2016 - 12 Books

Twelve of the books I’ve read and liked during the year. I thought maybe you could be interested and also might like to make some suggestions with your favorite reads. I add one quote of each to give you a quick flash about the book, even if there is much more inside them, of course.

La metamorfosis ; Martí Perarnau: “Lo que hizo el entrenador fue simplemente, en realidad, crear las condiciones para que estos futbolistas expresaran sin limitación dichas cualidades… esta es una de las mayores virtudes que debe poseer un líder técnico: facilitar y promover la expansión del talento almacenado por sus hombres, que a menudo permanece en compartimentos escondidos”

Herr Pep ; Martí Perarnau: “Un equipo es algo vivo, que crece, se desarrolla, sufre desgracias e inconvenientes, los supera, crea expectativas, mejora en unos ámbitos, empeora en otros y, en resumen, evoluciona.”

La vida por el fútbol ; Román Iucht: "Uno vive y necesita jerarquizar virtudes, decir éstas son las virtudes que rescato en los demás y quisiera para mí, que respeto, que valoro.”

Los 11 caminos al gol ; Eduardo Rojas: "Un buen conductor se forja en la derrota, cuando sus valores y su estilo generan respeto y credibilidad incluso en la adversidad. Creo que el líder ve en ese momento la capacidad de conducir. No me quieras porque gané, necesito que me quieras para ganar. Quien es querido se siente más seguro y su sensación de fortaleza para enfrentar la tarea es superior. Tengo muy claro que uno tiene que querer sinceramente a quien conduce, y si no lo quiere naturalmente, tiene que aprender a quererlo. Una muestra de nuestra debilidad es excluir. Cuando no aguanté a los jugadores, invariablemente me fue mal. Si no los quiero, no hay proyecto posible.”

The power of negative thinking ; Bob Knight & Bob Hammel: "Improvement, especially toward perfection, comes only if the practice is demanding, well-thought-out, and constructive, by a coach who realizes that absolute perfection is unattainable—but is always the objective."

A season on the brink ; John Feinstein: "Practice had not gone well; after three straight good practices, the team had been sluggish. Intellectually, Knight knew this was inevitable. Emotionally, it drove him to the brink of complete hysteria.”

More than a game ; Phil Jackson & Charley Rosen: "When it comes to basketball, Tex has God’s conscience.”

Leading ; Alex Ferguson & Michael Moritz: "Watching others, listening to their advice and reading about people are three of the best things I ever did.”

Showboat ; Roland Lazenby: "Tex couldn’t tell an untruth if his life depended on it. So I think that’s what people like Michael and Kobe love about Tex. They welcome coaching. They welcome honest criticism.”

Michael Jordan, The Life ; Roland Lazenby: "Rather than miss games, Jordan had to sit out his favorite time with the team. “I have always liked practice,” he said, “and I hate to miss it. It’s like taking a math class. When you miss that one day, you feel like you missed a lot. You take extra work to make up for that one day. I’ve always been a practice player. I believe in it.”

Open ; Andre Agassi: "I can’t imagine all these people trying to be like Andre Agassi, since I don’t want to be Andre Agassi.”

What I talk about when I talk about running ; Haruki Murakami: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

Efficiency: Petteri Koponen

I’m not a big fan of the plus - minus stats specially when it comes to individual performances, I think there are many players involved in whatever happens on the court and that number can lead to misunderstandings. 

Anyway in the last Baskonia - FCB we saw a chain of actions that show the value of one of the great players in our basketball, Petteri Koponen. In the beginning of the third quarter, five consecutive possessions, creating a high value for his team on both sides of the court, scoring five points himself and creating another four for Ante Tomic, plus stealing one ball on defense.

Defense, scoring, decision making, play making, to get his team going in less than four minutes.

Also, I’d like to point out one of the offensive situations FCB use during this stretch, which we can see in the video, with a big man posting playing at the elbow for a hand off situation. In this example is precisely Koponen the player who ends up executing the shot coming off Tomic's pass. 

Using a shooter and getting advantages of small defensive mistakes to get easy looks for an elite shooter, FCB's playbook has really interesting options.

