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

Happy Sunday and welcome to all the new subscribers from around the world!

ICYMI: Last week, we broke down the Point Guard Option, an effective 5-Out early offense trigger that based off the reaction of the defense creates driving gaps and downhill attacks. Read the full newsletter HERE.

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This Week at a Glance:

🥇 2025 3rd Quarter Review

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Roy Rana {Jordanian NT}

📚 Interesting Reads

📋 Coaches Corner: Execution under Pressure

Let's dive in...

3rd Quarter Review

As the 2025–26 season gets rolling and we all dive back into the rhythm of practices, games, and long film sessions, we wanted to take a quick pause to reflect on some of the most-watched and talked-about content from SGTV over the past few months.

Below you'll find a short recap of each featured concept, along with the corresponding video, newsletter, and additional resources to revisit or catch up on anything you might’ve missed while getting your teams ready for the season ahead.

🏀 Most Viewed Offensive Breakdowns of the Quarter

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🥇 Transition Spacing - Short Corner Runs

"Building early baseline pressure with throw-ahead short corner catches in transition, freeing the rim to engage in cutting action."

🎧 Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Finland Nat'l Team Head Coach Lassi Tuovi on cutting and modern pace offense.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on Coach Oded Kattash's transition offense with multiple bigs and the spacing triggers.

🗞️ Newsletter​

🥈 Off Ball Screening - Pin the Tag

"Smart set design from a horns alignment, using the ballscreen to draw the shooter’s defender into a tag before flying the shooter off a pindown.”

✚ Pair With: Stacking a Spain ballscreen onto the action after the pindown.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on off ball screening adjustments and techniques from Xavi Pascual.

🗞️ Newsletter

🥉 Slide Cutting - Empty-Side Ballscreens

"Continuing to explore the versatility and effectiveness of sending multiple cuts, a baseline cut and a corner slide, when middle penetration occurs towards a 3-man side."

✚ Pair With: Baruch College creating space and scoring solutions within the two guard front with the Slide Cuts.

🎧 Pair With: Our recent podcast with Coach Francesco Tabellini discussing the timing and effectiveness of Slide Cutting.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our complimentary breakdown on slide cutting around Shake ballscreens.

🗞️ Newsletter

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🏀 Most Viewed Defensive Breakdowns of the Quarter

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🥇 Defending the Short Roll - Peel Switching

"A coordinated Peel Switching rotation to neutralize the corner cut and 45 slide on the short roll catch against aggressive ballscreen coverages."

✚ Pair With: A voice-over breakdown from Kyle Hines {🎧} detailing his short roll progression reads.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on Ante Tomic's Short Roll "Give & Go's."

🗞️ Newsletter

🥈 Contesting without Fouling - Transition Verticals

"The value of maintaining a disciplined vertical in transition, enabling the defense to contest without fouling, reduce rim finishing, and create potential 4 point swings."

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our breakdown on contesting 3-pt shooters without fouling.

🗞️ Newsletter

🥉 Post Defense - Double from the Top

"The defensive strategy and rotations used to double a dominant post player or exploit a mismatch by sending a trap from the top defender on the dribble."

✚ Pair With: support a post mismatch by dropping into a 2-3 zone behind the catch to protect the paint and influence the offense.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Another post doubling strategy of sending the trap on the post passer's space clearing cut.

🗞️ Newsletter

Honorable Mention

👏 Ballscreen X-Out - Positioning & Execution

"The positioning and execution of the ballscreen X-out in effectively splitting two behind the screen."

🗞️ Newsletter

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🌴 Most Viewed of the Socal Coaches Summit 2025

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🥇 Zach Guthrie - Rethinking Pre-Game Routines and Warmups

"Coach Guthrie’s presentation on his approach to pregame warmups, emphasizing decision making and game-like reps to better prepare players for the demands of the game.”

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our Film Room breakdown of the "4v4 Play It Down" drill, highlighting its value for both concept teaching and defensive development.

🗞️ Newsletter

🥈 Drew Dunlop - Ecological Design in Player Development

"Coach Dunlop shares practical ways to design drills that connect directly to game environments and system development."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Coach Dunlop on Ecological Design and its application.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our complete "Modern Game Truths" collection of player and system development drills and concepts with Coach Dunlop.

🗞️ Newsletter

🥉 Jerrod Calhoun - Unique Matchup Zone Principles & Favorite 5-Out Actions

"Coach Calhoun’s session spans a range of topics, from program development and matchup zone concepts to 5-out actions and teaching cutting."

✚ Pair With: Our podcast conversation with Coach Calhoun on defensive fixes, ATO's and more!

🔒 SG Plus Content: Our deep dive into Coach Calhoun's 2-3 Matchup Zone.

🗞️ Newsletter

Stay tuned for more clinic releases in the coming weeks!

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 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. .

Slappin' Glass Podcast

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Coach Roy Rana — one of the most globally experienced minds in the game — to explore what it truly means to design a program. From his time with Egypt’s National Team and the Kyoto Hannaryz to stints in the NBA, Rana shares how he builds culture through intentional design, clear communication, and relentless attention to detail.

We dive into:

• Turning every meeting into a designed experience that reflects your values.
• Profiling teams and identifying the quickest ways to impact performance.
• Using visuals, environment, and tone to communicate across cultures.
• Teaching spacing through tactile learning and progressive complexity.
• Redefining “roles” with aspiration, not limitation.
• Treating Baseline Out of Bounds as soccer-style set pieces with multi-layer reads.

A masterclass in leadership and intentional coaching, Rana challenges us to move beyond drills and systems — and start designing experiences that inspire trust, clarity, and growth.

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

📚 How to Engineer Luck

4. Luck razor - If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line. I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix. In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I’ve ever made.

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📚 How to Think for Yourself

It matters a lot who you surround yourself with. If you're surrounded by conventional-minded people, it will constrain which ideas you can express, and that in turn will constrain which ideas you have. But if you surround yourself with independent-minded people, you'll have the opposite experience: hearing other people say surprising things will encourage you to, and to think of more.

Join the conversation, gain insights from others, check up on previous newsletters and help your fellow peers! As an SG+ Member, gain access to a community of coaches to make ourselves and our teams better, get caught up on some of the latest conversations in the ​Coaches Corner​.

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🗞 Drive the Gap - Week 8

Coach Mayes shares...This week moves from performance to execution under pressure — where roles, clarity, and composure define connection. When pressure rises, egos follow. The test isn’t control; it’s alignment. Great teams adapt without losing identity — choosing connection over control and purpose over ego.

👉 The Game Plan – Roles Under Pressure — Evolving Without Losing Alignment​
👉 Insight to Impact – Controlled Chaos — Coaching Ugly with Purpose​
👉 The First 15 – Special Situations Execution

Quote of the Week

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Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan, Pat and Eric

info@slappinglass.com

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