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

Happy March Madness! Welcome to all the newest subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we broke down the Continuity Ballscreen offense and the advantages of the nail cut. View the full breakdown HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: 2026 1st Quarter Review

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Johnnie Bryant {Cleveland Cavaliers}

👀 Podcast Guest Recommendations: Someone in your network a great potential guest? Let us know HERE!​

📚 Interesting Reads: The Deathbed Regret List

2026 1st Quarter Review

With another season in the books, it's time to pause and reflect before diving into offseason prep. After months of practices, road trips, and late-night film sessions, the offseason offers a chance to reassess and recharge.

Below, you'll find a recap of some of the most viewed SGTV content you may have missed during the grind. Each concept includes videos, newsletters, and bonus material to help you rethink and retool for next season.

Become an SG+ Member to unlock all available content highlighted below!

Let's dive in!

Most Viewed Offensive Breakdowns of the Quarter

🥇 Full Court Pistol - Made FT Pressure​

"Coach Pedro Martinez and Valencia's commitment to punish extended pressure after made free throws with the Pistol action."

✚ Pair With: An aggressive fullcourt press "kill" to create an early 2v1 scoring advantage.

🔒 SG Plus Content: For more on Coach Martinez’s high-paced arrival offense, explore early empty-side step up screens and stampede attacks.

🗞️ Newsletter​

🥈 4 Man Drags & Rim Seals - Drag & Double Drag Offense​

"The trade-offs defenses face when guarding early 4 man drag screens, and how smart offenses are weaponizing the action with a 5 man rim seal for easy layups."

✚ Pair With: Creating a downhill attack off the Zoom DHO with the center rolling to seal in front of the drive.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Using the rim seal to screen out rim protection in transition and on penetration.

🗞️ Newsletter​

🥉 Attacking the Switch - Clyde {Slide} Clears​

"An aggressive PNR coverage where, after the big's quick show, the next defender from the loaded side automatically "hits" the ballhandler in the ball screen."

🔒 SG Plus Content: Revisit our breakdowns on Clyde cutting around middle penetration and empty-side ballscreens.

🗞️ Newsletter​

Honorable Mention

​Attacking the Switch - Right Corner Ghost Screens​

"The merits of consistently sends the ghost screen out of the right corner to organize quickly and attack the switch with pace and clarity. By standardizing the origin of the action, they create cleaner reads for the ballhandler while stressing the defense’s ability to communicate and match up in space."

✚ Pair With: Clever uses of the Ghost screen to set up a secondary action.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdowns on attacking the switch with dribble pitches.

🗞️ Newsletter​

Most Viewed Defensive Breakdowns of the Quarter

🥇 Defending the Ghost Screen - Guard Hedges​

"Examining how hedging guard to guard ghost screens allows defenses to protect matchups, remove ambiguity, and wall off penetration."

🔒 SG Plus Content: Miami Heat assistant coach Eric Glass at our SoCal Coaches Summit clinic on protecting weak defenders.

🗞️ Newsletter​

🥈 Switch Defense - Post Front & High Post Deny​

"Protecting a post mismatch by fronting the post, denying the high post, and switching weakside on any flash."

✚ Pair With: Solving a post mismatch with a "X-Out" on the high post flash.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdowns on doubling the post from the top and off the cut of the passer.

🗞️ Newsletter​

🥉 Defending the Pop - Weakside Switching​

"Using a weakside switch on the catch to protect less mobile bigs in drop coverage against the pop."

🔒 SG Plus Content: Using a "Box & 1" against a popping big to protect your big and limit rotations.

🗞️ Newsletter​

Honorable Mention

​Defending the Spain Ballscreen - Hedge & X-Out​​

"Our updated look into the defensive strategy to aggressively hedge the Spain ballscreen, while keeping the stack defender positioned in the paint and rotating with the corner defender on the perimeter."

✚ Pair With: A few strategies to defend the Spain ballscreen when in a Drop coverage.