Shooters Defense: GSW Read And React

Photo: NBA.com

I watch as much NBA as I can. Which is half of what I’d like to watch, and that is probably half of what you need to watch to have a decent knowledge of the league… 

But I enjoy The League anyway, and I think there are many good things to see, analyze and pay attention to.

I won’t join the controversy about how many three point shots are too many. Everyone has an opinion. But it is a fact that the record of made threes during a seven games series was broken during the West Conference Finals, and this post is related to three point shooting. 

This classic situation is frequently used by the Golden State Warriors, staggered screens.

OKC tried to stop it switching in off ball screens to avoid easy catch and shoot options. Which is as good an idea as any other, if the defensive execution is good or if the offense is not ready to read it. Let’s take a look at some clips from games six and seven. In the first two plays, the Warriors run the staggered screen situation we are talking about, while in the third one we see the off ball screen right after an inside pass:

The Warriors reaction to the switch is to cut with the last screener to the basket. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala are the cutters. As we can see, when the switch happens, the defender who is supposed to take the screener doesn’t protect the rim, and leaves the path open for the cut. In the first clip, there is still one more help, although the second cutter gets a perfect extra pass to score.

With the Finals starting tonight, we should be ready to take a look at how the Cavaliers defend this basic, but useful, situations. 

Final Four 2016 (II)

Photo: Euroleague.net

We explained in the last post how Kyle Hines had an amazing performance switching on ball screen defense.

That brings me to another sign of the complexity of our sport. Although Hines was excellent defending those mismatch situations, the next action happened in one of the last plays of the last quarter. This could be considered one of the “key” moments of the game. After an off ball screen, a mismatch happens, Dixon against Hines… the small playmaker manages to create the space for his shot, and scores.

For me it is interesting to understand how, a situation which was totally under control for Hines all along the game, gave Fenerbahce the opportunity to “believe” one more time in their chances to win the game.

It has been a controversial topic during the last season, specially in the NBA, if the “hack a” strategy is acceptable. We saw a clear example during the game, and I haven’t read many opinions against it… Here is the moment when Itoudis tells CSKA players to "hack a Vesely" right after he shot an air ball in his last free throw attempt. What is your opinion?

I’d like show now some beautiful offensive plays we saw CSKA execute.

In the first one, they run a high ball screen with Hines rolling to the basket. Help side players, whatever their defensive rules are, put extra focus on the ball, and at this point Kurbanov sets an off ball screen against Bogdanovic (De Colo’s defender) to “create” the pass opportunity to the corner, and to make it easy for De Colo to attack the defender close out in case he decides not to shoot. 

Let’s finish with two consecutive plays. One of the moments when CSKA started looking unbeatable that night:

 

This set that is frequently used by many teams, but here is executed with virtuosity, great timing and it shows CSKA at his best. The way Teodosic fakes the screen and then the shot, to end up passing to Hines, and how the american connects with the corner… Fenerbahce players were “chasing shadows”. The next offense they run it again, and the defenders hesitate, in part because of the outcome of the last offense, leaving a highway to the basket for Higgins to score.

Euroleague season is over, the countdown for next season has started. 

Final Four 2016 (I)

Photo: Euroleague.net

It’s not the first time I say it, very often we try to find the “key” for the outcome of a game. We go to the statistics, we talk about this or that defensive modification, a beautiful set play drawn by the coach, a player in bad shape or a great offensive performance. 

Sometimes we make things too complicated and sometimes we try to over simplify and find one reason to explain why the game ended as it did. The truth is: there isn’t a single key when it comes to sports. That makes it, specially basketball, amazing and unpredictable.

There were so many details during the CSKA - Fenerbahce… It would take days to run through the game trying to understand in deep every single action. So, I will just bring some of them, and I hope we will be able to enjoy in the next years many more games as good as this one.

As they pointed out in @Euro_Adventures podcast that fifth foul might have been one of the luckiest strikes in the last years. Vorontsevich was fouled out and that brought Khryapa back in the game. His performance during the last ten minutes has been praised enough by now but, was he supposed to be there? was he supposed to sub in during the last minutes of the game? We will never know, but a situation that could have been really negative for CSKA turned into the best momentum for them to win the trophy. If that doesn’t make us think as coaches...

