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

Happy Sunday! Welcome to all the newest subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we highlighted key takeaways and insights from our last SG+ Coaches Roundtable of the summer. Read our newsletter on "What Gets You Beat?" HERE.

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This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: 5 Out Early Offense - PG Read Option

🎧 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Matt Wise {Samford WBB}

📣 Hudl Instat & Dr. Dish

🥇 Best of the Week: Iverson Entry & Furman

📚 Interesting Reads: How to Become Wiser

Let's dive in...

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The Read Option

Over the past few seasons, we’ve spent a lot of time discussing and dissecting 5 Out spacing, championing its strengths while also diving into its shortcomings when it comes to generating driving gaps and offensive stagnation. Without the advantages of the NBA three-point line and rules, 5 Out spacing can become a slippery slope if one assume that simply clearing the rim automatically generates more dribble penetration and rim attacks (listen to our conversation with recently hired Radford Head Coach, Zach Chu {🎧}, on this very dilemma). True effectiveness in 5 Out spacing requires intentionality, how you trigger the offense, use cutting actions, and manipulate space all play a crucial role in opening gaps for penetration.

In the past, we’ve explored several effective ways teams have initiated offense through 5 Out spacing, whether via Pistol action, Drag ballscreens with nail-clearing cuts, or through the Delay option.

Arkansas St. Head Coach Ryan Pannone joined us in the "Film Room" for a masterclass on the modern 5 Out Delay offense {🔒}. In what has become our most-viewed video on SGTV, Coach Pannone breaks down the value of an early rim cut and player movement in an effort to create gaps prior to the Delay action.

This week, as we take a fresh look at 5 Out spacing, we’re highlighting an effective trigger for creating space and generating downhill drives, the "Point Guard Read Option."

Zooming In: In a concept that closely mirrors the Quarterback Read Option, the ballhandler coming off the slot ballscreen reads the defense and decides whether to pitch or hand off to the opposite slot player cutting behind the drive, or to keep their dribble and attack the paint while playing with the roller.

Making the Read

As the point guard comes off the ballscreen, their eyes need to immediately scan for the nail defender, or the defender who is guarding the opposite slot. This nail defender is forced into the decision of either helping on the ball with a heavy stunt or sticking with his check, and it's up to the point guard to decipher which of those they're going with. If that defender is committing to heavy help in the gap, that is a perfect set up to hit the read option with a pitch to the opposite guard.

If the nail defender isn't providing a presence on the ball, the point guard continues to attack downhill off the ballscreen.

While this action can work out of a dead ball or when the ball is walked up the floor, it’s most effective early in transition, before the defense can get set to play an aggressive coverage. Turning the corner and gaining a step advantage on the initial ballscreen is what makes the action flow. Although the fill behind drive option provides a safety valve against pressure, this concept is at its best when it builds one advantage on top of another. As the ballhandler attacks with downhill momentum, the defense is forced to load to the ball or shift into help positions, creating the perfect moment for the ballhandler to read the overplay and pitch to the second guard.

Why its effective?

One of the biggest disadvantages of 5 Out spacing is that it allows the defense to easily sit in gaps and shrink the floor. By running the opposite slot behind the ballhandler to make their read, the offense can generate one of two spacing advantages based on the defense’s reaction. If the slot defender sits heavy in the gap, the ballhandler can pitch to the slot cutter, who then attacks the space from which the ballhandler and screener just vacated.

If instead the slot defender, anticipating the handoff, stays attached to the player high in the slot, the nail opens up for the ballhandler to turn the corner and attack.

Zooming In: Here we see another spacing advantage of this action. Instead of using a 45 cut or Clyde cut to clear the nail, cutting behind the drive and drawing the defender allows the offense to effectively play 4v4. The extra two bodies are removed behind the action, whereas other cutting options may clear the nail but occur in front of the ball, keeping the ballhandler reading a full 5v5 court.

High Slot Spacing

In general, the merits of spacing high in the slot force the slot defender into difficult decisions. As we highlighted when breaking down Coach Shaka Smart’s offense {🔒}, being pulled too far off their mark to plug a gap can leave the defender vulnerable to the ballhandler catching with space to attack downhill at full speed. As a natural recourse, the defender instinctively creeps higher toward their mark in the slot, which in turn frees the nail.

