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

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 coaches and staffs from the NBA to High School in almost 50 countries taking advantage of SG Plus HERE. ​

ICYMI: Last week we looked at Ben McCollum's Pick and Pop Offensive actions with NW Missouri St. ​

Today at a Glance:

📺 SGTV: Kostas Kalogeropoulos - Creative Low Post Actions​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Sergio Scariolo​

🥇 Best of the Week: Sito Alonso - Facilitating out of the Post​

​📋 Coaches Corner

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Let's dive in..

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Creative Low Post Actions

"Bilbao Action", Staggers, Splits, "Gaggles"...the options and variety of actions that teams can run when the ball is punched into the post is extensive. This week we're excited to add Coach Kostas Kalogeropoulos' clinic of creative Low Post Actions to SGTV! For those looking to add a unique wrinkle to their post entry series, there's plenty to think about in this week's clinic.

To couple with the release of Coach Kalogeropoulos' clinic, below we'll also look back at some of the major benefits of inverting an offense through the post...

1- Distorting the Defensive Shell

As we discussed with Coach Stan Van Gundy on the podcast, playing through the post distorts a defense's shell, as most defenses fundamentals are trained with the ball on the perimeter and in front of them. By entering the ball into the post the defense must now defend with the ball behind them, making it difficult to properly orientate their vision and position to the ball. A step too high into a gap leaves defenders vulnerable to rim cuts...

or, playing too low allows the offense to line up staggers or single pin down screens...

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2- Creating Space for Shooters

Inverting an offense and playing through the post also neutralizes the ability of the defense to stunt at shooters coming off screens. Good defenses have gotten adept at stunting off the passer, closing space and buying time for their teammate to get through the screen. Here's an example...

So, against these types of stunting defenses, playing through the post can effectively isolate a gap to screen a shooter into without fear of the passer's defender impeding the catch and shoot...

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3- Uninhibited 1 v. 1 Opportunities

Lastly, with the defense preoccupied with screens and cuts, these creative post screening actions can present opportunities for the post to play 1v1. If a defense elects to zone a defender up on post catches to help on any 1v1 action (as shown in the GIF above) they risk giving up open looks to shooters as they're not able to stunt/help on any screen.

Deceptive Screening - Hook Screen

As we discussed with Coach Sergio Scariolo on this week's podcast, flare screening a post entry passer is a difficult situation to defend. If the defender does not jump to the pass, they are vulnerable to getting caught in the screen. Taking it a step further, as the defender scrambles to fight over the screen offenses can set a rescreen to bring a shooter back, leaving the defender to navigate through two screens from a position of weakness...

Adding some additional deception and creativity, the offense can forgo the initial flare screen and loop the screener under defender to screen the guard back to the ball...

Zooming In: This is a great example of the uneasiness that playing through the post puts the defense under. Paying attention to the defender (Van Vleet) after the entry pass in the GIF above, this screen takes advantage of the split second where Van Vleet's head is on a swivel in an attempt to orientate to the ball. With the ball behind him, his awareness is handicapped and thus susceptible to screens.

Deceptive Screening - Screen the Screener

A smart 3 man action to punish a defensive big's tendency to zone up and stay near the rim on post entries is a "Screen the Screener" action. An offense can bait the big into helping on the first screen to the rim so the 2nd screener can line up the guard defender without any help. Here's a nice example from Quinn Snyder and his days with the Utah Jazz...

Zooming In: Watch JaVale McGee as he slides into the paint on the post catch and takes the bait to help on Gobert diving off the first screen, leaving Booker free to roam up and screen Caldwell-Pope.

Here's another example from Barcelona, as they flare the shooter weakside instead of using a down screen...

For many more examples on strong and weakside actions teams are using to play out of the post including:

• Splits Screens
• Twirl Screens
• Stagger Screens
• Posting Guards
• RIP Screens
• Grenade DHOs

View today's clinic from Coach Kalogeropoulos as well as some our past breakdowns on creative post actions...

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Slappin' Glass Podcast

We were honored to be joined on the podcast this week by one of the most successful coaches in all of international basketball, Sergio Scariolo. Coach Scariolo is well regarded for the job he's done with the Spanish NT and their FIBA success, as well as with his club Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Coach Scariolo explored a number of subjects with us this week including:

• Alternative Defenses: Coach Scariolo has used the "Box and One" and "Triangle and Two" and multiple times in his career and we enjoyed deep-diving with him on the when, why, and how of going to this type of defense. Coach Scariolo was on Nick Nurse's staff when Toronto won the NBA Title, so we had fun hearing some stories about how they used alternative defenses at the NBA level as well. ​
• Calmness Under Pressure: Coach Scariolo is known for remaining calm on the biggest of stages, and we dove into how hey does this during a fun "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" question. Hint...preparation helps.
• Guarding Flare Screens: During "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" we also asked Coach Scariolo about guarding that ever tricky Flare Screen, and drill down on how he'd guard it from multiple points on the floor.

Listen to the entire conversation with Coach Scariolo here...

Listen Now!

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Concepts & Methods of Spanish Basketball

Excited to announce a Coaching and Mentorship course on Spanish Basketball Methodology from Sport Coach. This comprehensive 6-Month course teaches the philosophy and tactics behind the success of Spanish Basketball. Included in the course are Monthly Webinars from some of the top Spanish Coaches in the game today, hosted by us at Slappin' Glass. Additionally, participants can upgrade their experience to receive intimate mentoring opportunities from Spanish Coaches with over 10+ years experience in the ACB League & European Leagues. All for under $100 a month!​
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Interested Coaches in the program will gain first hand knowledge on...
🏀Building an Offense
🏀Offensive & Defensive Concepts of the ACB League
🏀Player Development & Methodology
🏀Pick n Roll Offense
🏀Scouting & Preparing a Gameplan
🏀Plus! Monthly Webinars hosted by Slappin' Glass.

Course starts December 5th.

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Tactical

📺 Sito Alonso - Post Split Screens​

"UCAM Murcia HC Sito Alonso using the Post Split Screens in various forms to generate shots for a shooter."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive on Coach Alonso's Playbook.

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📺 4 Man Corner Pin Exit​

"Deceptive set to bring a shooting 4 man out off a corner pin screen from the 5."

✚ Pair With: For more creative actions out of Lithuania, view BC Lietkabelis' Iverson Loop Elbow Series.

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Interesting Reads

📚 If You Want Success, Pursue Happiness​

"Ultimately, although success and happiness are linked, the alchemy is mostly one-way—and not in the way that most people think. Working on your success to get happier is inefficient at best, and may blow up in your face and lead you to unhappiness. But working on your happiness gives you the best chance at getting both."

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📚 Calm In The Chaos: The "Cool Moment" Between Pete Carroll & Geno Smith ​

"It's just the motion—Geno and I, we've got good communication, and there's a time when I need him to do something, and there's a time when he needs me to do something, so we're just working together at it. When I did that, he looked at me and just gave me a little nod; he knew exactly what I was getting at. We're practicing our communication skills whether we can talk to one another or not, so that's all that was."

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📚 Is the NBA's Superteam Era Already Over?​

"In the summer of 2019, the Lakers, Clippers, and Nets all made blockbuster moves to pair superstar duos. Just over three years later, each team is struggling to scrape by. What happened? And what does it mean for the future of team-building?"

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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