The game started with an interesting match up, Kalinic guarding De Colo. Probably to switch ball screens slowing the french down, while avoiding mismatches inside or in the offensive rebound. Seven CSKA points and two personal fouls on the Serbian (who had to be substituted) gave the first “victory” to the Russian side.

It is a frequent topic in this blog, I’ve written about it here,  here,  here,  here,  here, and not many days ago here. So it is no surprise to see teams switching in several ball screens. Having players like Kyle Hines (also frequently featured around here) or Udoh helps a lot. We saw many fantastic defensive actions from these players in the final game of the Euroleague season.

I counted 13 situations where Hines switched defending ball screens. Do you know how many points did Fenerbahce score against him? Zero. Not a single point scored by the “small” being guarded by Hines in those switches. Fener scored two points off an offensive rebound (Vesely against Kurbanov) and that was all in 13 possessions. Obviously, there is a team effort there, other players are involved too, but having Hines is an insurance in these situations.

We’ll keep talking about this game in the next post, stay tuned. 

Lokomotiv: Stretch 5

Foto: Euroleague.net

Definitely, the use of this "stretch 5" strategy has been one of the reasons for Lokomotiv Kuban to make it all the way to Berlin. It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments will be made to fight it in the Final Four.

We saw different ways to get advantages through Anthony Randoph during the play off against F.C. Barcelona, let’s take a look at some of them:

Pretty basic, when all five Lokomotiv players are placed beyond the three point line, creating so many three point threats, there is a lot of room to drive and it is kind of risky to help on penetrations. If Randolph’s defender helps, the opportunity is right there for the kick out pass. Once he gets the ball, the right decision making will end up with shots, penetrations against close outs, or extra passes to beat defensive rotations.

Side screen situations: We are used to “fours” popping after setting ball screens. Not so much to “fives” having that shooting range. Loko often clears the corner and short corner for Randolph to pop to that area. Another shooting threat will be usually placed one pass away from the ball (weak side elbow, three point line on top) making helps on the ball screen situation even harder. 

More side screen, now looking for weak side actions: When Randolph's defender doesn’t help, the weak side defenders need to give a hand on the ball screen defense. Movement without the ball is the key now. Weak side cuts are extremely dangerous for the defense. As we see in the second clip, the skip pass is also used to punish defensive rotations.

Middle screen situations: Randoph’s pop creates a superiority right after the ball is passed. Quick shot or pass against defensive rotation. If the defenders hesitate or are late… the dagger will fly.

Finally, one of the sets they run to free Randolph for a wide open shot, with a hand off followed by an off ball screen. Once again, he will decide either to shoot, drive, give an extra pass against rotations or run the set all the way and play one more hand off / side screen. As we see in the last clip, even if the execution is not perfect (they don't play the initial hand off, don't set the small - big off ball screen) the  key idea remains the same, Randolph wide open and taking care of business. 

The Final Four starts tomorrow, let's get ready for some of the best basketball moments of the year.

CSKA Switching

Photo: Euroleague.net

I won’t pretend to explain a defensive game plan because not having enough information about it, but I can show you some details of CSKA’s defense during the third play off game against Red Star. If you want to get a deeper understanding, my advice is to analyze those three games to find out how it works.

There’s an old saying in basketball “the best man to man defense looks like a zone and the best zone defense looks like a man to man”. That could be the idea behind the defense we saw in the mentioned game. We can argue about the way we call it (switching man to man, flexible zone, mutant defense) but there’s no need to go crazy about it. 

In my opinion, CSKA has the personnel to try this kind of switching defense. Their physicality and size allow them to go for it not giving up a lot of advantages to their rivals. But there’s another idea we should keep in mind. The defense’s “first stone” is not the switching, but the 1 on 1 and team communication. Bigs need to make efforts to guard smalls and smalls need to be really aggressive, as they will find themselves in a quick mismatch situation quite often. Then, the focus to switch or rotate when needed is also a must.

Also, the scouting work matters, Red Star use very often “horns” situations, as well as quick side screens. This switching defense may create problems and definitely slow down the rhythm of the offense. 