Spacing high in the slot is conducive against defenses attempting to switch the ballhandler’s handoff read. Indecision caused by the read option often forces the guards into desperate switches on the handoff. By spacing high in the slot, the offense makes it difficult for the defense to switch with enough force, whether from the slot defender, who will struggle to connect and direct the slot player, or from the ballhandler, who will be preoccupied with the ballscreen coverage to properly absorb the slot player’s momentum on the catch.

As teams continue to search for ways to keep 5 Out spacing dynamic, the Point Guard Read Option offers a fresh way to generate movement, maintain spacing, and build consecutive advantages. It’s a subtle but powerful way to breathe life into what can often become a static alignment. For more on this option, SG+ Members can view the complete breakdown now on SGTV!

Together with Dr. Dish

Dr. Dish Basketball is accelerating player performance with the most innovative game-like shooting machines in the world, allowing coaches and players to get better faster than ever before. By providing the most usable and advanced shooting machines, on-demand workouts, multi-player stat tracking and instant analytics, Dr. Dish Basketball has become the preferred source for basketball training with progressive coaches and players.

🎧 Matt Wise on Creativity, Defense as Science, and the “Blue Zone”

Samford women’s basketball head coach Matt Wise joins us this week to dig into creative problem-solving in coaching, why clarity must precede accountability, and how he recruits around an “IT Factor” of Intelligence + Toughness. Wise shares the frameworks he uses to build confident decision-makers—on the court and between the ears—from ball-screen pedagogy and vocabulary design to mental-state training (green/blue/red) that helps players arrive amped but focused. The conversation hits next-play tools (external communication > self-talk > breath work), defensive non-negotiables (positioning as “science,” offense as “jazz”), and a recruiting rubric that sorts prospects into spicy / medium / mild to focus resources. He also explains how to teach reads (anchoring screens, contact over, tags and lifts), why he’ll live with aggressive fouls but not undisciplined ones, and how cultural language (Ubuntu, Mudita) and a shared glossary create stickiness across the program.

Highlights / Takeaways

• Creativity = problem-solving: Be an “idea merchant”—steal widely, connect dots, and sharpen the axe before swinging.
• Recruiting filter: “IT Factor” (Intelligence + Toughness) plus role skills, then allocate effort via spicy / medium / mild tiers.
• Ball-screen pedagogy: Teach reads in layers—angles, contact point, guard “anchoring,” and coverage counters—before adding sides and randomness.
• Vocabulary → accountability: Shared definitions for basketball and culture (e.g., Ubuntu, Mudita); “clear is kind” guides feedback.
• Mental performance zones: Train athletes to compete in the blue zone—not flat (green) or flooded (red)—using tools like journaling, music, and breath work.
• Defense as science: Hard rules on positioning (weak-side “Hulk”), embrace aggressive fouls born from sound positioning; avoid bailout and late-recovery fouls.
• Next-play stack: Start with external communication, sub self-talk, sit breath work (in-game constraints).

Creativity with guardrails—Wise shows how clear language, layered teaching, and mental-zone training turn confidence into consistent decision-making.

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.

Tactical

📺 Iverson Entry - 4 Out • Gut Screen Follow

"Zalgiris has been the early season must watch team of the Euroleague for us, showcasing a ton of creative set design."

✚ Pair With: A clever continuation on the Iverson Loop, transitioning into a DHO followed up with a RIP Screen.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our playbook breakdown on Lithuanian club BC Lietkabelis' use of the Iverson Loop.

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📺 Furman - Zoom DHO Keep • Shape Up

"A quick hitting action shaping up the zoom screener into a shooting hand off."

✚ Pair With: Great use by Furman of the high slot spacing to create a downhill DHO for a cutter off the brush screen.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Out playbook breakdown on the Sacramento King's Get and Zoom spacing.

Interesting Reads

📚 9 Fun Ways to Increase Your Agency with Zero Grinding Required

3. Puzzle > Problem - An easy way to increase agency is to remove "problem" from your vocabulary and replace it with "puzzle". It sounds absurd, but "problem" activates my amygdala and "puzzle" activates my prefrontal cortex. Try it. Self-induced placebo that works.

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📚 How To Become Wiser: 25 Questions To Ask Yourself

What would I do in this moment if someone was watching me?

What can I learn from this situation?

Where am I failing to uphold my values?

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📚 Observe, Assert, and Validate (OAV)

Asserting requires you to develop a point of view. In this case, you’re asserting a potential problem and what you could do to solve it. When you assert, you can be wrong.

But if everyone is scared of making assertions, then there’s no forward progress.

Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat, and Eric

info@slappinglass.com

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