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Happy Sunday and welcome all the new SG subscribers from around the world! It's great to have you as part of the community!

ICYMI: Last Sunday we looked at Alba Berlin's Ben Lammers ability to impact the ball at the level of the screen and recover back to protect the rim in the Quick Show PNR Coverage. View the full breakdown HERE.

Today at a Glance:

📺 SGTV: Penn State - Delay Series 🔒

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Phil Beckner​

🥇Best of the Week: Corner Pin ATOs & Spanoulis Actions​

Let's dive in...

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Penn State's Delay Series

*Special Note: Today's breakdown was done in collaboration with Coach Ben Ostrow. Coach Ostrow has a phenomenal eye for the game and we're excited to work with him on more upcoming projects.

Former Penn State, and now newly hired Notre Dame Head Coach, Micah Shrewsberry, knows a thing or two about "Delay" action, having spent years working with 🎙Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics at the NBA level where the action has become quite prevalent. And as "Delay Fever" sweeps across all leagues and levels (see our recent breakdown of Joventut Badalona's Delay Series), the only prescription, is, well...

In this week's breakdown we'll dive into the tiny details of Penn State's great Delay Series and what makes the offense tick at a high level. Some specific highlights and interesting points include:

• Pace and Spacing Building Blocks
• Creating "Overs" on DHO's and PNR's in scoring areas
• Attacking Switches with Creative Screening Actions {🔒}
• Retriggering the Offense through Corner Flares {🔒}

Though the Delay Series can be beautiful to watch, it can also present a couple of challenges for the offense. First, with often like-sized perimeter screening taking place prior to a DHO or PNR with the 5-man, the defense can be presented with an opportunity to switch and bog down the pace or blow up the handoff altogether. Second, teaching offensive bigs to dribble down into a proper location for a DHO/PNR to avoid easy "unders" can be challenging based on skill level, IQ, and ball pressure. The deeper down the Penn State film rabbit hole you go, the more one begins to notice the amount of detail and thought that went into their brand of Delay in order to solve these potential challenges.

Pace and Space

Like any good offense, the spacing at the start of the possession goes a long way in determining how effective an offense can be in finding an advantage to finish it. The first thing one notices when looking at Penn State's offense is the incredible spacing of all five players. This spacing is especially valuable when the Nittany Lions' begin playing to their "Zooms" out of the Delay setup. Penn State's emphasis on spacing their wings high in the slot-ish area (area between the lane-line extended and the free throw line extended), gives a long "runway" to create pace going into their down screen for the corner. Slow and poorly spaced screening actions can be easier for the defense to communicate through, however, by generating such a high pace into their Zooms Penn State can force uncertainty and either punish a non-switch...

or create late switches with the defender still chasing the action into the handoff...

Zooming In: It is worth noticing the speed of the corner man coming up into the hand off, with greater emphasis being placed on the pace of the exchange rather than stopping and hitting bodies.

Zooming In 2.0: The other value of the great pace and spacing of Penn State's Zoom actions is the threat of the slip/rim cut by the either player. One of the notoriously hard things to guard in any type of Zoom action is the quick slip to the rim by the wing before the defense can communicate a switch. Even if this slip doesn't result in an open backdoor layup, it often sucks both defenders momentarily to the cutter opening up the offensive player rising up from the corner. From there the offense can take advantage of whatever is in front of them...an open three, attacking a closeout, two-man game where the defense is unattached to the ball and chasing, etc.

Dribble Down DHOs

Another great detail that Penn State exploits in their Delay action is creating "overs" on their DHO's and PNR's. These "overs" (situation where the defender is chasing over the top of the DHO/screen) allows Penn State to create all sorts of problems and rotations for the defense as the ballhandler operates in the paint. In order to force the "over" Penn State's bigs do a tremendous job of dribbling the ball down into a scoring area, ideally the elbow, but at the very least onto the 3-point line...

Zooming In: In watching Penn State, time and time again you see their 5-man catching the ball above the three point line in the middle of the floor and then consciously dribbling down toward the elbow to better their angle before a DHO or PNR. In a perfect world the highest of IQ players at that 5 spot understand how to dribble directly at the defender during a DHO, but simply having that player dribble down towards the elbow goes a long way in forcing the defender over the top of the DHO/PNR, or at least making the under much more dangerous as its happening lower on the floor where open jumpshots or downhill attacks by non-shooters can punish the defense.