Some of the rules they appear to be following:

They place a “big” on top of their defense (Kurbanov, Nichols)

They switch high ball screens avoiding an advantage for the “roll man”, and try to keep a small guarding the ball after the first switch. 

Continuous attention to the ball’s position and players’ movements

Be aware of cuts, to follow and/or rotate, trying to stay in the same lines. "Smalls" defending outside spaces, "bigs" close to the basket.

Sag off from your man when the ball goes inside

If the mismatch finally happens: FIGHT IT. No easy penetration, no uncontested shots, no easy passes inside (defender in front) Off ball activity.

Let’s take a look: 

ACB Final Games 1 & 2: Review

While we wait for the third game of the finals, let's take a look at what happened in the first two, and let's try to find out if Barcelona can find arguments to avoid the 3-0.

It's clear that Real Madrid was (one more time) a well oiled scoring machine in game 2. But, it is also true that their defensive activity was better than in the first game. You can't isolate one side of the game and consider it the only reason why a game is won or lost. But a quick first look at both games box scores show that FCB scored 40 points at halftime in game 1, and 32 in game 2. Of course we would need possession data to get better accuracy, but as a sign it is interesting.

Let's take a look at some details we saw during the first two games of the Final:

FCB found some good looks in low post for their bigs

and also for DeShaun Thomas, who is being their main option at the beginning of the games:

Here we see how he attracts the defense and finds Lampe beyond the three point line.

In the second game, Real played more aggressive to stop these options, with quick defensive reactions, with good team work collapsing the paint, more contact, and even using some fouls. Good overall defensive focus, which helped setting the tone of the game, as we can see:

I wrote about mismatch situations some weeks ago. They are becoming more and more important. In the first game we saw how both Real and Barça scored off the mismatch.

In the second, Real Madrid bled Barcelona with these situations, specially during the first two quarters. Even when they decided not to exploit the first advantage they just created, they ended up scoring (opposite side, Carroll's pull up jumper)

Also, they have been getting stops against mismatches in a regular basis during these two games. As I mentioned before, using their fouls wisely helps setting the defensive level. Another example of individual commitment and team work.

Focusing on the offensive face now, we've seen FCB scoring inside, and this will be important for the "blaugrana" team. As important or more will be to diminish Real's inside points.

Which won't be easy because Real's outside threats are huge, but FCB should try to find their way on  defense. In the first two games we saw some good actions, along with some others not so good or plain bad. Real Madrid is punishing almost every single mistake (one on one, help side, defensive rebounds) 

Both teams will try to find as many wide open shots as possible. As we saw in the first game and in one of the last clips from the second one, three point shots coming off offensive rebounds are a good "easy" points source:

FCB will be looking for reasons to be optimistic, one should be Doellman and Hezonja's spacing in ball screen situations. They are creating a good amount of opportunities, both players are shooting well and will probably be confident in the third game. 

Let's hope to see a very good third game, and may the best team win!

Final Four 2015: Cool Goudelock Down

Photo: Euroleague.net

A lot has been said about Real Madrid's offense in the semifinal against Fenerbahce. Not so much about some defensive details during that game. It is clear that their offense was flowing big time, the ball movement was great, they shared it the right way, the quality of the passing absolutely delicious… But they did some good things on the other half of the court too.

Let's take a look at how they cut Andrew Goudelock's rhythm during the first two quarters of the game. But first one more example about something we've been talking about lately, numbers. You can check Goudelock's points and immediately think that he was dominant (34 minutes, 26 points, 9/11 2PT, 2/6 3PT) But, if you want to dig a little bit more, you will find out how at the end of the second quarter, he had 6 points (2/3 2PT, 0/4 3PT) while his team was trailing by 20 (55-35) and the game was really far from where Fenerbahce would have wanted at that moment…

From the outside, and not knowing first hand what was Real's game plan, it looks like they paid good attention on Goudelock, probably the best 1x1 player in the competition. Let's take a look at some clips:

In the first video, we can see Fenerbahce playing one of their most frequently used sets. They set a down screen and then they play a hand off pass. Not only the player guarding Goudelock is committed to the task in hand, but also the other players are really aggressive. Real gave up some other options while trying to decrease Goudelock's production, which is normal when you focus in one player.

