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 highlighted an aggressive PNR coverage where, after the big's quick show, the next defender from the loaded side automatically "Hits" the ballhandler in the ballscreen. View the full newsletter HERE.

This Week at a Glance:

🔒 SG Plus Content: Sito Alonso - Inverted Post Ballscreen & Uphill Pitch​

🎙Slappin' Glass Podcast - Dr. Gio Valiante Returns!​

↪ Supplementary Podcast Graphics​

🥇Best of the Week: Empty Pin Downs & Zipper Sets​

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Inverted Post Ballscreen & Uphill Pitch

Two summers ago, we had the privilege of hosting UCAM Murcia Head Coach, Sito Alonso, on the podcast for a highly anticipated conversation about coaching creativity and his innovative tactics, particularly the "Goalkeeper" or "Spy" Defense {🔒} and Post Split Screens.

Renowned for initiating offense through the post and utilizing split cuts off the elbow, Coach Alonso provided valuable insights into the timing, spacing, screening rules, and counters that make this action so effective. Since then, we have continued to follow his teams—as he remains one of our favorite studies—to observe how he continues to refine and implement new strategies.

This brings us to the focus of today's newsletter and video breakdown: an Inverted Post Ballscreen to Uphill Pitch. Coach Alonso has been using this post-trigger screening action to create short-roll opportunities or pick-and-pop shooting solutions.

Zooming In: On the post catch, the passer follows the pass to set an inverted ballscreen. The intent is to create a late-arriving big as the post player dribbles up into a "Pitch & Pick" or Step-Up Screen, with a guard positioned in the middle third of the court.

Zooming In 2.0: If the inverted post ballscreen succeeds in creating confusion or delaying the defensive big into the middle-third ballscreen, Murcia can open up easier pocket passing windows for the point guard to find the big on the short roll. Alternatively, as shown above, it can create a much longer closeout for the big to attack off the pop.

Deploying the Action - The Argentina Break

In studying Murcia this season, Coach Alonso organizes the screening action through a few different sets, one of them being the Argentina Break. This break is a tried and true action we celebrated in a previous newsletter for its ability to organize two scoring actions within the first eight seconds of the shot clock...

Zooming In: A quick recap on the Argentina Break, pushing with pace up the floor, the point guard will receive a ballscreen along the basket-line, while, simultaneously, the rim-running big will receive a cross screen from a guard at the rim, mirroring the ball. If the big is not open off the cross screen, the play continues as the guard under the rim receives a down screen from the initial big who set the ballscreen.

Coach Alonso utilizes the Argentina Break to generate a post catch, which initiates the screening action and leads to a ballscreen for the guard coming off the pin-down in the middle third of the court...

Zooming In: With both the inverted ballscreen and pin-down screen, neither defender is attached as the play progresses into the pitch ballscreen.

Randomizing the Action - Transition Flow

Over the course of this season, as the offense has become more accustomed to the action, Murcia has been able to self-organize the action without needing a set prompt. The ability to adapt and execute the action spontaneously allows the offense to maintain their pace and fluidity, making it more difficult for the defense to anticipate or disrupt the action.

Zooming In: A key to the execution of this action is balancing the weak side of the floor by lifting a ballhandler into the middle third while diving the partner big or 4-man to the rim. This flattens the defense behind the ballscreen, creating space for the pop or short roll.

Adapting it into a flow or play-after-the-play concept is where we begin to see parallels to Coach Mody Maor's inverted screening {🔒} concept we explored when faced with a less-dynamic player or big in the corner...

By utilizing the inverted ballscreen prior to an uphill pitch, Coach Alonso continues to showcase the power of triggering offense through the post, emphasizing its effectiveness as a catalyst for spacing, screening, and dynamic offensive flow. To learn more on this action please view the full breakdown now on SGTV!

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Together with Dr Dish

Slappin' Glass Podcast

We sat down last week for a second time on the show with one of the world's most sought after high performance coaches, Dr. Gio Valiante! In Round 2 we dive deep into the areas of fear and anxiety in high performance, finding flow states, and attributions of success and failures.

Dr. Gio generously provided supplementary graphics on many of the topics we discussed in the podcast. You can download them HERE.

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.

Tactical

📺 Empty-Side Pin Down - Turnout Chase • Step Up Pop​

"A well-executed set starting from the Turnout, incorporating a Step-Up Screen Pop, to create an empty-side isolation for a Pin-Down Screen, designed to free up a shooter."

✚ Pair With: A deceptive false step-up screen designed to loosen up the defense before executing the pin-down screen.

🔒 SG Plus Content: An intriguing defensive tactic to counter an opponent reliant on popping the 5-man: a "Box-and-1."

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📺 Zipper • RIP Screen - Top Lock Backdoor​

"Counter an opponent's attempt to top-lock the Zipper Screen and deny the subsequent Step-Up Screen."

✚ Pair With: Coach Alonso using the Zipper screen to enter the ball to the pinch post and play a guard to guard flare on the backside.

🔒 SG Plus Content: Joventut Badalona use of the Guard to Guard Flare Slip in their 5 Out Delay Offense.

Interesting Reads

📚 How the Thunder Turned 'Youthful Energy' Into a Winning Culture​

"So that's been a huge starting point. And then you take those people, you put 'em in a stable environment, you educate 'em on the value of all the invisible things, and you hammer that over and over again. You hammer that environment over and over again. You hammer those messages over and over again and then you double down on the people that you have and just allow that to grow and compound."
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📚 Getting Fit for Growth: The Leadership Mindsets and Behaviors that Matter​

"Leaders of outperforming companies unlock sustained growth by aligning their behaviors with five critical mindsets: prioritizing growth, acting boldly, maintaining a customer-centric approach, attracting and nurturing talent, and executing with rigor. Growth outperformers—companies exceeding their subsector peers on revenue growth and profitability—do things differently." ​
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📚 You’ve Never Seen an Offense Like the Memphis Grizzlies’​

"Tired of every NBA team playing the same way? Then tune in to the outlier Grizzlies, who are playing a brand of basketball unlike anything else in the league."
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Quote of the Week

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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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