*For more context on this you can listen back to our podcast conversation with now Florida State WBB Head Coach, Brooke Wyckoff, as she discussed teaching these dribble downs into DHOs.

For a variety of reasons already mentioned, forcing the over is great, but, even if the defense does decide to knife under that DHO/PNR, Penn State can flow right into an automatic rescreen. With the angle already bettered by the dribble down mentioned above, that rescreen often puts the ball screen below the 3-point line where the ball handler is only one dribble away from getting into the paint. It's worth noting that Penn State's guards were terrific this year at utilizing the snake dribble on the rescreen to operate in Hubie Brown's "painted area"...

To learn more on how Penn State uses deceptive screens to combat switching and retriggers stalled possessions through the Corner Flare as well as several other variations they run within their Delay series, including:

• Wide Splits to Empty Side Ballscreens
• Over RIP screens
• Over Stagger Screens

​Become a member of SG Plus to view the full breakdown (plus over 650 more) now on SGTV!

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Together with Hudl

We're happy to proudly 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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Slappin' Glass Podcast

We were excited this week to sit down with one of the most sought-after Player Development Coaches in the game, Phil Beckner! Whether it's Dame Lillard, lottery draft picks, or some of the best collegiate and amateur players around the world, Coach Beckner has a history of helping players from all levels reach new heights. This was a multi-layered conversation that has quickly become one of the most listened to episodes of the year. In it you'll hear Coach Beckner's insights on:

• Conceptual Drill Designs: Coach Beckner breaks down his workouts into three categories...1) Development, 2) Skill Development, and 3) Conceptual. It was this third topic that we dove into in the first section of the podcast and heard his thoughts on how and why he finds this type of workout to be one of the most beneficial. We also explore the other side of the coin in "Start, Sub, or Sit?! when we ask Coach Beckner about "Drills Gone Wrong." 😄
• Learning from Plateaus: Within our discussion about Conceptual workouts, we also touched on how Coach Beckner helps players learn from and ultimately push through a growth plateau. Tons of great insights here on the value of honing in on intentional growth.
• Developing Program Standards: During "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" we hear Coach Beckner's thoughts on the most important parts of developing your program's ethos. We explore Standards, Values, and Role Clarity in this always interesting segment.

Please enjoy this week's conversation with Coach Phil Beckner...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 College Park Skyhawks - Corner Pin ATO​

"A well designed ATO to remove the tag and isolate the defensive big by masking the corner pin screen and spacing to the high quad."

✚ Pair With: Santa Cruz Warriors HC Seth Cooper explaining the stress the high quad shake puts on the single side tag.

🔒SG Plus Content: Attacking Low Tags, 2022 Reggio Emilia Playbook.

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📺 Warriors - Spanoulis Actions​

"The Warriors using the reluctancy of the defense to help off a Curry screen to free Thompson in the Spanoulis action."

✚ Pair With: The Suns & the Lithuanian NT executing their own version of the Spanoulis hand off.

🔒 SG Plus Content: The Golden State Warriors Crack Back Defense.

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Interesting Reads

📚 The Rise of the Antifragile - Beyond Mere Resilience​

"Antifragility is the secret to success in a world full of uncertainty, a system for turning random mutations to lasting advantage."

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📚 Growth Loops: From Linear Growth to Circular Growth​

"Double loop learning is a model that encourages people and organisations to continuously challenge their assumptions and goals instead of blindly repeating the same loop. While the idea seems simple, it can be hard to implement double loop learning because of a natural need for control, a fear of failure, or an overall resistance to change."

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📚 How to Wander​

"In most of us there survives an opposing curiosity, a desire to see what’s around the corner. It doesn’t require an epic, round-the-world journey. We merely need go where nobody says we have to go, for no particular reason, where the smells and tastes and the breeze on our faces awaken us from the soporific haze of habit. To practise an enlivening sort of indolence. To drift, to roam, to colour outside the lines a bit. To wander."

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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

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