I was talking about cooperation to stop Goudelock before. In the next video we see that team work again. Two clips in which we can see up to three of Real's players (and in the first clip, a fourth giving a hand too) guarding Goudelock in the same play. Yes, he scores in the second one, but every effort counts and they keep making his life a little bit harder with their defense.

More examples, hand off and ball screen situations. We see how the screener's defender is aggressive to stop Goudelock. Aggressive hedging, and again, it is clear that they rather prefer other players to have the scoring opportunities. Help side defenders work against those other options, trying to avoid the easy shot, forcing some drives, rotating…

The last clip might seem naïve, but it is not. A "no helping" policy is advisable when facing some players. It appears Real Madrid decided to use that strategy with Goudelock. There were some actions where helping would have been a right move in a normal situation, but the defender decided not to. Take a look at the next clip.

So let me ask for your opinion: Was Goudelock's defense a success?

P.S.: You can check all of Goudelock's first half actions, here.

Final Four 2015: Teodosic

Photo: Euroleague.net

There has been some controversy around Teodosic's performance in the semifinal between Olympiacos and CSKA.

I've said this before and it won't be the last time, we, the people, try to find an explanation for victories and defeats, so it is quite normal to hear "this player lost the game" "this player won the game" or "that turnover was the key" and also "the missed three point shots were decisive"... The use of some statistics, or taking a couple of isolated actions appear to be enough to find that explanation we need to feel "we know" what happened and why.

From a coach's point of view, and we have many different examples, the performance of your team rely on many different aspects. And the influence of a player in the development of the game goes, for example, way beyond the points he scores.

Playing the devil's advocate I'm throwing two single numbers in support of Teodosic: he scored 6 of CSKA's 17 points in the last quarter. That's 35% of their total points in the last quarter. 

These are Teodosic's offensive actions during the last quarter, those in which he was handling the ball - finishing his team's actions. There was some talking about "ball stopping" and it is clear that he forced some situations (something that Spanoulis did, too… being the outcome the main difference between some of them) but we should review the other four players movement (or lack of) and the spacing they have in some of those actions (not really helpful)

On the other side of the court, we can ask ourselves if Olympiacos' rule was to attack Teodosic, not being his defensive skills his main strength. It looks like he gives up a couple of fouls without a big defensive effort. In the second clip he gives his man a big distance so the pass is easy (and this is quite common when he plays defense on the ball handler)

The way things work on a team, a coach must consider a number of plus and minuses of his players, who is on the court, what is each one giving to the team, the game situation, will he attract the defenders to create opportunities for the other players (there are many different things to think about) and then make a decision about who is playing in a specific moment. But the beauty of sport is also in the decision making, sometimes the right decision looks like a mistake, and sometimes a "crazy" move from the coach ends up working… Sometimes you just need to keep it simple instead of "over coaching"… 

But remember, "after the battle everyone's a good general".

Final Four 2015: Ball Screen Defense - Switch

Photo: Euroleague.net

I'll be posting in the next days some details we saw during the Euroleague Final Four. In my opinion, it's been an amazing weekend for European basketball, with really good basketball and a good dose of thriller... 

We've been talking about the 21st century basketball for a while, its evolution, the way our sport is going… Maybe this Final Four has been a clear example about the "new basketball" we are going to see. 

I'm talking about defense now, and specifically about switching against (ball) screens. Will this become the main defensive rule in the years to come?

During the semifinal between Olympiacos and CSKA, we saw how that defense was extensively used by both teams. I bring today two short videos with the teams scoring... 

...and getting stops. 

Both single (between the two players directly involved in the screen) and multiple (different rotations to avoid mismatches) switching options were played during the game. It's no surprise that many teams are building their rosters with this idea in mind, trying to find players as physical as possible, capable to play solid defense in different situations. Other teams work on ways to switch with "smaller personnel", and still cut the offense's rhythm. 

What's your opinion, are we going to watch more and more switching? 

