#FivePossessions – Five curated possessions from the North Carolina State Wolfpack where they demonstrate 45º Cuts in their Spread Ball Screen offense. (Note: Second installment of a new series entitled #FivePossessions, where we take a look at five possessions featuring a team or player and dive into a particular topic.) The North Carolina State Wolfpack are one of…
Video Playbook: The Short Roll
The short roll is an effective tool when the ball screen defense puts two on the ball. Here’s a look from some masters of the short roll. When teaching ball screen offense, it is important to equip your players with solutions to various ball screen defense tactics. Without solutions you are just “running something” and doing a…
Ball Screen Defense: Analyzing Effective Methods
Experimenting with a new ball screen defense in addition to your primary strategy could have huge benefits for your team. What is your team’s primary method for defending a ball screen? I recently asked that question via Twitter poll. What is your team’s primary method for defending a ball screen? (If vote is “other,” please specify.)…
Top Plays: FIBA U18 European Championship 2018
Plenty of creative and effective XsOs were showcased during the FIBA U18 Europe event – here are seven diagrams along with video. Many factors made the FIBA U18 European Championship 2018 in Latvia very exciting. This tournament was important for most youth European players, because the U18 event sees the largest gathering of NBA and EuroLeague scouts.…
NBA Finals Team Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James has led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 4th consecutive NBA Finals appearance, and the offense flows through him every possession. There were many times throughout the 2017-18 NBA season where it looked like this could be the year for a new Eastern Conference representative in the Finals. However, the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to…
Spread Ball Screen Entries: Dual Action
Using dual action on the swing pass adds ball and player circulation to early offense as well as setting up the spread ball screen. In basic spread ball screen offense, flowing from the break into the penetration action is accomplished with a simple drag screen. The playmaking ball handler dribbles over the ball screen from…
Eastern Conference Finals: Video Breakdown – Celtics-Cavs Game 1
Kevin Bruinsma analyzes the offensive and defensive strategies the Boston Celtics used to handle the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1. The Boston Celtics took a 1-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon with an impressive 108-83 victory at TD Garden in Boston. Let’s take a look at how the Celtics controlled the game from the…
Offensive Elements: Twice
Twice: When it comes to creating an advantage, if at first you don’t succeed, screen twice! To round out our study of The Four T’s Of International Offense a pair of French professional teams, AS Monaco and ASVEL, will demonstrate the “twice” concept. Twice fits into the rescreen family as it is a second attempt…
Plays of the Week – April Recap
The month of April featured some fantastic XsOs with the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament and beginning of the NBA Playoffs. Missed our emails from April? No worries – we got you covered. Catch up at the webpage versions below. Plays of the Week emails are generally sent on Tuesdays. Subscribe here to get POW delivered…
Zalgiris Kaunas: Winning Ways Part 1 – Horns Series
Despite having the lowest budget among Euroleague Playoff teams, Zalgiris Kaunas has succeeded with an efficient offensive style. This post, 1 of 4, focuses on ZK’s Horns series. The 2017-18 EuroLeague season has been the most competitive of all time. Only three games separated 3rd place from 8th place in the league standings. Zalgiris Kaunas had one…