on the 1st Side of the offense.

Transition Spacing and PG "Set-Ups"

Beyond preaching lane running and sprinting in transition, a key component to their pace is the PG initiating with both a purpose and aggression. If at any point an offensive player believes they have a favorable advantage and can attack a gap, said player has to take that opportunity. The first priority in Coach Mitchell's "Bolt" Transition is to get pressure on the rim...

Zooming In: As Coach Mitchell discusses, the 1st Point of Action for the PG is to get on the rim. SE Melbourne's initial spacing is intended to create a gap for the PG to exploit, with shooters flattened out to the deep corners and the Trail Man spaced high behind the ball in the middle third.

A key component to beginning their transition attack is the PG's "Set-Up". In Coach Mitchell's eyes, if the Set-Up is good, more times than not the possession will yield good returns. Coach Mitchell talks about his teaching points of using subtle side-to-side fakes and crossovers by the PG to shift or freeze the defense enough to create a gap to burst into (shown above).

Beyond creating the constant threat to "get on the rim" and score, the other major benefit of the Set-Up is that it often loosens and puts the defense on their heels, allowing SE Melbourne to flow easily into their DHO reads...

Playing Off Guard to Guard DHOs

If the PG isn't able to get to the rim to score or create an immediate kick-out opportunity, one of the first options that SE Melbourne has in their "Bolt" series is to flow directly into a Guard to Guard DHO. Again, the pressure from the PG on that initial attack will often force the corner defender to be in more of a gap position...

Setting up the opportunity to flow off of the DHO, one of which is turning the corner and playing into the middle of the floor...

Zooming In: A teaching point that Coach Mitchell stresses is asking his Wings to sprint and hold corners until they notice the PG flattening out his drive. The flattening of the drive will then trigger the Wing to release off the corner and sprint into the DHO.

In Part One Coach Mitchell further discusses the hows, whens, and whys of:

• Playing Through "Gets" Off the Trailer...

• The Value of "Fake Gets" and "Keepers"...

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• Reverse DHO Action- Playing Back Through the Trail to Initiate

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• Middle Third PNRs- Flowing into Pick n' Pop and Pick n' Roll Opportunities
• Pistol Action - Ghosts, DHO's, and 2-Man Games...

• And more!

Please enjoy this week's "Inside the Set", Part One, with SE Melbourne Head Coach, Simon Mitchell, available on SGTV for members of SG Plus...

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Slappin' Glass Podcast

It was a thought provoking week on the podcast as we welcomed the Co-Founders of MVMT Sports, Alan Keane and Simon Turner! Keane is a former podcast guest, as well as coach with the Great Britain National Team and other levels of basketball, and Turner has spent time as Keane's assistant along with being an entrepreneur who focuses on social change. This podcast combines both their shared and individual experiences and we dive into some important topics for coaches including:

• Coaching in Isolation: We discuss why Keane and Turner feel many coaches find themselves working in isolation, even when they are surrounded by good staff members, along with ways coaches can think about breaking out of that isolation.
• Working with divergent thinkers and staff: We dive into ways that coaches can think about building their staffs so that they offer a range of shared experiences for their players to learn from.
• Managing Pressure to Win: A great conversation on the ways coaches can think about dealing with the constant pressure to win, as well as ways to set boundaries with decision makers so there are clear lines of communication when it comes to result and what is expected of a job.
• "Start, Sub, or Sit?!": During the always interesting segment we talk arrogance, healthy ego, anger, and ways to build resilient players over the course of a season

You can listen to the entire episode here...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 Toronto Raptors 5 Out - 45 to Stagger Screen​

"Coach Nurse is a great study for Open/5 Out offensive actions. Executing a simple 45 clearing cut to bring Gary Trent Jr. back out off a stagger screen."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdowns on Diego Ocampo's 5 Out Offensive Entries & Actions and how the Seattle Storm use Breanna Stewart to facilitate their Open Offense.

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📺 Driving the Big - Elbow Flares​

"2nd side spacing & actions to occupy the rim protecting big, who is sinking in as the action is being driven at him."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive breakdown on Rim Contest Decisions by Bigs in the Drop Coverage.

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📺 Brent Tipton - Attacking Zone Empty Corner PnR ​

"Instead of the middle player on the 3 Side making a 45 cut, turn that cut into a Nail Flash after the roll."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Yale Coach Matt Kingsley on Offensive Zone Concepts.

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Interesting Reads

📚 Rare Skills​

"Perhaps the most critical communication skill. Be brief. Use as few words as possible to say what you need, and everyone will appreciate it."

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📚 The One Meta Skill All Great Leaders Possess​

"Attunement is an experienced leader’s ability to read the environment, know the needs, identify the “push and pull” — what we refer to as “organizational tensions” — then apply core competencies flexibly to flip challenges into big wins. As a meta-skill, attunement requires leaders to use their base leadership skills not just in a single incident, but as a pattern, in combination and over time to steer the system toward better results."

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📚 Punishing Principles Part 1: Ball Screen Attacks​

"Lots of great ideas on attacking various defenses through a ballscreen by Coach Connor Harr"

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In this month's Roundtable meet-up for SG Plus members we'll be discussing...

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🚨 August Roundtable - Practice Design

Excited to announce our next Roundtable will be on Sunday, August 21st (Time TBD)! We'll be discussing Practice Design, Constraint Led-Approaches, and more. This will be a good one so mark your calendars.

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com