Nordic Championship - Solna 2015

While the biggest names of our basketball were in Madrid, for the Adidas Next Generation Tournament, and Euroleague F4, last week I had the opportunity to watch live the Nordic Basketball Championship. Well known by many scouts and GM's who often find good prospects there, this tournament brought together the U16 and U18 generations from Sweden (organizers), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia and Denmark. Also Estonia and Sweden U20 played two games during the weekend. 

The terrible news about Rasmus Larsen passing away struck everyone in Solnahallen, where so many people who knew him well and saw him play in this same tournament were devastated. Everyone had nice things to remember about the young player.

About the tournament, from an outsider's point of view, along with a lot of comments heard, it may seem there wasn't as much talent as in past editions. Lauri Markkanen, considered by Eurohopes as one of the best 20 players from 1997, was injured and couldn't play. But from a coach's point of view, I've seen many players which, considering my experience coaching in European leagues (Hungary, Slovakia, Portugal, Spanish LEBs), will be ready to play at a good level (or very good) if they have the right development and work properly during the next seasons. 

NBA prospects? probably not, but for sure there were kids whose talent, size, or both, put them in a very good position to keep growing as players and to fight to reach Top European competitions. At least one of the players we saw is been already recruited by Joventut Badalona, so we will see him in Spain pretty soon. 

The basketball was high paced (with a couple of "run and gun" teams) with some full court press teams, more 2-3 zone than I'd like (mostly because of the low intensity and execution mistakes), teams showing good spacing when playing pick and roll situations, lots of three point shots, and not too many situations to feed the big players, which surprises me as some of them had a clear advantage inside. 

One of the main problems (I've been finding it in different countries and Championships, as the U18 Spanish I watched two weeks ago, for example) is the passing quality. Youth teams coaches should give much more emphasis to the pass. Talent shouldn't be the only factor to have good passers in our sport and my perception is we need a lot to work to develop this fundamental skill. 

Overall, a really good experience, many names in my agenda to follow for the next seasons, and an appointment for the future editions of an exciting tournament.

Final Four: Bjelica's Corner

Ball screen actions, probably the most frequently used tactical tool in modern basketball, is extensively studied on both sides of the court. It will be one of the keys during the Final Four, as the teams that will be in Madrid excel in the use of this "art" and have terrific players to execute it.

It would be too long to analyze every single option we will find during the Final Four in one post, so this is a small study about one of them, which I think will be important in the semifinal between Fenerbahce and Real Madrid: Nemanja Bjelica on ball side corner and two smalls on the opposite side. This is often played by the Turkish team, and it will be interesting to see how it will work, and Real's defensive answers. 

There are different ways to approach a specific situation from the defensive side. For example, you can have a rule you follow no matter what (e.g. "whenever they play a side screen, we "trap") and you can also consider who are the players involved and then adapt the defense. 

Let's take a look at different scenarios (and let's consider the "1", "2", and "3" positions interchangeable. So I won't talk about "positions" but about characteristics of the players at each one). Always understanding that (in the opinion of many experts) the Euroleague's best "stretch 4", Nemanja Bjelica, is in the ball side corner (he is "4") 

For opposing teams, it would be wise to avoid 4's defender helps against 5's roll (giving room for Bjelica to receive a quick pass): it is an extremely dangerous situation, Bjelica being a huge threat. He can catch and shoot, and he can drive to beat the defender's close out.

If the defense manages to avoid these two situations, they often play a "5 x 4" ball screen which creates a new advantage either for Bjelica to score, or for their "5" to roll hard when he has an advantage or crush the board when Bjelica drives.

Allow "1" to shoot, go under the screen: if you rather prefer that shot (e.g. when the ball handler is not a great shooter) than any other option the offense can find. As usual, scouting and "numbers" will help in the decision making process. No helps needed, no "Bjelica's threat"

Do not allow "1" to shoot, go over the screen and collapse the paint avoiding penetration: this option should be considered when you think "2" and "3" threats are smaller than "1's". The screener's defender will try to stop the penetration. As helps will be coming from "weak" side (which we could consider "strong" side once the ball handler drives to the middle) those are dangerous shooting opportunities. And the player getting that pass may try to drive against the close out, so the defenders need to be ready to rotate.