🗞️ Newsletter​

Thank you all for your continued support and if you have further questions or want to discuss any of these breakdowns with us please feel free to reach out at info@slappinglass.com.

Together with NABC

If you’re a basketball coach, you belong in the NABC community!

The NABC is the leading professional development and advocacy organization for coaches, serving over 5,000 members across all levels of basketball.

Why join? Members gain access to the NABC Convention and regional clinics, exclusive awards and mentoring opportunities, valuable discounts, and a voice in shaping the future of basketball.

If you're serious about growing as a coach and staying connected to the game’s biggest conversations, this is where you belong.

Become a member today and make your impact as a Guardian of the Game. Learn more HERE.

🎙 Johnnie Bryant on the ISO Analytics, Building Decision Makers, and Elite Communication Habits {Cleveland Cavaliers}

What actually decides late-clock possessions? And why do most teams break down when it matters most?

Cavs Associate Head Coach Johnnie Bryant joins the show to unpack how elite teams think about decision-making, adaptability, and communication at the highest level.

We start with constraint-based coaching and ecological design—how creating the right environments allows players to discover solutions, build instincts, and shape your system in real time.

Defensively, Bryant flips the script: great teams don’t rely on perfect execution—they prepare for when things go wrong. The edge comes from solving breakdowns, rotations, and chaos better than your opponent.

In Start, Sub, or Sit, Bryant identifies off-the-dribble shooting as the most dangerous variable in isolation—because it forces defenses into difficult tradeoffs: stay home, force direction, or commit to a trap.

Then, we close on culture—where Bryant explains why vulnerability is the hardest skill to build, and why without it, communication under pressure will always break down.

What You’ll Learn

• The one stat that should drive every late-clock ISO decision
• How NBA staffs use constraints to build decision-makers, not robots
• Why most teams fail at communication—and how to fix it

Key Moments

• 2:30 – Why constraints create better players
• 4:30 – Letting players shape your system
• 9:30 – Reading spacing vs forcing structure
• 13:20 – Defending chaos, not perfection
• 21:45 – Start, Sub, or Sit: ISO decisions
• 22:00 – The #1 ISO metric
• 23:30 – When to trap vs stay home
• 25:00 – The risk behind every double team
• 29:10 – Why teams struggle to communicate
• 33:00 – Training communication in practice
• 36:45 – Coaching personalities that actually stick

Listen to the entire episode below...

Together with Hudl

Hudl Powers Every Possession

If you’re already using tools like FastDraw, FastScout, or FastRecruit—you know how essential they are to your workflows. And now that they’re fully part of the Hudl ecosystem, they’re more powerful than ever. From film and play diagrams to scouting reports and custom recruiting boards, everything flows together. One system. Built for high-performance programs.

​Learn more about Hudl and their variety of products or subscribers to Slappin' Glass can also directly email Winston Jones of Hudl at winston.jones@hudl.com.

Interesting Reads

📚 40(ish) Pieces of "Advice" ​

There is great freedom in being an amateur. I'd like to be one for the rest of my life. the word "amateur" comes from the Latin word amator, which means: "one who loves". Or in other words one who engages in a craft, art, or discipline for the sheer joy of it~

📚 The Deathbed Regret List​

4. Not having the courage to take the leap.

Nobody tells you this: Talent and intelligence are overrated.

Intelligent people are more likely to overthink, overplan, and overanalyze. They hide behind motion that doesn't create progress. They fear the judgment of others if they're proven wrong.

The truth is that talent and intelligence are abundant. Courage is not.

Got a coaching question? Ask us.

Our Monthly Mailbag on YouTube is your chance to bring real coaching questions directly into the Slappin’ Glass conversation.

Each month, we select and break down questions from coaches across the game—covering tactics, team concepts, leadership, podcast topics, and anything else you want us to dig into.

📩 Submit your Mailbag questions HERE, and keep an eye out for the next Mailbag episode dropping early February on YouTube.

Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat, and Eric

info@slappinglass.com