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

Happy Sunday and welcome to all the new SG subscribers! We appreciate your support of what we do!!

ICYMI: The last few weeks we highlighted the "Best of the Best" from 2022, including our most viewed Offensive, Defensive & Film Room Breakdowns (HERE) and our most viewed Coaches Clinics (HERE).

Today at a Glance:

📺 SGTV: Sito Alonso "Spy" Defense (Ucam Murcia)​

🎤 Slappin' Glass Podcast: Peyton Siva​

🥇Best of the Week: ​Turkish Super League​

📋 Coaches Corner

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Let's dive in..

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Sito Alonso's 5 Man "Spy" Defense

To kick off 2023, we are highlighting one of our favorite defensive schemes of this season, Coach Sito Alonso's 5 Man "Spy" Defense with Spanish club Ucam Murcia. What is it? Coach Alonso aims to destroy an opponent's offensive flow by brazenly ignoring the 5 Man in order to drop their center to the rim, allowing the four remaining players to apply maximum ball and lane pressure knowing they always have size at the rim...

Zooming in: In essence, the 5 Man becomes a free safety, "spying" any action as it unfolds and prepared to give help at the rim. As long as the opponent's center is on the perimeter, they will be completely ignored...

...and forced to prove that they can consistently make shots from the outside...

This is a type of coverage that requires a tremendous amount of energy and effort from the four players on the perimeter to sustain the pressure and its disruptive nature. It's quickly worth noting the other side of the coin and that every defensive coverage has its potential drawbacks. This scheme does leave the offensive big free to make passes, set up their screening angles on PnR's, and dribble down into DHO's without any pressure, which is why the disruption must come from the other four defenders so the offense isn't playing completely downhill and in rhythm all night.

That said, whether this coverage is used in spurts or you're fortunate to have a team with deeper bench that can maintain the needed pressure for an entire game, it can be extremely effective in disrupting an offenses' natural rhythm and reads.

How is it effective? Throughout the video breakdown, we highlight several different off-ball and on-ball screening actions and how Murcia defends within this coverage. However, without fail, there are always a few guiding principles or core tenants to this coverage that "give it teeth."

Core Tenants

• Push the Ball Sideline
• Lane Pressure
• Concede Midrange
• No Help

Working off of these core tenants, Murcia is able to successfully defend a number of different scenarios the offense can attempt in order to generate 3s or pull the big away from the rim. To see how Murcia executes this coverage against different types of actions, including:

• Denying the Post
• Defending Off Ball Screens (staggers, turnouts, pin downs, etc.)
• Defending DHOs
• Ballscreen Coverages
• Ballscreens with the 4
• Scouting Additions

View the full breakdown now on SGTV! Available for purchase or Free for SG Plus Members.

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Slappin' Glass subscribers can try Hoopsalytics for free with your own team’s games, and save 25% on any purchase by using the discount code on the page https://hoopsalytics.com/glass/​

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Slappin' Glass Podcast

The podcast got off to a great start in 2023 as we welcomed former NCAA Champion with Louisville and current pro with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia's NBL, Peyton Siva. Peyton has had a great professional career thus far playing for some of the world's best coaches and we dove into a number of topics including:

• Managing a Game from the PG Position: We heard from Peyton about the art of managing the flow of a game including thoughts on involving other players, calling sets, shot selection and more.
• Using changes of speed: Peyton has long been known for his incredible speed with the ball and we dove into how he thinks about using that speed. We discuss how Peyton has learned to turn it on and off for better effectiveness, especially in half court situations.
• Why Teams Fail: During our "Start, Sub, or Sit?!" we have a great conversation about the reasons teams can break apart during a season. Some really nice insights in this section from Peyton about peer leadership and how the best teams hold each other accountable.

Listen to the entire conversation with Peyton Siva here...

Listen Now!

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Tactical

📺 Gaziantep - Zipper Shallow Stack​

"A Zipper false action set from Gaziantep with the PG shallowing through to the opposite 45, setting up the PG to receive the ball back for a Stack Ballscreen."

✚ Pair With: Our Deep Dive Breakdown on Cutting around the PnR.

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📺 Merkezefendi SLOB - Post Stagger to Pin​

"Sideline OBs are a good opportunity to run action through the post. Using the post to facilitate screening while the ball is behind the defense."

✚ Pair With: Our Breakdowns on SLOB Flex & Low Post Offense.

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Interesting Reads

📚 Luka Doncic Isn’t Just the MVP Favorite, He’s the Most Improved Player​

"Doncic’s statistical mushroom cloud is a startling phenomenon. Even his most optimistic supporters didn’t expect historic counting stats and efficiency figures to sustain this late into the season—not to mention his being a more engaged defender on a team that has a better net rating than the Bucks and Nuggets. Luka’s ceiling is still somewhere above the clouds."

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📚 27 Life-Changing Micro Habits That Require Only A Few Minutes​

"The best micro habits require no more than two or three minutes and fit easily into your existing schedule. They can also be piggybacked off other tasks you already do — say, performing a wall squat while you brush your teeth, or writing down one thing you’re grateful for while you wait for the coffee to brew. In time, these become part of your routine and can be lengthened out or made more difficult."

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📚 The Best Leaders are Both Demanding and Supportive ​

"Most people think of demanding and supportive as opposite ends of a spectrum. You can either be tough or you can be nice. But the best leaders don’t choose. They are both highly demanding and highly supportive. They push you to new heights and they also have your back."

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Quote of the Week

Thank you for reading and have a great week coaching,

Dan and Pat

info@slappinglass.com

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