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

Happy New Year and welcome to all the new readers from around the world! We're excited to have you as part of the community 🙏

ICYMI: Last week, we took a retrospective look at 2023, reviewing our most viewed breakdowns of the year, as well as our top defensive and offensive breakdowns from the final quarter. You can find the complete list HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Joventut Badalona - Short Roll "Give 'n' Go"​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Brittni Donaldson {Atlanta Hawks}

🥇Best of the Week: UC Davis Chin Shuffle & Long DHO Veer​

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Let's dive in...

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Short Roll "Give 'n' Go"

To start off 2024, we are reimmersing ourselves back into the dynamic and strategic realm of the Spanish Club, Joventut Badalona. Joventut has become a favorite to analyze because of their unique way of crafting offense around their skilled, passing big, Ante Tomic. In 2023 we emphasized their utilization of Tomic as the central figure in their 5-Out Delay {🔒}, leveraging his passing skills to execute Flares and Slips off the ball...

We couldn't get enough, so we then examined how Joventut strategically uses Tomic in their "Last" PNR Spacing {🔒} concepts around the middle ball screen to generate short roll catches where he can then facilitate...

This "Last PNR Spacing" is mostly defined by the the 4-man shadowing the ballhandler to open a lane for Tomic to short roll into but Joventut can also manipulate the defense by strategically positioning one of their guards in the dunker spot, disrupting the defense's ability to protect the rim. This is similar concept we've seen in the NBA with teams like the OKC Thunder. {🔒}

Expanding on our previous analysis of their short roll strategy and emphasis on playing through Tomic's passing, we now turn our attention to their effective utilization of the classic "Give 'n' Go" within their short roll game. What, in our opinion, may have started as a happy accident has now turned into a staple of their PNR offense.

The "Give 'n' Go" - Why it's Effective?

Aside from its ability to crush in pick up games, the "Give 'n' Go" is effective in this scenario for a couple of reason. First, the "Give 'n' Go" option typically arises when Joventut is in their "5 Out" spacing instead of their "Last" spacing, eliminating the additional defender at the rim. Second, given Tomic's proficiency in the short roll, defenses tend to be cautious in blitzing the ballhandler, as it opens up the opportunity for Tomic's short roll catch/facilitation.

So more often than not, Joventut's ballhandlers contend with drop coverages, with the big man safeguarding the rim and maintaining a defensive presence in front of both. Given these circumstances, Joventut has found by executing the pocket pass against the drop, the defensive big immediately vacates his rim position to recover back to the ball. With the addition of shooters filling the corner, a lane presents itself for the ballhandler to become the cutter for the "Give 'n' Go"...

Zooming In: As the defense seeks to stay fanned out and maintain a 2v2 situation in the PNR, Joventut has astutely observed that the ballhandler often goes unaccounted for post pocket pass.

Zooming In 2.0: As illustrated in the GIF above, Joventut has started implementing this attack even in the absence of Tomic, deploying it with whomever may be setting the screen. The execution relies on a simple read and an easily deliverable pass for the big, as their vision requires minimal adjustment beyond the ballhandler, who they are receiving the pass from, and their matchup.

Another significant factor contributing to the success of this tactic is its exploitation of the defensive guard's tendency to immediately relax after the pass...

Zooming In: In all the clips featured in today's breakdown, the defensive guards consistently turn their heads to track the pass instead of maintaining their effort to recover back to the ballhandler. This allows Joventut to take advantage of a basic principles of Cutting 101, if there's no one between you and the rim, it's likely a good idea to cut.

Drop coverage can pose a challenge for an offense when confronted with an opponent intent on maintaining a 2v2 situation and restricting help. Joventut does not have a roster filled with athletic attacking guards capable of overpowering the rim via the dribble, so the question arises: "How can they devise solutions against this coverage that result in high-quality attempts rather than a consistent diet of midrange shots?" This is where the "Give 'N' Go" has emerged as a viable solution.

It's worth noting as well that this is a great action for Joventut even if the backdoor pass isn't available to the cutting PG as it will often draw a backside defender to stunt to help and allow Joventut to have an advantage in their next action.

For more of Joventut's Short Roll "Give 'N' Go", please enjoy this week's breakdown on SGTV...

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Slappin Glass Podcast

We started the New Year off with a bang as we welcomed Atlanta Hawks Assistant Coach, Brittni Donaldson, to the podcast! Known as one of the bright young coaches in the game we discussed a TON of interesting topics including:

• ​Knowledge Retention, "Interleaving", Question Asking, and things about Creating Learning Environments
• The Power of Analytics
• Tough Actions to "Tag" and "X Out" Rotations
• And much more

Listen to the entire episode here...

Listen Here!

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Together with Hudl

We're proud to partner with one of the best tech companies in the world of sports, Hudl! Every play, every stat, every breakdown. On their own, they’re essential. But all together, they’re undeniable. Hudl recently introduced their newest product, Hudl Instat – a new advanced data platform that integrates with Sportscode and every Hudl product you rely on to create an all-in-one data powerhouse. Hudl Instat’s advanced tagging and next-level stat reports help you develop your team – and its global film library helps you find the missing piece to get the most out of every second of film. Visit ​hudl.com/slappinglass​ to learn more.

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Tactical

📺 UC Davis - Chin Shuffle​

"UC Davis runs a shuffle cut out of their chin series three different times to success against UC Santa Barbara."

✚ Pair With: Stew Morrill's Shuffle Series with Utah State.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on the Shuffle Cut Offense, examining its entries and actions.

📺 Grand Rapids - Pop • Long DHO • Veer​

"Great design from Grand Rapids & Jimmie Oakman playing to a Long DHO off the Pop with a Veer Screen to bring the burn cutter back."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversation with College Park Skyhawks HC Ryan Schmidt on Long DHO's

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our clinic on Creating Long Closeouts, including Long DHO's and playing through the Pop.

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Interesting Reads

📚 66 Good News Stories You Didn't Hear About in 2023​

"We rounded up 400 of our favourites, and then crammed all of those again into this final list of 66. We think many of them will surprise you, and a few might just change the way you think about the world. It's been a difficult year, but in so many ways and in so many places, we've made progress too."

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📚 100 Little Ideas​

"A list of ideas, in no particular order and from different fields, that help explain how the world works."

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📚 How Steve Jobs got the A+ Players and Kept Them​

“I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1.Given that, you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream….A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.“

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

We're proud to partner with the leading Sports Travel company in the basketball world, Beyond Sports! Follow the link above to learn more about why more than 600 universities have trusted Beyond Sports for their team's foreign trips. Let them know Slappin' Glass sent you!

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