Switch and defend the mismatch, or multiple switching: here, one more time, the defense avoids helping from Bjelica. One problem, Fenerbahce players are very patient to find the way to exploit the advantage. It can be inside, outside, or they can keep playing with very good spacing which usually leads to a good scoring opportunity. Having great "one on one" players makes them really dangerous in mismatch situations.

"Ice", deny the screen: so you don't let the ball handler go to the middle and you create a "traffic" situation on ball side. Fenerbahce can be either very aggressive or very patient against this defensive option. The "aggressive" option: as soon as the screener sees it, he cuts hard to the rim, while the ball handler drives baseline and attracts the screener's defender. Then he can find 5 or the wide open man on the side if there are long helps (a good way to avoid a quick roll is to bump from "2's" defender) Obviously you don't want to help from Bjelica, he is ready to hit the corner three! The "patient" option: the screener will pop and they will attack on the opposite side.

Flash / Trap against the ball handler: trying to stop the ball, being very aggressive to stop penetrations, force turnovers… Although Fenerbahce's spacing plus their high quality players helps them find a good option. First things first, you need to take care of the roll man. We already saw what happens when you help from Bjelica. So you're gonna have to work on defensive fakes and get back real quick after the flash.

A lot to study, many decisions to make, and a small post to show the kind of work coaching staffs are doing "behind the cameras"

X's & O's: Screen + Hand Off

Right before tonight's third game, a quick analysis about one of Olympiacos "go to" sets. 

These are sets every team has and runs for different reasons. They feel comfortable when playing them, they work well for a key player, or they create problems to the defenders...

Olympiacos look for Spanoulis in many different ways, but in the last game this set was extremely productive for the reds. 

A vertical hand off between a big man and the Greek star, that can be followed by a quick ball screen. As a secondary option within the same structure, they can look for the pass to the big man near the basket, but we will focus today on the Spanoulis' option. 

As we will see in the video, Olympiacos scored twelve points when running this set, nine of them coming straight from Spanoulis' hands.

In my humble opinion, FCB's defensive game plan was ready to defend it. My guess is they planned to chase Spanoulis, while the big man defending the passer would make a short hedge, and the defender of the corner would collapse the paint. 

But mistakes happen during a game, and Spanoulis' execution is admirable so he can score even when the defenders perform well. 

For sure tonight we will see this set many times, we will see how it works! Now, let's take a look at the video.

Ball Inside Set: Scout and Adjust

As a coach, when you have a "special" player (understanding that as a player around whom for whatever reasons you are going to organize your offense or your defense) you have to find the way to use him in the best possible way.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis from Maccabi Tel Aviv is one of these players. He is a "go to" player for their offense whenever he is on the court. And today I want to show you how they look for him, and how important for their rivals is to make some adjustments when they face the Israeli team. 

Analyzing the Top 16 games between Maccabi and Real Madrid, we see it clear. In the first game, we saw Maccabi running one of their favorite sets for "Big Sofo" and getting a lot of good looks for him. When both teams played again, we noticed how the Spanish side made some adjustments against that set. 

Maccabi's set involves a lot of movement without the ball, off ball screens, and, finally, Schortsanitis' duck in action to seal his defender and get the ball inside. It is interesting to notice how he sets a down screen and then he manages to establish his position inside to leave the defender behind his back. Once he gets the ball there… We can see how they run the set and score in the first clip.

Then, for the second game, the Spanish team adjusted their defense, showing much more intensity in order to, first, avoid easy passes at the beginning of the set, and then, trying to keep Sofo off his favorite spot (or forcing him to fight for it)

Nevertheless they end up finding him inside, but Real's players are ready to trap, jumping immediately after the ball leaves the passer's hands. Nocioni's hands up when he traps and Rivers' help side activity as a "goalkeeper" avoid the dangerous skip pass.

Let's take a look...

Real Quick: Box Out Against Mismatch

One of the biggest risks when you decide to switch defending ball screens, is the immediate offensive rebound opportunity for a big man against a smaller player. 

When facing this kind of defense, realizing about the advantage for his teammate after an hypothetical missed shot, the ball handler can be even more aggressive to try to finish. He can miss the shot but they will have that advantage in the offensive rebound. 

Some players have that "instinct" and follow the action to get the offensive rebound (although in my opinion this is something you can practice from the very beginning of a player's career. But how many youth team's coaches practice offensive rebounding skills?)

So with that idea in mind, and trying to reduce the risk of an offensive rebound that will create a high percentage scoring opportunity, a key for the ball screen "switch" defense should be to box out properly in that mismatch situation.

And this is what I want to show you today, take a look at the video and notice how Nizhny's player Evgeny Baburin, right after switching in the ball screen, turns around and looks for the contact against the big man, boxing him out and making it easier for his teammate to get the rebound after stopping the penetration. 

X's & O's: Ball Screen + Back Screen

One interesting offensive situation Fenerbahce is using quite often is this "ball screen - back screen"
set play.

They get some different advantages depending on the reaction of the defense. "Fener" players read well the defensive moves and they find the best way to score.

This is basically a set of two consecutive screens, in which they manage to involve two or even three and four defenders, and that creates a lot of scoring opportunities.

In the first clip of the video, we can see how, after the ball screen, the defender of the screener tries to stop the ball but he gets stuck in the second screen (back screen) and this forces the second screener's defender to try to stop the ball.

Notice how, in the ball screen, the roll man makes it impossible for the "original" defender of the ball handler to recover and even try to stop the ball. He keeps him sealed and he creates an immediate mismatch situation.

Think about it, three different defenders try to stop the ball in this particular play, and finally they miss the last screener, who pops to the three point line where he receives wide open to score an easy shot.

In the second clip, the same situation, with an easier end, an uncontested lay up, as the back screen creates a clear disadvantage for the defense, two players against a single defender unable to react and stop the ball...

Real Quick: RMA - FCB Euroleague

With Real Madrid and FC Barcelona still cooling down, and although obviously this is a game that deserves deep analysis, I want to show you this clips from early in the game, with some interesting details.

First, a nice high - low action from Real Madrid. Barcelona often switch in off ball screens when guarding JC Carroll. Real responds well and finds the way to use the mismatch in low post.

Second, another defensive situation from the "madrileños": Maciulis gets on the court and guards Marcelinho Huertas. Maciulis' size and quickness allows him to protect himself from Huertas' penetrations and at the same time he is able to contest shots and switch against ball screens:

Real Quick: No Looking Pass

Defensive organization makes harder and harder for the offenses to find advantages. Automatic reactions, and a lot of coaching, that create well oiled defensive machines ready to face the most common situations on the floor.  

In today's "real quick" we can see the value of a creative player, who goes one step ahead of the defenders, understands the reactions of the defense, and somehow "fools" his opponents to find a scoring opportunity for a teammate. 

CSKA run a ball screen, Fenerbahce try to trap the ball handler while working on the "weak" side. Once the ball leaves Weems' hands, the advantage is in the opposite corner. CSKA players are supposed to swing the ball there, and Fener players, in this case, Goudelock, "know" they need to run to that spot in order to avoid an easy shot. The mentioned player reacts almost immediately to reach the corner, and that is the moment when Teodosic does his "magic" and lying with his eyes, finds the pass to Kaun right under the basket...

Let's watch it:

Low Post Mismatch: Double Team

It's a situation every team work to stop. When a big guy ends up playing near the basket against a smaller defender you need a team effort and a good defensive organization to fix the mismatch.

The double team is one of the solutions teams use more often. We will see today how Panathinaikos manages to get a stop against that situation through a good team effort, organization, and last but not least, the players' knowledge and awareness. There's no need to say that F.C. Barcelona is one of the best organized teams and they are always ready to react against the double team.

The mismatch happens after a switch in a hand off pass. Abrines finds Doellman in low post. Let's notice how Dimitris Diamantidis, who is on help side, sees the problem even before the ball goes inside and gets ready to trap (there is a reason he's been named Euroleague's best defender so many times). 

At the same time, the communication is good between DD and Mavrokefalidis. Help side activity is good, the trap works well (they attack the ball, hands up, avoiding an easy way out…) and they break the timing of the offense. PAO collapse the paint, creating a lot of traffic through help side activity, and they force Doellman to give a bad pass which Mavrokefalidis steals… starting a fastbreak situation.

Let's take a look: