RJM basketball

LEB Gold: Alley Hoop Canarias

2011-11-19T15:12:00.001+01:00

After 10 games, Canarias is the leader of the league, scoring 94 points per game, and once again showing a fun to watch basketball, with high pace and quick shots.

They’ve done the same for years under coach Alejandro Martínez and maybe this is their moment to take a step forward and reach the ACB.

They’ve been running this offensive set for all this years. It’s a reminder that a good execution can beat the scoutings year after year. Also, it’s a good way to show Canarias’ style. Players like Jakim Donaldson, Nayal Koshwal or Rod Flemmings have enjoyed it.

Starting with both bigs placed near the three point line, the pointguard sends a lob pass and the power forward goes backdoor to get the ball and (most of the times) dunk.

There is a curious detail that shows a non verbal comunication between the passer and the big, maybe you have noticed... in some of this clips, the pointguard changes the ball between his legs before giving the pass. I think this is the signal for the big to look for that option...

Take a look. Showtime.

LEB Gold: Low Post Defense

2011-11-09T19:09:00.000+01:00

There are many different ways to defend the low post. We can find some of them in this new LEB Gold’s post.

We will see some double team situations, and also some good help side action that keeps the ball off the low post. At the end, a pure good old one on one defense avoiding the go to guy to get the ball and also runnin the break afterwards to score.

The video starts with a serie of clips showing double teams. First, the trap is set before the receiver dribbles. Afterwards, it is set when the post starts dribbling. We have traps with the defender coming from help side and also some of them whith the defender coming from ball side.

In the very first clip we can see how the help side’s defender takes care of two players and goes wherever the pass is sent. He gets a nice steal and drives coast to coast.

Once we finish with double team situations, let’s take a look at how a good one on one defense, plus the right positioning on help side avoid the inside pass.

In the first clip of the serie, we have the mid post defender denying the pass, and we see how the cutter defender let his man go towards the opposite side and stays right under the rim, aware of a lob pass. Let’s notice how there is no high – low option because the defender is also doing a good denial job. Even when the high post player goes back door, the positioning of the defenders won’t allow the easy basket.

The second clip shows a wonderful one on one defense (without the ball) in which the defender not only denies the pass inside, but also keeps his guy off the paint avoiding an offensive rebound effort. What’s best, after this good defense, our man runs the break to score, punishing a bad defensive balance.

LEB Gold: Full Court Pressure

2011-10-28T12:44:00.000+02:00

This is a “full court press league” as most of its teams play that kind of defense quite often, or at least are ready to use it if they need to. I mean, you need to work this defense either you like it or not, because during the season you’ll face it a lot of times.

Let’s take a look at the first games of the season to get a sight of some of these full court defenses. In the video we will find:

Man to man, defenders in full denial position, right in front of their man, with their back to the ball. It’s interesting to see how they switch (keeping their denial position anyway) when the attackers decide to screen for each other or just to switch sides.

Man to man, defenders on three quarters denial position.

Man to man, defenders behind their man’s back.

Also let’s notice sometimes there is a defender at the top of the defense, taking care of the inbounder:

Inbounder’s defender double teams agains the first receiver when he gets the ball. As we can see in one of the clips, this is far less risky when a big guy inbounds the ball, as it’s not a big deal if the inbounder manages to receive the ball again and starts dribbling. Actually this may be one of the defense’s goals.

Inbounder’s defender denying first pass (he can be watching the ball or with his back towards it) double teaming against the first receiver (before he gets the ball)

Run and jump pressure (switching when needed, trapping when there is an option to)

Take a look at the video:

LEB Gold: Burgos - Stop Antelo!

2011-10-21T10:55:00.001+02:00

One more week of LEB Gold.

Today I want to show you how one of the league’s best teams, Burgos, managed to stop one of the league’s stars, Jose Angel Antelo, a power forward whose skills allow him to post up, to play facing the basket and to hit the three. Antelo is also terrific shooting coming off drible. He is averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds with an astounding 50% in 3 point shots.

Here you can take a look at his stats

Burgos’ defense was great. They allowed Antelo only one uncontested shot all along the game. And from their 1 on 1 defense to their ball screen defense, everything worked fine to let him in 3 points (1/6 FG) and 4 rebounds.

As we see in the video, Burgos decided to defend ball screens in two different ways: “switch” and “push”. And by doing this, they never allowed him an advantage rolling or popping (he’s a killer playing pick and pop)

Burgos’ 1 on 1 defense was intense and focused. Always close to him. No helps. Always on hand raised to contest his shots. He rather prefered to pass the ball than play himself a couple of times in clear situations.

Other times he wasn’t allowed to get the ball.

So, great individual and team defense. Sometimes it may seem that’s easy, but I tell you it is not. Burgos made it look easy. Hats off!

LEB Gold: Double Diagonal Screens - Ball Inside

2011-10-12T12:29:00.000+02:00

There are some “go to” inside players in LEB Gold. The teams work hard to find them in mid – low post but sometimes is not easy to put the ball inside. Some teams are using these double diagonal screens to free their bigs. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s a good option anyway.

As we see there are two small players setting the screens, so the defense can’t switch easily or there would be a miss match. If the timing is good and the screens are hard enough, they’ll give the big man a small advantage, maybe half a second, to get the position and the inside pass. From that point on, he must go to work.

In the first clip we see J. T. Durley (former Wichitta State player) from León. He’s made a great impact in the first three games of the LEB league, averaging 20 points per game with an astounding 75’9% in 2pt shots, 60% in 3pt shots and 77’8 in FT.

In the second clip, as there is no pass inside when the big man (Kevin Langford, yes, Keith Langford’s brother) comes off the screens, Navarra’s players keep running the play, and they end up playing a ball screen to score in the last seconds of the shot clock.

LEB Gold: Post Player's Game

2011-10-05T15:27:00.001+02:00

The Spanish second division (LEB Gold) is a really competitive league. Some of the best Spanish basketball projects as well as veteran players make it an amazing and strong competition. One of the latter is Darryl Middleton, who at age 45 still can show the way to the league’s younger players (that’s to say, to any other player)

What I bring today are some basic but important concepts to play as a center.

- When you are in the weak side’s low post, you shouldn’t stay in the same imaginary line as your teammate when he gets the ball. One step closer to baseline would be fine in order to be able to move properly when he plays his one on one. Helps are quite more complicated, and you will find good passing and rebounding options moving when the ball moves.

- When a teammate drives to the basket, move to create space for him. Your defender will probably try to help and stop the penetration, giving you the time to receive and have an easy shot.

- Against aggresive defenders who try to play defense in front in low – mid post, use your body to roll over them, and with a self screen, get the position to receive a pass from high post.

- After setting an off ball screen, go against your defender, to get a good position to receive. Most of the times, the screener defender will relax, and you’ll be able to place him behind your back and make it easy to get the ball.

Middleton knows well all these concepts, and his love for the game brings him again to the league, so we can keep enjoying his performances.

Thank you!

LEB Gold: Spacing

2011-09-28T12:05:00.000+02:00

Spanish second division, LEB Gold, has just started. From now on, I’ll show you some details of this interesting league.

To begin with, a topic I’m really interested in, spacing.

Alex Navajas, from Breogan, scored 5 out of 5 threes in the league’s first thriller (Breogan 87-Menorca 86 in the overtime) And he did it by making a great use of the space.

As we see in the video, he picks and pops, he creates space when the ball handler goes hard to the rim, he pops when his teammate curls... Many different ways to punish helps and and to achieve an astounding 5/5...

Transition Offense: Ball Inside

2011-09-22T09:19:00.000+02:00

Nowadays a lot of teams want to play transition offense as much as they can. They feel fine with established positions when they aren’t able to finish off the fastbreak and the idea of not giving the defense the opportunity to settle is a valued one for many coaches.

Here we see a nice situation from Israel National Team, in which after the inside pass, they set a screen for the passer that will give the center two pass lines. So he can play one on one, give it back to the guard or pass to the power forward, specially when the latter is a good shooter.

Let’s take a look.

Eurobasket 2011: Macedonia

2011-09-15T03:52:00.000+02:00

Some things they have been showing all around the tournament: Tough defense, good control of game tempo, great knowledge to play the last quarters of their games (they just lost the fourth quarter against Georgia in the close games) well defined roles, and confidence in their leaders. Their chemistry is second to none and they are as dangerous as a wolves pack. Marin Dokuzovski has a hell of a TEAM, and that’s why they are where they are.

In the last seconds, when the ball is so hot you wouldn’t dare to touch it, McCalebb and Ilievski are the guys. Ball screens and clear out situations, they’ll do the rest.

Against Montenegro, they were trailing by two points and they run a ball screen situation, plus a couple of repicks, that ends with a missmatch. They manage to give the ball inside to the big guarded by the pointguard. Afterwards they keep trying with the pick and roll and finally with quick shots but they can’t score and lose the game.

Against Croatia, with the game tied, they try the ball screen for McCalebb, who misses the lay up. They play a good defense and recover the ball. The last ball is, again, for “Bo Mc” who gets another ball screen to find Ilievski, who scores. Another good defense (a contested three pointer) gives them the game.

Finland was a tough game. After getting a one point advantage, they struggled to score again, and only through free throws they managed to do it. Their good defense (sometimes lucky too, but you know “fortuna adaces iuvat”) and their nice control of team fouls (plus rebounding the last one of Koponen’s shots, missed on purpose) meant a new victory.

With a two point lead they reach the last 30” of their game against Georgia. It was a different day but the same play... Ball screen, and then a good inside out pass for a missed trey from Lakovic... Georgia go to the free throw line and tie the game. McCalebb finishes the game with a terrific lay up in a kind of clear out situation. One more game for Macedonia.

They were really close to beat Russia, but Monya’s incredible shot gave the win to the powerful russians. Once again, the end of this game makes me think they are the best team when team fouls’ management is over the table.

But the last game... the last one has been unbelievable. Lithuania leading by two points. A ball screen for McCalebb (maybe fouled maybe not) ends up with Lithuania turning the ball over... and with Ilievski hitting one of those shots basketball fans will remember for ever. Lithuania had their last shot, but Jasaitis missed it and there was no time for more than a miracle... but it didn’t happen for Lithuania.

Challenger’s name is Macedonia. Congratulations! We’ll be watching...

Eurobasket 2011: Slovenia

2011-09-14T09:37:00.001+02:00

Quarter Finals! Slovenia!

Spain is now two steps from the final... and Slovenia is the team to beat to advance to the semifinal.

They’ve been playing just so so, but we can’t think it will be an easy game. They’ve got really good players, both inside and outside, and some of their bigs (Smodis, Lorbek) can create tough situations to stop for our big men.

They run different plays, and quite often they end up playing with one guy inside and four guys outside. Their high-low game is quite good, and also their inside – out passes. As I said, Lorbek and Smodis are very good shooters from mid range and also from three point distance, so they are dangerous when playing these situations. The outside players move well without the ball after they give the pass inside, and I guess there’s no need to talk about Lakovic’s quick release...

Boza Maljkovic has allways liked these staggered screens’ plays. The shooters have many options to read the defense and get some shots, and also the bigs to roll if their defenders hedge. In this play they finish with a hand off situation between their “4” and one of the guards (Lakovic, Dragic & Dragic, Muric, Osboltz...) They play triangles and can find multiple solutions reading the defense.

Another play they run is this “wheel” with the pointguard cutting and setting screens (which can free a wing or a center), to finally get the ball back. Once he gets it he can shoot (Lakovic is dangerous) or look for options (ball screen, pass inside...) I like how well they react when the defender denies the pass to the pointguard. They find the open man and play hand off.

Goran Dragic has shown us his skills along the tournament. I like the way he plays without the ball, how he read the defense, how he can finish in traffic. And of course, this guy is quick...

Eurobasket 2011: Turkey's Baseline Out Of Bounds

2011-09-12T13:17:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, Turkey lost to Serbia in a win or go home game. It was in the very last play of the game that they didn't manage to score in a baseline out of bounds situation. Serbia played good defense and they made it to Quarter Finals.

Turkey wanted to inbound the ball and play a sidescreen between Onan and Turkoglu, probably looking for a pick and pop situation for Turkoglu to score. Their idea was to free Onan with an off ball screen and then Turkoglu would set the screen

Serbia switched in the off ball screen, and Macvan made a hell of a job denying the pass to Onan. Markovic stayed with Ilyasova, who finally received (far from the basket due to Teodosic's denial position) and tried a quick shot (maybe too quick) with three seconds remaining.

Here is the video:

Eurobasket 2011: France

2011-09-11T11:23:00.000+02:00

Next game, France.

The most physical team all over the Eurobasket. They are in very good shape. They’re playing very good basketball, without mistakes, with discipline, with their stars playing together, sharing the ball... A team that likes to run. They are strong rebounders on both sides, and they solve their lack of shooters with very good spacing and teamwork.

Boris Diaw has been hot during the previous games, going to work often in mid post, and showing all his skills with and without the ball. Good passer from the paint, he’s scoring and assisting. They run this situation for him very often. Once the ball goes inside, the other players move well to difficult helps. The guard pops using to screens and then Diaw (sometimes Noah) receives a screen to get the ball in low – mid post. Watch out the first cutter (often, Batum)

You could think (many teams have) that zone defense is a good weapon against France. It should be. They don’t have great shooters, so they should struggle facing a zone. Well, they don’t. They play really well against zone defense. Their spacing, the way they use the screens, their offensive rebound...

Here, take a look at their bigs, setting screens for the guard, playing from behind the defense (really important concept against zones) popping to hig post, spreading the zone from the inside (high post player goes to the free throw line, low post player almost touches baseline)

A strong dribble attracts two defenders. The spacing is great. An off ball screen frees another player on weak side. Two defenders are defending no one, high – low action...

Three players moving together, a ball screen for Parker and an off ball screen against the upper line’s second defender. Free way for Parker to drive and an easy pass outside in case he can’t finish. Teamwork.

Really important against zones. Offensive rebound.

And not only against the zone. They follow penetrations, and get the rebounds coming from nowhere...

Eurobasket 2011: Serbia

2011-09-09T09:47:00.000+02:00

Serbia, even if they’ve lost two games by now is, in my humble opinion, the biggest menace for Spain in our quest for the Eurobasket’s gold.

I gave you an appetizer some days ago and here you have the main dish.

First, Spain must avoid a game start like this one. Not that Serbia’s doing it every game, but they have the skills, for sure they’ll have the motivation and we wouldn’t like to trail from the beginning...

Let’s talk about defense. And this is something I’ve already shown, but I think is interesting enough to take another look at it. The Serbian team manages really well defense on missmatch situations. They are used to involve more than two players in order to avoid advantages for the offense.

More “defense”, not only Teodosic is a wise fastbreak “stopper”, they’re all so good at using fouls to stop the other team’s fastbreaks! They look for a slow paced game that is clearly better for them. Spain need some points off the break, so we’d better reach the bonus as soon as possible and if they stop the break with fouls, at least we’ll go to the line.

Now, their some details on their offense:

One player in, four players out plus pick and roll. That’s one of the keys of their offensive game. Savanovic and Macvan can make mid range jumpers and threes (specially the former) They make good use of their skills to spread the defense and find space to drive. Serbians know how to punish helps. Just like here... Schultze helps way more than needed and Savanovic hits the three.

One play they’ve been using a lot. The same concepts. They set a down pick for the shooting guard to receive a hand off pass and then, again, pick and roll. Notice how Savanovic (in the first clip) and Macvan (second and third clips) end up in the corner. They read the defense and react. Nice triangles, good options for the shooter after the hand off... Dangerous.

They have many different options for baseline out of bounds’ plays. They look for the advantage and use it. As we see in the first two clips, it’s the same play but they play for Savanovic first and for Teodosic posting up in the second. Also, if you’re not focused on defense, they can find the easy shot after the first pass...

I want to finish with a state of the art passer. Teodosic is showing everybody his polished fundamentals, and the pass might be his best weapon. All kind of passes, with both hands, no looking passes... I’d say “kids, TRY to do this at home...”

Eurobasket 2011: Germany

2011-09-07T08:45:00.001+02:00

Next game, Germany.

Germany and Nowitzki. They go together. We should not forget Kaman, Herber (terrific shooter), Benzing, Jagla (mini – Nowitzki), Hammann...

But everything starts by Nowitzki.

They will run some plays to let their “go to” player receive near the basket, or facing the basket. From that moment, he’ll take care of Germany’s offense. We all know he is great in low post, in high post, beyond the line... Well, he’s great everywhere.

So their teammates and coach know, and they set many off ball screens to free him. I showed a clip yesterday in my twitter account to give the first example (yes, he’s not perfect). And I want to show you some more situations now.

They like to play this isolation for Kaman and Nowitzki. The other players will be placed on weak side, moving without the ball, trying to keep help side defenders busy. Nowitzki’s defender should not help, so it’s a good 1 on 1 situation for their center.

Also this screen for Nowitzki to find an open shot when the defender gets stucked, or a good option to penetrate if the defender comes late. Here we see a very good defense (Gallinari) chasing Germany’s star and being close to steal the ball.

This one is by far the situation they run more often. A screen set by the pointguard so Nowitzki can choose, low post or three point line. As you know, he’s likely to hit his shots from both spots.

Can’t wait for the game to start!

Eurobasket 2011: Turkey

2011-09-05T10:23:00.000+02:00

Next game, Turkey...

A lot has been said about Turkey, mostly after their defeat against Poland. Well, here I bring you a couple of clips.

Everybody knows Emir Preldzic, but I thought it would be a good idea to show some of his skills. We know he needs improvement on Defense, and a better shooting technique, but he’s an all around player who can drive hard to the basket, shoot (terrific coming off dribble) and pass. And basically that’s what we find in this short video. I love this young player, his future is in his own hands.

One of the most dangerous things for the Spanish teams is to manage with Ersan Ilyasova’s defense. He plays far from the basket, has a devastating first step when he goes to the rim, can hit the three... and will play the power forward to take our bigs outside of the paint. Many pick and pop situations, many one on one... and something he does really well, to fake the ball screen and cut hard to the basket (take a look at the video)

I repeat, our bigs will have a hard game tonight.

Eurobasket Tweets: Serbia

2011-09-03T10:56:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I tweeted Serbia's National Team details from their friendly and first Eurobasket games.

It was kind of fun to update my timeline with those small clips from the Serbian team.

Here you have them all together. Remember you can follow me on twitter, rjmbasket08

Serbia Ball screen def: the defender PUSHES the ball so he can go through the screen easily. No advantages!

Serbia-Teodosic: PASS.No looking vs pressure,1 hand (right),1 hand (left) over the head in P&R.1st and 3rd TERRIFIC

Serbia. Full court press: Steals, switches, rotations...

Serbia. 2 ball screens play: Many inside clear out situations with shooters menace beyond the 3 point line (Savanovic...)

Serbia. No fastbreak allowed: Teodosic and all his teammates won't hesitate. Foul

Serbia. Ball Screen Def (more): Disadvantage, switch, stop the ball, don't stop running. Steal. Terrific.

Serbia. Team rotation. They switch in ball screen and three players rotate to avoid missmatch:

Eurobasket 2011: Serbia

2011-09-02T11:34:00.000+02:00

Today I'm gonna try something new. We'll see how it works.

All along the day I'll post small details from Serbia, as they're playing really good basketball during the first days of the Eurobasket. I'll show you clips from their friendly games and from their first games of the tournament.

I'll post those details in my twitter account, rjmbasket08 and I hope to receive as much feedback as you want to give. So feel free to take a look, and of course, to start following me if you like what you read and watch there!!

On The Road To Lithuania: Great Britain

2011-09-01T11:13:00.000+02:00

What I like from Great Britain’s team is they are trying to mix styles. Their league is well known for being a run and gun competition. But now they have many players playing abroad (they have NBA, NBAD-League and NCAA players, ACB players, NBL-Czech Rep...) and they need to make them play as a team. Coaches Finch and Nurse are trying to do it, and I think they are doing a good work.

There’s something they seem to have clear though, if you can score in the first 10” of the shotclock, just do it:

As you know I like to show at least a play they use, and this one is simple and effective. They’ve been running it during their friendly games and I think is a good situation to get a good advantage. They look like they’re running a pick and roll on one side, and then, when the defense is ready to play against it, they quickly change the ball to the other side and run the screen there. The defense can be caught off balance and that’s the key for the ballhandler and the screener to go one step ahead.

On The Road To Lithuania: Poland

2011-08-30T00:07:00.000+02:00

Some details from Spain’s first rival, Poland.

First, this play they’ll use to make our big men defend far from the basket. They run this isolation ball screen to avoid helps and to create a good advantage for the ball handler (off the screen but also before it’s set) and for the screener (they'll want to pop)

Take a look at the video:

And one of their players, #10 Szymon Szewczyk, who plays in Italy. He’s really dangerous shooting from mid range and also from beyond the three point line. He can step outside and hit the three easily. He could create some problems to our bigs in different situations.

Here he is:

On The Road To Lithuania: Pick And Roll - Triangle (Italy)

2011-08-17T16:28:00.000+02:00

I'm watching many games from the National Teams that will be in Lithuania's Eurobasket.

One of them is Italy, and this is one of the teams I like more, due to their organization and the way they're coached.

I've seen an interesting pick and roll situation, and I want to share it with you.

The offense read the defense really well, and they find the way to put the ball inside for the screener (who actually doesn't set a screen at all) when he cuts toward the rim. The screener's defender is ready to flash, the corner's defender is ready to collapse the paint, and help side's defenders are far away. So the offense manage to create a triangle and to punish defensive recovery.

Let's take a look.

LEB Gold: U. B. La Palma

2011-06-20T17:47:00.002+02:00

Another one of this League’s teams, U. B. La palma, coached by Carlos Frade, have played great basketball during some periods during the regular season.

They have been a nicely coached team, mixing some young players and some league’s veterans. Their agreement with Gran Canaria ACB was a terrific step for U. B. as they received some really interesting players to add to their squad. Palacios (second year in the league) Odiakosa (an ACB body, and a legit ACB player soon) or Martínez (keep an eye in the American forward) were some of the keys of the team. Let’s not forget Dani Rodríguez, who wil be desired during the summer by many of the LEB Gold teams (and we’ll see if any ACB team too)

They have shown a wonderful transition offense, in which they looked for quick solutions to score. Among those, ball screens with the PG and the center, or high – low situations (probably one of the best teams all over the league finding the connection between bigs from high post to low post) Their bigs knew how to duck in properly and they had a very soft touch to give that pass. Once they had the defender behind their back, it was almost impossible to stop them.

Their unselfishness was one of the keys. When you see how they move the ball, how they share the ball, how in many plays the ball went from one side to the other, then inside, then outside… You understand why it was one of the best teams to watch from the outside, and one of the most difficult to stop for the other teams.

Here we can see how their transition offense keeps going, how they swing the ball and how they run a side screen to get a lot of advantages after the defense has been moving for a while. Also the mid screen (by surprise, the big pops and sets the pick for the PG) gave them many options (they had the right spacing and, again, the needed unselfishness to make it work) Their timing was great most of the times…

To finish with their offense details, and continuing with their transition, here we can see a different option in which the big sets an off ball screen so the wing can go hard to the rim, and if he doesn’t get the ball, he will come back using the big’s down screen. I’ve really liked the way they play from “weak” side and how they try to hurt the defense with those cuts.

Let’s end with their full court pressure. They were one of the most aggressive teams when pressing (quite often, by the way) and the way their bigs read this kind of defense was really important for them. Once again, Odiakosa and Palacios were key players for U. B. La Palma. See how the big is aware of the bad passes, and always ready to jump and trap.

LEB Gold: Tarragona

2011-06-12T00:13:00.000+02:00

Let’s keep on with the LEB Gold teams’ analysis and let’s take a look at Tarragona. Everybody thought they would struggle along the season, but they managed to win 12 games to finish in the 13th spot, which was kind of a surprise.

They brought one of the most exciting players of the league, Alex Franklin, who being an undersized power forward, has ended the regular season with almost 15 points and almost 7 rebounds per game. He’s strong, he’s quick, he can hit mid range jumpers and he’s got a terrific one on one facing the basket. He can post up and he runs the break. On defense, he puts on a lot of intensity and he’s able to defend bigger players overplaying them and showing great attitude. Here he is:

If we look at the way they’ve played, we can see they’re one of the teams that get most from this simple situation with the wings using off ball screens on baseline.

They were dangerous coming off those screens, but they ended looking for many other options, by reading the defense and giving the pass to their bigs when playing curls. They connected very well and they scored many points in those situations.

They also found the way to use some of their inside players, basically those who can hit long range shots, with a simple change on that play.

Let's take a look.

LEB Gold: Axarquía

2011-06-07T11:09:00.000+02:00

To begin with a series of posts in which I’ll bring you some details of the LEB Gold league and its teams, I’ve chosen Axarquia, Unicaja’s “farm team”. They place there some of their best prospects and make them grow in a really hard competition, against very good Spanish and foreign players.

Young players as Carlos Cobos (a PG about whom you’ll hear in the near future) Jhornan Zamora, Alvaro Martínez, Pablo Almazán, Cesar Lima, Angel García and some not so young but still developing players as Nedzad Sinanovic, who’s been waiting his moment to reach the ACB team (and once he’s reached there, he’ll probably stay)

They played this situation quite often. Beginning with a hand off, they set an off ball screen near the free throw line and from that point, they read the defense.

To play a 1 on 1 using the space “3” leaves when cutting:

To look for the shooting guard’s “come back” if he can’t receive a lob pass to finish with an easy lay up in case the defender gets stucked on the screen. “2” can catch and shot or he can play the pick and roll:

And they can also make it a little bit longer, making the wings play it all the way until the end, with “3” getting the ball and playing the ball screen (maybe they didn’t find a pass earlier, or maybe they wanted to let the shotclock run)

Also, they had the inside pass in case the low post defender was relaxed (not very often as he is in ball side, mostly defending three quarters in front of “5”) Having Sinanovic there helped anyway, and created a focus to make it easier for the wings to play on help side.

Let's watch it:

P&R spacing: VCU

2011-05-05T17:11:00.000+02:00

It seems like years since we watched the NCAA Final Four, and everyone talks about UConn and Butler. At least in my country, not many coaches or fans appear to notice how well Virginia Commonwealth U. played during the March Madness...

I'd like to show you something I liked watching their games. It's their pick and roll game, and how they find the wide open guy, how they move the ball, how they have the right spacing on the floor.

In the video we see two P&R situations and how they manage to beat Butler's defensive rotations (there were many more, but these two will be fine to let you see them)

They run the ball screen, start moving the ball, and more important, they start moving without the ball. At the end, they manage to create a 2x1 situation and the defender must decide which player to defend. Then they give an extra pass and find the easy shot. As we can see in the first play, the ballhandler gives the pass to the wing, while the screener rolls and the other big pops. On the opposite side, another player fills the corner. Butler start their rotations but they arrive late and can't contest that shot from the corner.

Again in the second clip, they move the defense, and make one guy hesitate with a 2x1 situation, not allowing Butler to bother the shooter in the corner. Good spacing, sharing the ball and hitting the three.

Take a look...

PAO: Team Defense

2011-03-31T09:25:00.000+02:00

In the hottest moments of the third game, we saw great defensive situations (from both teams) and I want to show you one of those plays.

This is, no doubt, Team Defense, as everybody knows what to do, they help each other and they work hard as individuals but also as a Team.

First, how aggresive they are to keep the rock as far as posible from the three point line. Pass line, pressure on the ball (Tsastsaris manage to force Morris to receive with his back to the basket beyond the three point line!)...

Then, Ricky's defender, as we've seen all along the series, gives him space, in order to let him shoot while being able to defend his penetrations. At the same time, we can see Fotsis defending three quarters in front of his man in low post, and Diamantidis ready to help (he's always ready, no doubt why he's been awarded with the Best Defender award so many times)

When they need to start helping, no one stares at the ball, they start moving, they start rotating... Not allowing easy shots, and forcing Barça's player to look for one more pass, one more pass...

24 seconds later, PAO's defense has recovered the ball...

Let's take a look

PAO's PG's Defense: Euroleague Quarter Finals Game 1

2011-03-24T09:22:00.000+01:00

Real quick today...

Here you have a video that speaks by itself. There's no much to say. Panathinaikos defense against Sada and Rubio during the first game of the Euroleague Quarter Finals was really interesting.

By giving these players that much space (watch the defender, he's always inside the free throw's circle!) they are looking for some goals:

1-Help against shooting guards and inside players (mostly Navarro, but also Lakovic when playing the SG, Morris, Lorbek)
2-Help in defensive rebounding.
3-Make them (Sada, Rubio) hesitate and invite them to try shots they wouldn't try quite often
4-Create confusion in Barça's offense.

As I've said, the video speaks by itself. And let's notice Barcelona's coach X.Pascual decided (nice decision by the way!) to place Lakovic as PG (so his team's offense wasn't bothered any more by this defense)

Can't wait for tonight's games...

EL Quarter Finals: FCB-PAO Breakdown

2011-03-22T09:07:00.000+01:00

The guys from BasketBlog asked me to breakdown the playoff between PAO and Barcelona.

I think the best thing I can do is to explain some details I like from these teams. And that’s what I want to show you.

Let’s start with the Greek team, always one of the favorites to reach the F4 and once there, to get the trophy.

They’ve been the best pick and roll team for years, and they still master that situation. They read the defense, no matter if their rivals switch, flash, trap… they manage to score off the ball screen. As we see in the video, they face different kind of defenses but score anyway.

Another of PAO’s weapons is to play in low post for Diamantidis. For sure they will try to post him up against Navarro and also against Barcelona’s pointguards.

They are simply great looking for the wide open teammate, especially when the ball goes inside. They play well on weak side, and they have good passers from low post.

And if we talk about defense, Panathinaikos players are really aggressive and make very good helps. When defending ball screens, their weak side defenders are always aware and ready to rotate in case they need to. Also, in case of miss match, they keep playing hard (small against big) and often trap to avoid advantages.

Finally, I’ll show you how they change from zone defense to man to man, a good trick from coach Obradovic to defend the last seconds of the shotclock.

Now Barcelona, considered, again, the best European team (at least that’s what we think in Spain!) They bring many players back from last seasons, and Coach Pascual lead the team mixing strength and skills, talent and size… His team is… a team! And that’s not easy nowadays.

As we can see in the video, their spacing is great, whatever they run in offense (mostly with 4 guys out and 1 in) they create isolations inside and outside, leaving space for the smalls to drive and for the bigs to post up or to roll hard in pick and roll situations (with interesting situations like two ball screens in a row for their guards…) reading and playing the high – low very well… It’s great how they use the corners to let their power forwards hit the three from that spot (Morris, Lorbek) and how their “go to” players (e.g. Navarro) share the ball for the good of the team. They always find the wide open player, they play, as I said, like a team.

What can I say about their quick pick and roll situations? With players like Ricky Rubio pushing the ball, and looking for the screener, PAO will have to run back really fast and be ready to defend from the first second of Barcelona’s offense.

And, of course, Barcelona’s defense is arguably the best in the Euroleague… They help each other, they don’t stop when they are beaten, they use their hands very well to steal the ball, they have players who love to block shots… And I can’t forget their rotations’ defense when facing outside players posting up…

So, let’s get ready for an incredible play off, and let the best team win!

Three Seconds? Enough!

2011-03-11T00:48:00.000+01:00

That’s the time Caja Laboral Baskonia needed (twice) to run two great plays last week against Lietuvos Rytas. Even if they didn’t score off those plays, you realize their level of execution and readiness is really high.

The first one is a quick inbounding situation in which they place the pointguard to inbound, and to receive the second pass avoiding his defender with a strong cut. Macelinho Huertas runs the court (look at the shotclock, he needs just 2.2 seconds to go coast to coast and shoot) and he ends up shooting a three pointer that is really close to get in.

Then we have this sideline play, in which they make everyone (and I mean every single one in the arena) think Teletovic is the go to guy (his defender and Barac’s switch to keep him off the ball) to find Barac under the basket (and look at San Emeterio pointing at his center to let the inbounder know he’s free…)

So, next time you think a game is over… think twice! as three seconds are enough.

Fastbreak Pass

2011-03-04T13:21:00.000+01:00

Quite often, the simple things are the key to success. Nowadays, our basketball is full of scouting, full of study, full of X’s and O’s, and even when I’m a believer in those things, time makes you see the small things count most.

At the end, the execution of the fundamentals is the greatest diference between a good and a great player (not to say between a bad and a good one…)
The pass is a long forgotten fundamental, as everybody seems to think about shooting and dribbling first. But is the key to play team basketball, and team basketball makes everything easier on the court.

Here we have Caja Laboral Baskonia’s playmaker, Marcelinho Huertas, giving passing lessons. These are two great fastbreak passes during their last game in the Euroleague’s Top 16 last night.

Take a look, in the first one, he just get the ball and almost without even looking (he knows where his teammate is) he gives the pass. Look at his feet, pointing toward the receiver, look at his arms extended at the end of the pass, look at his balance… It’s a great pass. In the second one, he receives the first pass, then dribbles once (perfect, throwing the ball forward) and again the fabulous gesture to make the ball fly towards his teammate.

Do we spend enough time passing during our practices? I’m kind of old school when I talk about fundamentals, but in my opinion we should think about it.

Copa Del Rey: David Navarro

2011-02-12T11:17:00.000+01:00

The last signing before the Spanish "Copa del Rey" started has been David Navarro, who agreed terms with Power Electronics Valencia.

He's a player coming from lower divisions, who's worked a lot to reach the ACB. And when this happens, when you have been coaching many years facing a player and he finally makes it to the Big League, you must be happy for him.

He's a hard worker, who has a lot of talent in Offense and who won't let you down on defense. His last (half) season in LEB Gold has been outstanding, he's been the "go to" guy for Girona, and everybody has tried to stop him as a key to beat his team. Not many were able to do it...

Coast to coast, shots (spot up, coming off dribble, coming off screens, fastbreak, step back) 1x1 (great first step and good use of both hands)... And still better, a smart guy who will find the way to score however you try to defend him.

Great player, and great work ethic, as he's been improven year after year all along his career.

Right before the "Copa del Rey" semis, here you have this relatively unknown player.

Good luck!

Copa Del Rey

2011-02-10T18:59:00.000+01:00

I'll be following the Spanish "Copa del Rey" and I'll update my twitter account @rjmbasket08 with everything I find interesting or the situations I like more of the games.

I hope to see you there!!

LEB Gold: Playing Without The Ball

2011-02-03T12:18:00.000+01:00

LEB Gold's first round is over, and one team has been a big surprise for everybody, Navarra.

Considered one of the weakest teams before the season started, they've become one of the most competitive teams in the league, showing that hard work and good chemistry can make it happen.

Here I show you something they do really well, playing without the ball. Their offense is quick and simple, they share the ball and they play hard. Cuts, back doors, good passes... those are some keys for their success. In the video you can see how hard they cut towards the rim, and how from a back door they create a 2 against 1 situation. Either the receiver scores the lay up (as he does) or in case he misses, the big man will score off the offensive rebound.

Let's take a look.

Preview: Copa del Príncipe 2011

2011-01-28T23:02:00.000+01:00

Solobasket.com guys asked me to analyze the "Copa del Principe" final that will be played next Sunday in Santiago. The two best teams from the Spanish LEB Gold will be fighting for the first title of the season.

And here it is, I think it is really interesting, with a preview of the game, last games info, opinions from journalists from both cities, the coach point of view... and of course, with the usual care this web give to their contents

Previa Copa Príncipe 2011

It's in Spanish, but as I often say, what an opportunity to work on your foreign languages' skills...

Happy 2011

2010-12-30T15:56:00.002+01:00

Zone Offense & Youth Teams (and III)

2010-09-13T20:54:00.001+02:00

Here you have the third part of the article about zone offense concepts. I apreciate every e-mail on the topic, so feel free to start a conversation if you want to.

Zone Offense & Youth Teams (II)

2010-09-05T16:45:00.000+02:00

Here you have the second (of three) part of the article about zone offense concepts I started posting about some days ago.

I hope you find it useful.

Beating Defensive Helps... Skip Pass

2010-09-04T18:46:00.003+02:00

What a great game we've just watched... Serbia to the quarter finals after a incredible game's end.

When I was a kid, the skip pass was forbiden, but now is a key resource to beat defensive helps. That's what we can see in today's video. Popovic reads the defense and instead of feeding Tomic in mid post, he gives the skip pass and the defense is out of balance.

Here it is...

Zone Offense & Youth Teams

2010-08-25T21:45:00.003+02:00

During the summer I've sent some colaborations to the Castilla la Mancha Basketball Coaches' Association. I've written about zone offense for youth teams.

I've always been interested in these concepts, as many people ask me about it, and also because of the controversy about playing zone defenses with kids.

You can download the first one of the articles "Conceptos de ataque a zona para edades de formación" here

(By the way, it's in Spanish, so you can work on your "español" my friends)

Signed

2010-07-02T13:10:00.003+02:00

I'm really happy to announce that I'll stay one more year in Ourense, as the Assistant Coach of the Club Ourense Baloncesto's LEB Gold team.

It's been easy to reach an agreement as both sides were willing to stay together, so I can only say I'll keep working as hard as possible to achieve our goals during the next season.

A big thank you goes for the Club, the staff, the fans, the City and the people from Ourense, who made me feel at home during our last season. I hope we'll bring a lot of successes to Ourense and I'm sure we'll make you feel proud of your team.

Orlando Pro-Combine

2010-06-27T10:49:00.008+02:00

I’ve had the opportunity to visit one of the combines celebrated during these days in the United States. It’s been a great experience, and I’d like to share it with you all.

To begin with, I’d like to thank Abilio Muñoz, from the Spanish agency 4 Players Sports, and of course, the guys from Winning Ways Pro, an American organization with years of experience in these events. Specially I am thankful to their Vice - President, Matt Resnick, who made our days in Orlando really nice.

Now, what’s a Pro – Combine? Well, there are some differences between them, but basically what you find there is a group of players looking for a contract for the next season. These players pay a fee and go to that place to practice and play during some days, trying to show their best skills and to work hard to be in the coaches’ minds. Some companies, as Winning Ways do with Basketball Eye sevices, also upload the combine’s games to their web, where many other coaches and G.M.’s can whatch them online.

This combine was celebrated in Orlando, Florida, US East coast. What could I say about the Orlando? If you want to go there for tourism, you’d better be ready for a hot weather, for hummidity (the coast, their lakes – be aware of the aligators) and you’d better be ready to drive, because if you don’t have a car, you’re stucked or you’ll spend a lot of money in cabs)

I’ve met there many coaches (from the States, Canada, and also Europeans) all of them looking for talent for their teams. Also some american agents, introducing themselves and their players. I’ve been lucky, good contacts and good people who have made me enjoy these days.

After a couple of flights (many hours up in the air) I arrived to Orlando International Airport where they were waiting to take us to our hotel.

A first class hotel (where the coaches met to watch the seventh game of the NBA finals) half an hour from downtown and ten minutes from the gym. All these distances, as I say, by car. The hotel had a shuttle for us to go to the gym and a driver who kindly took us to have dinner or whatever we needed once in the hotel (trying to have healthy meals is almost impossible mission…)

To begin with the development of the combine, it started with a meeting with the players (there were fifty, give or take, some of them with experience in European basketball (Germany, Greece) in South America (Mexico) Asia (Japan, Taiwan) or even middle East (Quatar) and also players with their college careers just finished or some of them already playing pro – leagues in the USA. Barry Mestel, a Coach with wide experience as scout for the NBA or CBA, and who works during the seston with different players (from high school to WNBA) explained the players how the combine was going to work.

He introduced ourselves (European coaches) to the players, letting them know that they should introduce themselves along the camp, so they could ask questions or explain their hopes and goals. The players took the advine and almost every single one came and talked to us during the first day. It’s clear they wanted to give a good image of themselves and they wanted us to know how hard they would work to get a contract overseas.

The practices started with a warm up led by a pro – trainter, then Coach Melter led a basketball practice (one day it was a team practice, and one more they worked in groups) and we had the option to work with those players who we considered more interesting. Then, the games between the five teams let us see them in a competitive situation.

Something very interesting and not so often seen in these kind of Camps was a semynar in which the trainer explained them the keys for their nutrition as pro basketball players, and also some tips to work out once the season is over.

Talking about the games, we had the opportunity to ask the coaches to play specific situations both in offense and defense. Our work was really easy during the combine thanks to the collaboration of the coaches and the organization. Every single player had the same opportunities during the games, as they played the same amount of time. That’s really important in these events, so they can be seen properly by the coaches.

The contact with the players is really important, and what makes this combines a success. Watching them practice, not only on the court, but also with the trainer, to see how they behave in different situations, punctuality, attention to the coaches, and of corse, to talk to them and receive direct feedback… all these details you can’t find while watching a dvd or reading a report.

Once the Pro – Combine ended, we went to Rashard Lewis’ summer camp. We were talking with them for some minutes, and he showed us first hand the reason why he is a star and why the kids love him so much. He appears to be a great guy off the court, and is always ready to help the kids and to play with them. We even had the opportunity to work with the kids.

Definitely, a very good experience we all would like to repeat in the future.

Crossover / Double change in front

2010-06-01T12:37:00.004+02:00

Once again, and while we wait for the begining of the Finals, I bring some of the Rondo's tricks.

Now we see his crossover, right in the middle of the key, with a great change of pace and direction, to leave the defender behind (defending the ball with his body by advancing his left leg) and to force Shaq's foul after a shot fake (you'll remember this fake from my last post)

In the second half of the video, a "simple" double change in front. You should focus on his balance when he goes towards his right hand and then towards his left hand. The way he bends his legs to keep control, and to be able to change direction quickly. Let's not forget about his left hand pass for the opened player in the three point line...

Shot Fake + Spin = Rondo

2010-05-17T22:30:00.004+02:00

As Coach D'Antoni would say, "OK guys, real quick" (this is a recommendation, if you like baskeball, you'll like Seven seconds or less) It's one of the books I've read during our season here in Spain, and I've enjoyed it from the first page until the end.

So, let's go real quick. Everybody is talking about the Celtics and their PG Rajon Rondo. He's performing great (in my humble opinion he's been doing so for a couple or three seasons actually) and he's showing nice "tricks" as the one I bring today (there will be more, I promise).

He drives fast towards the basket (we'll let the crossover for another post), he stops, fakes the shot (bye bye, Varejao and Parker) and spins to score the layup. Quickness, balance, bball IQ... Beautiful, isn't it? It happens, Playoff Time.

Low Post Defense: Triple Switch

2010-05-14T11:08:00.001+02:00

In the semifinal game of the Euroleague’s Final Four, Barcelona showed an interesting and new (at least for me) low post defense.

CSKA use Siskaukas, probably the best “3” in our basketball (although maybe Barcelona’s Pete Mickael has something to say about this by now) in low post to play against smaller defenders. Also Planinic and even Ponkrashov (big PG’s) go to low post quite often.

In that game, Barcelona decided to defend both Siskaukas and Planinic one on one, with Mickael and Rubio. And their defense was good. The problems started when Grimau or Lakovic were on the court and had to face the Russian team’s players.

In that moment, Barcelona used this defense, as we can see in the video. They managed to defend in low post with a bigger player, although they lost power on help side, having some rebounding problems. Also, they ended up defending a wing with a big player outside of the key (minor problem anyway). I’ve circled in red the mismatches favourable to CSKA and in green those favourable to Barça.

They used this defense three times: CSKA’s center, Kaun, rebounded in the first one (and was fouled), Barcelona forced a tough shot in the second (after a GREAT double team), and CSKA’s player, Ponkrashov, was fouled again in the third.

Now I’d like you to watch the video and comment about this defense:

Have you seen it before? Do you think is a good option or does it create many options for the offense (offensive rebounds, mismatches…)? How would you improve the defense (in case you think it needs to be improved)?

Let’s go…

D-Leage Final: Fear The Last Shot

2010-05-01T02:43:00.005+02:00

After a long and intense season... I'll be around here more often (I hope so). In the next days - weeks I'll bring new stuff (I think it will be interesting)

To begin with, I've been following the NBA D-League this season, and I'm sure everybody knows it has just come to its end. A new Champ, Rio Grande Valley, after beating Tulsa. Coach Chris Finch, UK's National Team coach, has done a very good job and his team won the last game thanks to a Craig Winder's buzzer beater.

In the video we can watch a back pick followed by a hand off, which Tulsa's defenders try to stop by automatically switching. Finally Winder takes his shot and Rio Grande wins...

It's an interesting situation for last seconds. Let's watch it.

Stop Navarro!

2010-03-26T19:45:00.013+01:00

Hello friends, I’d like to show you some defensive keys from yesterday’s game between R. Madrid and F.C. Barcelona in the Euroleague’s playoff.

I don’t have time enough to make a good video but when the season is over I’ll do it if you want.

During the third quarter (in my opinion the key quarter of the game) Real Madrid’s work against former Grizzlie Juan Carlos Navarro was great.

On the defensive end, they played really hard, and there are some very interesting situations:

• Pick the picker: Navarro’s defender (X2) bumps Pete Mickeal and then X1 (Prigioni) and X2 (Bullock) switch.

• Transition, pick down: not only the defenders switch, but also X1 denies the easy way out, forcing Navarro to go towards the paint, receiving the ball with his back to the basket.

• Horizontal screen: switch, never mind the miss match. Whenever Navarro had an advantage, the screener’s defender switched.

• Side screens: deny the screen.

• 1 on 1: ball side defenders' hedge, help side defenders jump to stop penetrations.

But something very important, R. Madrid not only worked against Navarro on defense, but also on offense.

They played two different situations to keep him busy on defense. Screens, screens and screens…

• Back pick + pick down.

• Down screen, clear out.

They stopped Navarro, who played the first seven minutes of the third quarter, and went back to the bench with zero points and one assist in that time (he ended the game with 4 points and 3 assists by the way)

Now, let’s get ready for, at least, two more games, and maybe three… the prize is the Euroleague’s Final Four!!!

Ball Inside

2010-02-03T22:50:00.007+01:00

A quick post to show you how an inside player can work to receive. He's Timofey Mozgov, from Khimki.

He moves and bumps against the defender as the ball goes from one player to another. To contact the defender is one of the keys for the inside player to be able to receive. Using his body he creates the space he needs to let his teammates feed him.

Let's take a look at the video.

Interview in MueveteBasket

2010-01-06T14:10:00.003+01:00

Luis Clausín from MueveteBasket, one of the best Basketball information web sites in Spain, sent me some questions about my season as Assistant Coach in LEB Gold, and some other things.

You can read the complete interview (in Spanish) here.

Happy 2010

2009-12-31T15:12:00.000+01:00

"Horns" Options

2009-12-06T00:05:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I last wrote a post... Some of you know the reasons, I've been working so hard (actually, I'm working so hard) that I haven't had time to add new situations to the web.

I'm gonna try to come more often, but I can't promise! By now, I want to show you some interesting plays we're facing through the season.

This one is a "horns" situation and a possible way to continue. The post swings the ball, picks down and sets a ball screen. Leon have a really good couple of American inside players, Ryan Humphrey and Rick Hughes, veteran players, but still excellent competitors.

I'd like to receive your comments about the play, how would you play against it and whatever you want to add!!!

Here you have.

GOLD - ORO

2009-09-21T09:35:00.001+02:00

(photo FEB.es)

News

2009-09-09T00:56:00.004+02:00

Hello basketball friends!

It's been a while since my last post... one month full of summer camps, travels, and also good news.

Let's start for those good news: I've just signed for Club Ourense Baloncesto (Spanish LEB Gold) as Assistant Coach and we're starting preseason right now. That's why I've been so busy lately.

I'll be back, and I hope it'll be soon. Maybe I won't post so often as usual, but I'll keep working on my videos and I'll keep bringing some basketball here.

So, we'll keep in touch... (BTW, let's go Spain, go for gold guys!!!)

TIMING

2009-08-06T11:45:00.001+02:00

There isn’t much basketball to watch in Europe these days. Everybody is waiting for the Men’s European Championship to start… But anyway, you can always find some games, maybe friendly games or even pre-European Championship… and you can always find interesting details.

Today I bring you a situation from the Portuguese National Team (whose coach is the Spanish Moncho López) in which we can see a very good timing in the execution of their offense.

In the modern basketball is harder and harder for the offense to play isolated situations (i.e. a ball screen situation) because the defense is ready to play against those situations. So you need to play different options at the same time to make defender’s life a little bit more difficult. And here is where the timing becomes the key.

In today’s video we can see the Portuguese team playing a ball screen on the side and at the same time, a back screen in the middle. Also, when the screener rolls towards the basket, there are another three players moving (the player with the ball, the cutter, and the man from the corner, who pops to get a good shooting position). Thanks to all those moves, the player with the ball has many options, and the defense just can’t stop all of them.

Let’s take a look.

Assistant Coach

2009-07-22T13:40:00.001+02:00

Progressively, the clubs give more and more importance to the Assistant Coach’s figure. We (here in Europe) are not still at the USA level, but the Assistant’s job is better considered every day.

Today I bring a video in which we can see Montepaschi’s Assistant Coach, Luca Banchi, giving a quick info to his Head Coach in order to stop the last offense from PAO in an Euroleague game.

It’s interesting to watch how Pianigiani listens to Banchi and then he quickly tells his players what’s going to happen in the sideline situation. The defense is good and they avoid an easy basket for the Greek team.

Ball Screen's Defense: Deny - Special

2009-07-14T18:15:00.003+02:00

Some time ago, one of my friends, George Dikeoulakos (Greek Women’s National Team’s Assistant Coach, and Athinaikos’ Head Coach) talked me about a slightly different way of defending the ball screen situations.

It’s a modification of the classic "deny" defense, in which the ball defender denies the way towards the screen, and the screener’s defender stops the penetration). They used to run this new defense with their National Team (as we will see in the second video) and I started studying it. Afterwards I’ve watched some teams using it, and now I bring it to you.

The main difference between the “classic” option and the “new” one is that in the new option, the screener’s defender will be close to his player (avoiding pop – receive – shoot situations) and it will be the help side’s inside player’s defender the one who will stop penetrations. Help side is really important here as there will be a small player taking care of the second help.

It's also a good work to develop to react to the screener's defender possible mistakes in the "classic" deny defense.

Let’s take a look at the images from the Greeks and then we will see a very similar situation from the Denver Nuggets.

Playing Without The Ball

2009-07-04T10:18:00.002+02:00

One of the concepts I’m working in the basketball camps during this summer (basically with kids, but many professional players need to work this issue) is the spacing, and the use of the corners.

Pass and cut is not enough when we talk about moving without the ball. And moving while a teammate dribbles is really important. Let your teammate watch you when he/she drives to the basket. Be ready to receive the kick pass. Keep the right spacing. Fill the right spot.

When a kid learns how to be in the right place in the right moment, he has a great weapon to play basketball. This should be a main goal during the first years of the player’s developing.

Let’s watch the video, and let’s focus in the shooter’s movement towards the corner when his mate gets the ball and drives.

LEB Gold – Final (II) Inside Defense

2009-06-21T22:58:00.002+02:00

Another one of the keys for Alicante’s victory in the LEB gold final was their inside defense. After the Carlos Cazorla’s post I wrote some weeks ago, today I’ll show you some details of Alicante’s low post defense.

The first interesting thing is how fast the Alicante’s posts run from offensive to defensive half. They avoid a great advantage and defense is balanced from the first seconds of the play.

When the ball goes inside, the defenders collapse the paint. Not only they double team the post, but also make defensive fakes. The perimeter defenders attack the post dribbling and he won’t be playing one on one but against two or three defenders each time.

Women’s European Championship: Spain

2009-06-11T12:02:00.002+02:00

The Spanish team is playing a very good Championship, with three wins in three games. Today they start the second round, playing against Greece.

There are some interesting situations I want to bring here, and I’ll begin with fastbreak and zone offense.

There is a “fastbreak habit” in the Spanish team, and specially in some inside players (e.g. Ana Montañana) that gives them a lot of easy baskets. It’s something Montañana and her teammates do very often in Ros Casares, as I showed some time ago. Now she’s running for Spain too.

Focusing now on the zone offense, the Spanish team runs a simple ball screen to get advantages. As we can see in the video, the ball screen makes the upper line defenders to focus on the ball, causing an offensive superiority on the weak side. The pass’ receiver can shoot, drive or pass, as she has two open teammates.

LEB Gold – Final: (I) Carlos Cazorla

2009-06-04T16:57:00.004+02:00

Alicante achieved their goal and after beating Melilla in the LEB gold final, they are the new ACB team for next season.

I’ll show you, through the next posts, some interesting details from the final game of the season.

Today we take a look at Carlos Cazorla’s defense against Cuthbert Victor. While everybody was delighted with Kyle Hill’s threes, not many people realized the importance of Cazorla’s defensive work during the game.

Melilla run different situations to give the ball to Victor in the low post when he plays the forward. Very often he’s got an advantage there against smaller defenders. Carlos Cazorla managed to stop him all along the game, not allowing him to receive easily and playing really hard against Victor.

The video speaks by itself, Cazorla played defense in front, worked hard to deny pass lines, and used his fouls wisely when needed, sending Cuthbert Victor to the free throw line before he could even try to score with a power move whenever he received the ball in good position (and before he could get the basket and the foul…)

Let’s watch it…

Playing Inside

2009-05-27T17:37:00.003+02:00

Here we have a nice inside move and also a defense reading situation.

First we see one of the best inside players in the Spanish LEB Gold, Ricardo Guillén,from Los Barrios (they have reached the Final Four, winning a playoff without court advantage) with ACB experience, receiving in the low post and making one of his favourite moves, spin towards baseline and pivot to get the best position to score.

In the second play, the defenders double him and he reacts by finding the pass for his teammate, who has cut towards the basket. He receives and gets the foul.

Once again, we realize how important it is not only to feed the post, but also to play without the ball when he's got it.

Hand Off Fake

2009-05-22T00:50:00.001+02:00

Here we have an interesting situation from the Boston Celtics.

They read the defense and get an advantage. They use the same pattern very often in sideline out of bounds plays, and this way they have a different option to score.

Basically they create a clear out for the pointguard to play the one on one. Help side defenders are waiting to defend a pick and roll or off ball screens, and helping against the penetration is difficult.

What a Playoff between Boston and Chicago we have watched…

Have a nice weekend, I’ll keep watching the Spanish Junior Championship, a nice tournament with some of our sport’s future stars…

RJMBasket + Facebook

2009-05-17T12:07:00.004+02:00

From now on, I'll also publish new videos and diagrams on my facebook group:

The goal is to make us coaches talk about those situations, feeling free to add new videos or interesting information on the topics. You can even add new topics for everybody to comment.

Have you already joined the group? Come on, almost one hundred coaches and fans are waiting for you!!!

Euroleague: Defensive Priorities

2009-05-15T09:14:00.004+02:00

Another very interesting thing to watch in the final was how PAO decided to organize their defense when CSKA's center Kaun was playing.

Every time he appeared on the court, PAO's defense reacted by helping from Kaun's defender. Something that hurted CSKA's offense in the second quarter as we will see in the video.

Whenever a help had to be done, Kaun's defender was there. We can see Batiste helping in baseline, and not worrying about Kaun's pop to free throw line. Also a long flash to stop Siskauskas. Again Batiste jumping to stop Siskauskas' penetration. Then we find Kaun posting up, and PAO's defenders being outside of the paint, leaving him play the one on one situation, but never letting another player to receive an inside-out pass. Afterwards Pekovic is defending Kaun and we see him helping again. And finally, Batiste making three different helps during CSKA's offense.

Have a good weekend!

Euroleague: Keys

2009-05-08T08:26:00.003+02:00

As I said in the last post, we would be watching some of the last F4 keys by the end of the week.

Well, here you have the last play of the final game between Panathinaikos and CSKA. CSKA is two points down, and they have almost six seconds to play. They inbound the ball from halfcourt, and they run a baseline situation in which they set a couple of off ball screens to create an advantage.

You can see in the video how PAO's defenders switch against the off ball screens, and how Ramunas Siskaukas get the ball to play a one on one against Drew Nicholas, that ends up with Siskauskas' shot. Unfortunately for the Russian team, he missed his shot and now PAO is the 08/09 Euroleague's Champion.

The question is: why didn't Smodis (inbounder) pass to Planinic instead of giving the ball to Siskauskas? Were they looking for the three point shot? In my opinion they were looking for the best option to score, and if we watch the second half of the video, we find out that Planinic is the best situated player to score... But then, something happens. And you'll have to watch the video to know it.

Have a nice weekend!

Euroleague... where Batiste happens.

Intense Week

2009-05-06T12:07:00.004+02:00

It's been a very intense week, with important games to analyze and to learn from. The Euroleague Final Four, NBA Play Off, end of Spanish leagues' regular seasons...

Also, the Greek website Basketblog asked me to use my videos. Obviously, it's a pleasure for me to receive the interest of this very well known European site. Will I find a coaching job in Greece? (Don't worry George, I won't take your job)

And the guys from AD Molina, one of the teams I've worked for as a Scouter, made me an interview in which they asked about my opinion on the LEB bronze playoffs and my future plans. It's in Spanish, so you can keep working on your foreign languages if you read it.

By the end of the week I'll try to bring some details I've watched during the Euroleague F4. I hope you'll enjoy them.

CSKA: On Their Way To Berlin

2009-04-30T00:05:00.004+02:00

Let's finish with this "Euroleague's Week". Today we'll focus on the Russian team, CSKA. During some moments along the regular season, they've played the best basketball in Europe, running a great offense and playing a wonderful defense.

There is an offensive pattern that CSKA is using during the last years. They have achieved great success running the "crosspick" with different players since Messina arrived to Moscow.

I've already talked about CSKA's crosspick before, you can take a look here.

They are still playing that situation, and again scoring easily off this play. They have Siskaukas, Langdon, Smodis, Lorbek or Khryapa, and all of them create a lot of problems to the defense. As you can see in the video, they can receive under the basket and score, but they also can be patient and keep playing until they get an advantage, they'll play without the ball, they'll wait... and finally the good shot will be there.

Their semi against Barcelona will be a great game, you will see...

PAO: On Their Way To Berlin (II)

2009-04-29T00:04:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we talked about Panathinaikos' ball screen situations and today I bring a couple of videos with the same starring, Dimitris Diamantidis.

Diamantidis has been named Euroleague's Best Defender by Euroleague head coaches for the fifth season in a row. FIVE YEARS IN A ROW!

Of course he's not only important on the defensive end, but also in his team's offense. That's why the second video shows him posting up and creating good options for his teammates.

In the first video we watch Diamantidis pressing the PG (he almost forces a turnover - one more second and he would have recovered the ball) and afterwards he goes hard through off ball screens and he switches on the pick and roll to end up defending Siena's post. There's no doubt that he's the best player defending miss-match situations over the last years in European basketball. As we can see, he never lets the attacker to receive inside of the paint (and quite often his player doesn't even get the ball).

Here you have the Euroleague's Best Defender...

And as I said before, he's also important on the offensive end of the court. They run some plays to let Diamantidis play in the low post. If the defenders help, he'll find the pass to give his teammate an easy shot. It's also very important to watch Batiste setting good screens to free the shooter. Another great player, and a very good team work.

Stay tuned...

PAO: On Their Way To Berlin

2009-04-28T00:03:00.002+02:00

I've already talked about Panathinaikos pick and roll situations but I just can't stop admiring them.

Today, two days until Euroleague's F4, I bring some more of PAO's ball screens.

Simple situations, easy solutions and many different ways to score. It won't take long to watch them score with the screener, off a high - low situation, after a reversed ball, and finally with the screened player.

How can you stop them? How can you decide how to play defense, when they have so many options to score?

Great basketball team, we will see if they can add another title to their coach's curriculum.

Help African Basketball

2009-04-26T10:18:00.002+02:00

My friend Brian McCormick, as you probably know he's the founder of The Crossover Movement, is looking for help for a very interesting non-profit organization: African Basketball Online. Some of their goals: "developing basketball, and providing leadership education to students, coaches, administrators, and organizations in Africa."

It's really interesting to read what Brian has to say about basketball development in Africa. Also great to find out what the wonderful people from ABO are doing for Basketball there.

I'm sure that many people who read RJMBasketball can help them, and that's the goal of this post.

They're doing a fantastic job, they need help, we have everything and as you can find from Brian's experience they have almost anything "100+ kids, 2 baskets and 4 basketballs - many of the kids walked to the clinic and played in their barefeet. I went to a holiday tournament at another school and watched a team of 11-year-old girls playing barefoot on an asphalt court on a sunny 85-degree day with two pairs of flip-flops that the shared with each other every couple minutes."

Can YOU help? Do you WANT to help? Contact them at: info@africanbasketballonline.com

FCB: On their way to Berlin (III – Forward In Low Post & Post Beyond The Arc)

2009-04-22T18:21:00.003+02:00

Another one of F.C.Barcelona’s weapons is David Andersen. Whenever he combines his strength with the team’s forwards they create a lot of problems to the defenders.

As we can see in the video, in the last game against TAU, Barton went quite often to the low post and Andersen played beyond the three point line. When the defenders helped inside (Barton was posting up against smaller players) Andersen got the advantage by popping to the free throw line or receiving outside.

Being capable of shooting and also of driving against recovery situations or slower players, Andersen creates good options for his team and increases the risks of helping.

FCB: On Their Way To Berlin (II - Offensive Rebound Against Ball Screen Defense)

2009-04-16T16:44:00.004+02:00

It may appear to be a secondary weapon, and when coaching young players, not many people focus on offensive rebound, but it’s one of the keys to achieve a successful offense.

Barcelona has one player really important if we talk about offensive rebound. Ersan Ilyasova, who plays beyond the arc most of the time, goes for, and grabs, very important rebounds, giving his team points and second options to score.

As we can see in the video, and in the following diagrams, Barcelona runs a hand off situation followed by a pick and roll:

As defense’s reaction is to flash and rotate from help side, one defender ends up with two offensive players on weak side. Then, Ilyasova goes hard for the rebound and scores.

A good way to punish defensive rotations…

FCB: On Their Way To Berlin (I – Punish Defense)

2009-04-11T00:44:00.004+02:00

Barcelona won the series against TAU and they’ll be the fourth team in Berlin for the Euroleague’s Final Four.

Along the next days we’ll see some of the keys for Barça to beat TAU.

First, the way they punished TAU’s pick and roll defense. Having Juan Carlos Navarro and Jaka Lakovic on the court, the defense had by far much more problems than without them. They make helps become a big risk, and sometimes the defenders have the command of not helping at all.

Barcelona added Ilyasova to create a triangle almost impossible to stop. These are some examples of how they punished defensive helps and mistakes.

In the first images, we see how Barcelona runs a pick and roll situation (Andersen sets the ball screen, while Ilyasova pops) and TAU’s defense (McDonald makes the flash, Teletovic switches and gets Andersen, and Rakocevic is defending Navarro, and won’t make helps). Finally, Ilyasova receives and has an easy shot.

In the second half of the video, we find again a pick and roll situation, where Andersen rolls and Ilyasova (defended by Teletovic, who, again, takes the Danish player) pops. Lakovic is in the ball side corner; he receives and finds the Turkish player, who drives against McDonald’s recovery and Mickael’s rotation (Mickael was on help side, defending Grimau, that’s why that rotation took place).

Here it is…

Khimki: McCarty & Mozgov

2009-04-03T13:49:00.003+02:00

This is just a small contribution I've done for the Eurocup's Final Eight guide from the Spanish web site Solobasket.

Two of the most interesting players from the Russian team, Khimki, one of the main favourites in that final tournament that is being played since yesterday night.

McCarty is a veteran player with a lot of experience in the European competitions.

Mozgov will be shining soon if he keeps developing his game.

Two ACB teams, Iurbentia Bilbao Basket and Pamesa Valencia will play tonight. Good luck for them!

Panathinaikos: Pick And Roll

2009-03-31T13:59:00.001+02:00

It’s often said that the main “two on two” situation is the pick and roll. Maybe in the past, but now a pick and roll is an offensive situation that requires at least three, four or even five players playing together.

It’s not that I say it, but top level teams that are running these kind of offensive patterns and using more than two players on them.

Above all them, Panathinaikos (Coach: Zeljko Obradovic) is the best. During the last years they have been the Top European team playing the best pick and roll situations. Their game is based on spacing and they use the ball screen very often and with very good results.

As we can see in the video, they play against the defensive help coming from weak side. If you can watch any of their games, pay attention because they look for the same pass all the time. When the screener’s defender flash against the player with the ball, the weak side defender has the command of helping inside in case the screener receives. The defenders are ready to jump and sometimes there is a big risk if the player with the ball tries to give the pass to the screener when he rolls. That’s the reason of sometimes forgetting that pass and instead give a skip pass for the open player on weak side.

Once he receives, he can shoot, pass, or drive, but the defense will be somehow out of balance and they will go one step behind. Watch in the video how, even if they don’t score, they have very good advantage situations.

CSKA: Zone Offense Concepts

2009-03-26T09:31:00.003+01:00

Watching CSKA’s games can help your development as a coach. Last Tuesday on their Euroleague quarter final’s first game, they played a lot of minutes against Partizan Belgrado’s zone defense. And some very interesting and simple offensive concepts were shown by the Moscow’s team. I’ll try to explain them today.

First, the control of defense’s key areas, in this case, the free throw line area and the baseline. Those areas belonged to CSKA all along the game.

Second, offensive rebound. Against a zone defense, go for the offensive rebound. If you want to punish a zone defense, your players MUST have a big desire for the offensive rebound.

Let’s take a look at the video.

In the first images we see how CSKA has a clear idea: either to attract Partizan’s centers, specially Slavko Vranes, (remember he’s 7’5”) and make them play away from the rim, or to have a lot of space for their “4’s” to play. CSKA have Lorbek, Smodis, Morris and Khryapa, and all of them can hit mid range shots from that area and also move the ball against the zone or play pick and roll situations, useful against that kind of players. In case Partizan tried to defend those shots, CSKA would have the control of the low post and baseline.

From that point we can see how patient the Russian team is. They play against the zone, and sometimes they don’t need to dribble at all, they swing the ball, give it to the high post, then to the wing, then to the low post, they move without the ball…

In the following situations we watch CSKA’s offensive rebound strategy. Two, and sometimes three players, going for it. They start their movement even before the shot goes off the shooter’s hands.

But a very important detail is the way they believe in going for the offensive rebound. Sometimes is impossible to catch the ball, but even then, they try to touch it, and to deflect the ball towards a teammate. While all the defenders are trying to catch the ball (you can imagine their coach shouting at them “everybody must go for the defensive rebound!!!” but do they really understand the meaning of that command?) CSKA’s players just touch it and send it to their open teammates. Desire and Basketball IQ.

Tonight we have game 2. Stay tuned.

NCAA: Inside Players – Luke Harangody

2009-03-24T08:44:00.004+01:00

A player with so many honors (All-BIG EAST Conference first team for the second straight season. USBWA First Team…) should have a good professional career...

As we can read in the Fighting Irish web site, "he has scored in double-figures in all but two games this season. Overall this season, Harangody has reached double figures in 28 of 30 games. He has posted 21 double-doubles this season… Harangody has reached the 30-point plateau on five occasions during the '08-'09 campaign. His high-water mark was a 32-point effort against Louisville. He has grabbed 15 or more rebounds 10 times during the season, including a season-best 17 boards on three occasions. After averaging 25.2 points and 12.8 rebounds in 18 BIG EAST games this season, Harangody became the first player in league history to lead the conference in scoring in back-to-back seasons. As a sophomore in 2007-08, he averaged 23.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in league play en route to being named the BIG EAST Player of the Year. In his three-year BIG EAST career, Harangody has scored 1,031 points (19.9 ppg) in 52 league contests. Only three other players in BIG EAST history - Ray Allen (Connecticut), Richard Hamilton (Connecticut) and Pat Garrity (Notre Dame) - have scored more than 1,000 points in three seasons."

He’s actually playing the NIT tournament with his Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and they are already one step from the Final Four.

But although he’s so well considered in the NCAA basketball, not many people think Harangody's NBA future is clear. Maybe being an undersized center with limited athleticism brings doubts over him (take a look at my old friend Ryan Mendez’s opinion)

Can he play against NBA players? Can he develop his game to achieve a role in The League? As I won’t have to decide about those questions, we can just watch his video and comment about it.

The first thing I like about him is that he’s got a lot of ways to score. Hooks (take a look at his pictures when he was a kid… and you’ll know where that hook comes from), mid range shots, one on one from the high post, fade away jumpers, threes, makes over 75% of his free throws… and although his style is a little bit unorthodox is clearly effective.

His Basketball IQ is really high. He knows how to play without the ball, he plays well against helps, and his positioning on the court is great. That’s not very common in young players nowadays… and he can beat more athletic players that way.

He’s hard on defense, I’ve watched him playing against bigger, stronger and faster players, and he beats them anyway…

But, will he be able to do it at the next level? I think so, but in case he can’t, there would be a place in my teams for him…

Opinions

2009-03-19T11:47:00.003+01:00

Some Spanish Basketball Sites asked for my opinion during the last weeks.

Muevetebasket asked me about the future changes in the Spanish Federation's Leagues.

Bkball.net made some questions about American Basketball, the Spanish players in the NBA, the NCAA...

A good moment to work on your Spanish...

NCAA: Inside Players - Greg Monroe

2009-03-17T14:00:00.003+01:00

As my twitter friends already know, I’ve been watching some young inside players during the last week (BTW you can follow me on twitter). I’m really interested in the development of inside players, and I like to watch those called to be NBA stars, to find out the way they improve during their NCAA career.

The first player I’m going to show you is Georgetown’s Greg Monroe. A very good Spanish blogger, el “Profe” Paniagua talked about him some weeks ago, and I started analyzing some of his games.

Monroe is a freshman, and according to NBADraft he will stay one more year in college before jumping to the NBA.

It could be a wise decision, in order to gain weight and improve his defense against stronger players, maybe his main weakness (take a look at the first images). He’s a good blocker and rebounder (both on defense and offense). He has long arms and big hands and he knows how to use them to steal passes and deflect many balls (as we can see in the video).

On the other end of the floor, he has something really important for a player his size, he’s a good free throw shooter and forgetting about percentages (near 70%), his free throw’s shooting technique is quite good. He’s a great player from the high post, he can shot from that range but what he likes the most is to drive to the basket to finish. He has some moves near the basket and is developing a good right hand hook (he’s left handed). Finally, watch him running the break…

He’s been called “the best freshman prospect in America” by Draftexpress.com so he’s a player to keep an eye (or two) on.

Spanish Queen's Cup

2009-03-12T12:14:00.003+01:00

Last weekend the Women's Cup Tournament (Queen’s Cup) was played in Spain. The teams in the final game were Ros Casares Valencia and EBE Ibiza.

The first one is probably the most powerful Spanish team in the last decade. They are placed in the first spot in the Spanish League and were close to get to the Euroleague Final Four. They have a long team, with very good starters and also very good players coming from the bench (I like to say they’re starters from the bench). So everybody thought it would be an easy game for them. But it wasn’t.

Ibiza’s team showed a great concentration all along the game, they were focused on some situations they didn’t want Ros to score off and they played a serious game with few mistakes. That made the game to reach its final five minutes with the scorer balanced.

One of the things Ibiza did fine was to reduce Ros forward’s production near the basket. They like to post up with their “3’s” (Vesela, Tornikidu, Valdemoro) and they often score many points in that situation.

As we see in the video, they have a play they run very often, where the shooting guard sets a screen for the forward in order to send her to the low post. Then the forward receives in the low post and she plays (the first play comes from an Euroleague game). And we’ll see how Ibiza’s players worked really hard to avoid this situation and how they managed to let Ros score only two points directly off this play (two free throws).

Finally, Ros Casares Valencia won the game, but it was a very interesting confrontation and a really tough final.

Greek Cup

2009-03-06T18:51:00.003+01:00

Panathinaikos won the Greek Cup against Olympiakos. 80-70 for Obradovic's team and another trophy for the greens.

There were a lot of interesting situations along the final game, and I bring one of them, an offensive situation for PAO's power forward, Antonis Fotsis.

As we see in the video, everything is ready for a classic pick and roll situation, but Diamantidis ask his teammates for a different set, in wich both "5" and "4" are on ball side, while the shooting guard and the small forward are on help side. After the ball screen, Batiste sets an off ball screen to free Fotsis to hit the three.

Have a nice weekend!

Russian Cup (II): Reacting Against Defense

2009-03-02T20:44:00.002+01:00

As I said last week I’ve been watching the Russian Cup. There are very good teams and coaches there, and although the situation of their economy is just so – so in some of those teams, you can watch nice games in that country.

In today’s post we see how the offense reacts against the defensive moves. As we know, in these tournaments, due to the level of professionalism, the knowledge of the teams about their rivals is high, and as a result of that, the defenders often go one step ahead of the offense (or at least they try to). So it helps a lot when you have players capable of reading the defense and “break” the plays to get advantage over their defenders.

In the first play, CSKA’s player Trajan Langdon is ready to defend a staggered screens situation, but the offensive player comes back instead, receives, and scores.

In the second play, the screener reads his defender’s flash, cuts to the basket and scores. The defenders are focused in the screened player, and they give an easy lay up to the screener. Take a look at the great pass from J.R.Holden, the American – Russian PG.

In the last play, Unic’s pointguard Marko Popovic goes to the corner although the play was developed for him to receive on top of the three point line, and as his defender thinks more on defending the play than his own man, Popovic receives all alone and shoots an easy shot.

Player’s talent against scouting and coaches’ study…

Russian Cup (I): Low Post Defense

2009-02-26T09:02:00.004+01:00

As many of you know, most of the European Cup Tournaments took place last weekend. After having talked about the Spanish Cup, I'm starting to review other countries' Cups.

First, the Russian Cup: Unics Kazan won this years' competition, after beating CSKA in the semis and then Dynamo in the final game.

But what I bring today is a video about low post defense, whose starring is a young Russian player who doesn't have many time to play in the Euroleague, but is starting to play in Russian competitions. He's also one of the players of the Russian National Team, and played in Beijing, averaging 3 points and 2 rebounds per game.

He's Andrey Vorontsevich, a 6'9" power forward who was born in 1987.

On the images we can see Vorontsevich playing defense against Unics' player Kresimir Loncar (tournament's MVP), who is taller and stronger, and should have an advantage over the Russian player. Our starring stays in front, avoiding the inside pass, moving his feet and fighting for the position to achieve his goal, and finally a three seconds violation was called. It's an aggresive defense, supported by his help side teammates, that make the passer think twice before giving a risk pass.

Spanish King's Cup New Champion: TAU

2009-02-23T08:54:00.004+01:00

The "Copa del Rey" has ended, with an astounding final, TAU 100-Unicaja 98 after an overtime. It's been a great game between two great teams commanded by two extraordinary coaches as Aito García Reneses (Unicaja Malaga) and Dusko Ivanovic (TAU).

So, our first "party" is over. I can tell that I've enjoyed this four days, watching the best European tournament of the moment, and also trying different experiences, as my collaboration for Solobasket with the Quarter finals and the Semifinals previews.

I've also made some experiments with Twitter, following some of the games, and adding diagrams of what was happening on the court... I'll keep working with it, and maybe I'll surprise you in the next big European event, the Euroleague Final Four.

I've read great articles about the Cup, as the ones from Jonathan Givony, which you can read here and here. I think there's at least another one to come.

I discovered an interesting interview with Fotis Katsikaris throug a very good spanish blogger, Aitor Pilan. The interview is in spanish, but I know some of you are already studying my mother language, so I hope it will be a good reading exercise.

And Dusko Ivanovic's words after his team's victory (with some bullets towards his former team, Barcelona)

Let me not forget the new J.F.Escudero's book, "Extranjeros ACB" ("ACB foreigners"). He's becoming a reference writer if we look for information about basketball (European, NBA, Spanish) and he presented his last book during the Spanish Cup.

So, there have been many things during these four days, but now I'll go back to the day to day, and soon I'll bring some interesting basketball situations I hope you'll like.

King's Cup 2009 Preview: Unicaja-Gran Canaria

2009-02-20T07:17:00.001+01:00

Unicaja

We will see if Cabezas will be able to play, but even in case he won’t, they still have a lot of aces. Defense, defense, more defense, and very good offensive options too.

Defense starts on oneself, and then you receive teammates’ help. That’s Aito’s team flag. Individual intensity inside team defense. And then, Ndong ready to block every shot. They go from one on one till five on five going through the most agresive pick and roll defense in ACB.

Their full court pressure can speed up their pace and even intimidate the other team. They know how to punish turnovers.

Their offense, big knowledge and many options. Carlos Jimenez playing without the ball, Haislip’s hot moments, Cook’s shape…

I can’t hide my admiration towards the Canary Island’s team (neither towards their PG Mario Bruno Fernandez who I had the pleasure to coach some years ago).

They have very good coaches and their players aren’t respected as they deserve. They have been playing very good basketball the last seasons, always fighting hard to be in the post season, they are playing European competitions… A great Club and a great Team.

They play easy, sometimes, “only” a good off the ball screen is enough for them to create advantages. Carl English is their go to guy, and although a very good scorer, he’s also an unselfish player who can give the pass where needed.

And they have the desire of reaching the semifinals for the first time in their history, so they will be a very dangerous team.

King's Cup 2009 Preview: Joventut-Estudiantes

2009-02-19T09:15:00.001+01:00

A three pointers’ team. There are only two of their players who still haven’s scored from beyond the line. Moiso and Karl (who has just arrived and it won’t take long for him to do it). Six of their players average more than one three per game. As we can see in the video, they score threes off the fastbreak, off the pick and roll, and also the inside players can hit it!

Their fastbreak is well known along the years, and they use it whenever they have the smallest option.

I’ve selected a play they run quite often, with which they send a forward to the low post and set down screens for the shooter to receive on the three point line. They score many times with this play.

Their aggressive defense, their attention to steal bad passes, Ricky’s arms and Ribas’ quick hands… Any spin becomes a trap situation, any mistake becomes an easy basket… Every coach and every fan would love his team to play defense as they do.

What can I say about Estudiantes. Their past is brilliant, their present… well, they’re knocking on heavens door, as the song says. They are invited in this competition, as they didn’t manage to finish the first ACB round between the best eight teams.

They need a lot of changes if they want to have some options in the Cup. Many of their players must take one (or two, or three) steps forward. Wideman, and Iturbe (specially Iturbe) have to give their best to face Joventut. This team needs to play at a higher level, because their opponents have been playing at a higher level the whole season till now.

They have some offensive options for Iturbe to pop to the corner avoiding inside helps, but in this game they’ll need much more to have an option.

Maybe they are the weakest team in the Cup, but you never know…

King's Cup 2009 Preview: R.Madrid-Barcelona

2009-02-18T08:38:00.002+01:00

It’s the most awaited game and they faced in the Euroleague two weeks ago.

Real Madrid will keep on looking for Bullock, who will be waiting for his time to come. Barcelona’s defensa against him will be really hard again.

Real Madrid often run off ball screens for his “go to” guy, and they continue those off the ball screens situations with ball screens, and clear out situations. Bullock + Reyes, the Real Madrid’s Dynamic Duo, will make Barcelona think twice before selecting their defensive options.

Other players will have to pop, like Marko Tomas, the croatioan who had a key role in Real’s last victory against Barcelona in the Euroleague. He’ll probably be running some plays often directed to Bullock, to make Juan Carlos Navarro work on defense. That way they manage to contact with Reyes more often, as Navarro’s defense wasn’t so hard, and allowed Tomas to receive easier and pass to Reyes easier too.

As we can see in the video, Felipe Reyes keeps growing as a player, and is starting to finish with his left hand when posting up. That make me ask myself if he will stop improving in the near future… and the answer is I don’t think so!

Barcelona, will probably play a lot with their inside players, to overload Felipe Reyes’ defense. Santiago, Vazquez, Andersen and Ilyasova will have an important work to do. Also the perimeter players will have to help their big men, by going against Felipe in any miss match situation.

Barcelona have a lot of plays to put the ball in the paint, and players as Navarro can punish the inside helps every single time.

And they will go on their offense against Bullock too. Clear out situations, post up situations… a lot of possible strategies. Basile posting up, as Vazquez, Andersen or Ilyasova wait far from the basket will be a good option to score against Bullock.

We will see, but it will be another great game in that historic rivalry.

King's Cup 2009 Preview: Pamesa - TAU

2009-02-17T08:25:00.004+01:00

Along the next days, until the begining of the Spanish King's Cup 2009, I'll show you some details of the teams that will be fighting for it in Madrid. The videos will make easier to understand those details. Today we start with the Pamesa Valencia-TAU Baskonia game.

Pamesa

They have been a streaky team along the season, they are the only team which changed their headcoach with the season started.

Their outside players have been the key of their offensive game. Both with coach Katsikaris and coach Spahija, pick and roll situations have been used very often.

Shammond Williams, Oliver and Avdalovic are the main starrings of the ball screen situations. They can hit the three or drive to the basket. They know how to use the defensive gaps.

As we can see on the video, they run many different ball screens situations. Central and side picks. Nielsen’s arrival has given an extra to the team, due to his passing ability and his unselfish approach. Let’s remember that Victor Claver is still injured and won’t play the King’s Cup.

I’d like to know how Neven Spahija (Pamesa’s coach) will face TAU. Will they play zone defenses? How will they try to stop Prigioni? What about Mickael?

TAU

Unstoppable in the ACB and very solid in the Euroleague. Look at their rithym!!!

As well as we talked about Pamesa’s pick and rolls, we can’t forget that TAU is one of the best “pick and roll oriented teams” here in Europe. Prigioni + Splitter (he will soon be a NBA player) or Prigioni + Teletovic (he will soon be a NBA player) master this art.

Pete Mickael is a headache for his rivals. When he plays as small forward, going to the low post, when playing the power forward, facing the basket. And don’t forget their inside players… Splitter – Teletovic are probably the best inside couple in Europe. McDonald and Barac bring their help from the bench.

Should I speak about Rakocevic? We all know his level, we all know he’s been on fire the whole season’s first half… let’s sit down and watch him play.

Next Week On RJMBasket...

2009-02-13T08:30:00.000+01:00

Next week, on RJMBasketball and Solobasket...

Riddle: Solution

2009-02-12T11:37:00.000+01:00

As many of you have answered (Alvaro, Cristobal, Mike, Pablo, Jorge, Wilt and Kastav) our riddle's starring was the pink panther, Toni Kukoc.

It's Bormio (Italy) 1987, Junior World Championship, game between Yugoslavia and USA. The young Toni Kukoc made 11 three pointers to the american team. It was his first big step, in a world without the communications we have today, his first great international success.

Later he would be considered one of the best european players, at the same level as Arvidas Sabonis or Drazen Petrovic (although none of them won the NBA ring, as Kukoc did).

Here you can see the Kukoc's highlights of that game.

Quarter's End: Lietuvos

2009-02-10T08:26:00.000+01:00

First of all, by the end of the week I'll bring the solution of the riddle of my last post, so you still have time to write me an e-mail and try...

And now focusing in today's post, last week I was watching some games to prepare a special report of the Spanish King's Cup (will be played next week) and I found this interesting situation.

It's a Lithuanian team, Lietuvos Rytas, whose coach, Rimas Kurtinaitis is very well known in Spain, as he played for Real Madrid (where he played with Arvidas Sabonis) and if my memory still works I would say that he even took part in one of the NBA All Star Shootout contests.

What we see today is a simple situation to get a good shot at the end of the shotclock or at the end of a quarter.

They try to make the other team (the Spanish Gran Canaria) think that the man with the ball will play the one on one, and as the defenders get closer to the paint in order to avoid it, one of the posts set a back pick for the shooter, who receives in the corner and shoots. They run this situation quite often, and even though they didn't score in that game, I liked the idea.

Here are the images...

Riddle: Who is this?

2009-02-06T16:23:00.000+01:00

Some time ago in the RJMBasket's Spanish version we had fun with some riddles...

Now they're back, and we will start with this one. It's a well known player both in the States and also in Europe. He has played for many teams but the images we can see in the video show us his first great success... A lot of threes and the first step for one of the best players I can remember.

Look at the video and tell me: Who is this? You can write in the comments or write an e-mail to my adress... The price will be the pride of being the first who solve the riddle...

Zone Offense

2009-02-04T08:06:00.000+01:00

There are many different ways to play against zones. I'll show you some of them.

On today's video, we see how the team playing the offense, break the defense with an overload and two off the ball screens. The defense can't stop the cutter and they have no players to fix the zone.

It's a quick offense, that creates an easy shot for the shooter. To mix two good weapons against the zone is a good idea, and makes offense hard to stop. Off the ball screens, overload, and a good shooter is all you need to run this play.

Three passes, and the shot should be there. In case the defense adjusts and can avoid 3's shot, then 2 will pop to the corner and will have a good shot option too. Also, 4 will cut to the basket and he'll be ready to receive the pass to play along with 5 against the defenders.

Let's watch it.

NBA Practice

2009-01-30T14:40:00.000+01:00

Have you ever asked yourself how an NBA practice is? Here I show you some interesting pictures, where we can take a look at the November 25th Detroit Piston’s practice. They had a home game the 26th against New York.

They start by 10 A.M. with “Arnie Time”. As some of you will know Arnie Kander is Detroit’s Strenght and Conditioning Coach. They spend 40 minutes with him, doing, I suppose, a general warm up.

Then they go through a more specific warm up, consisting in “full court shooting” – “3 on 3 rush drill” that they finish with some free throws and a break for water. It’s very common to have a “basketball warm up” after the general one, to let the players focus on the practice and feel the basketballs, make some shots…

Afterwards, they start the main course of the practice, with a defensive drill “Random P/R defense” where I think “P/R” means Pick and Roll. Different pick and roll defenses, and more intensity. Then, as many other teams often do, they run their plays without defenders, you can see they have many (“chin” “thru” “fist down” “up” “turn” “loop” “floppy away”…) but I’m sure there are many more (you can’t go through all of them in a single practice, and you often focus in the plays - or some of the plays - you are more interested in for the next game). They spend 20 minutes in 5 on 0, and then they run two of the plays with defense, that day they tried “thru” and “chin”.

They put an end to their practice with New York sets’ defense. The coaches have analysed their rival plays, and they give some keys to stop them.

There aren’t many differences between this practice and the ones from European best teams’ practices. Of course every coach has his preferences, but this kind of practices are very common in Europe and in Spain, specially in a morning practice of the day before the game.

Offensive Situation: Baseline Cross

2009-01-27T10:19:00.000+01:00

I watch many games along the week. Euroleague, ACB, NBA... but also I watch the Spanish second league, called LEB Gold, where you can start to know young players who will be soon on the ACB and, if they develop properly, they can even reach the NBA (ask Luis Scola, for example).

There are many young coaches too there, and it is known that is a good league to learn (and a very hard league to be in).

Today I'll show you a nice offensive situation (a simple one) that is used by one of the teams from LEB Gold: Vic

Both fowards cross through the baseline, and as one of them sets a screen for one of the inside players, the other inside player pops.

From that point, when the ball side forward gets the ball, they have many options to choose between. They just read defense in the low post, and in the high post, and they play. The forward can give the pass inside, but in case defense is playing in front on low post, they can play a high low situation.

Here comes the ability of the post player to use the selfpick move and that way, get a clear space to receive and score. Also, in case defense double teams, the forward will be free to receive.

Let's take a look at the video.

Back To The Basket Moves

2009-01-23T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've been asked during the last months to bring more back to the basket moves. And from now on I'll try to show in a regular basis some interesting moves from different players from different leagues.

Today we'll watch Tyrus Thomas, one of the young players from the Chicago Bulls (one of the younger teams in the league). I'm watching them more often that at the begining of the regular season, because I think that they are approaching now to the team idea they had some time ago. They have a tremendous potential, they are a very physical team (they are the fifth best team in blocks) and I'm sure they have a very interesting future.

In the video we have Thomas against a smaller player, posting up, and finishing with a good move that starts with Tyrus dribbling with his left hand towards the axis and ends with a spin over his left shoulder towards baseline, to score with his right hand, avoiding the block from the Knick's player.

Let's take a look.

Sideline Fastbreak: Atlanta Hawks

2009-01-20T08:33:00.000+01:00

Can you run the fastbreak after the opposite team score? Yes, you can. And the Atlanta Hawks show one possible way to do it.

The Hawks are fighting for the Eastern Conference's fourth position (24-16 now), and they are playing interesting situations, for example their sideline fastbreak.

When we were kids, our coaches used to say (and youth teams' coaches still say it very often today) that the ball MUST go by the axis of the court to run the break.

But most teams place their defenders right there to stop the PG, and that way, stop the fastbreak. So what can you do? The Hawks give a good answer, by letting the ball fly by the sideline instead.

As we can see in the images, Mike Bibby pops to receive the inbound pass, and he gives a nice long pass to find his teammate on the offensive court. From that point they can run a ball screen situation when the inside player arrives, but they can also have good options to finish the break. It's a very interesting option because you give also a lot of space for the center in case you want to isolate this player to start the offense.

Now, click play and watch it!

Playing Against Double Team: Punishing The Defense

2009-01-15T21:26:00.000+01:00

Here we have one of the best teams of the last decade. Under coach Gregg Popovich the Spurs will be once again fighting in the postseason. The Ring? quite difficult, but now they are second in the western conference, and playing good basketball...

Everybody knows that you need to double team Tim Duncan if you want more options to beat the Spurs, and the Spurs know that they need to beat the traps if they want more options to win games.

We see today how an ordered offense can play against double team situations, and not only that, but how they can punish defense telling them "hey, be careful if you really want to double Tim, we will score every single time... and maybe a three!"

The ball goes inside, the players move, the ball is swinged, and the argentinian Fabricio Oberto sets a GREAT screen that allows an easy shot for Mason (who had passed the ball inside at the begining of the play).

That's teamwork, let's take a look at the video.

Off ball screens' defense: switch

2009-01-11T17:10:00.000+01:00

A new basketball year starts. I'll post today about a defensive situation I've watched in the Russian Promo Cup in the final game between CSKA and Khimki.

Khimki is the new team of Sergio Scariolo, former headcoach from Unicaja Malaga, Real Madrid and TAU in the Spanish ACB, which is a good reason to start following that league closely.

What we are watching today is a baseline situation and the way Khimki play defense against CSKA's off ball screen.

Erazem Lorbek sets the screen for J.R.Holden, who is defended by Anton Ponkrashov. Ponkrashov, first, changes his feet position in order to deny the middle of the court and force Holden towards the baseline (where the defensive situation follows). Then Ponkrashov and Mc Carty switch. CSKA can't give the main pass they are looking for and have to look for Zisis far from the basket.

Let's take a look at the images.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T12:35:00.000+01:00

Fastbreak Pass

2008-12-29T15:41:00.000+01:00

Let's finish the year showing one of the Tim Duncan's great skills.

The pass. Watching some posts passing is like a nightmare, but Duncan (as others before, let's remember Sabonis, for example) is a great passer, which adds another dimension to his game.

In today's video, we see the Spurs' post opening the fastbreak. He grabs the rebound, dribbles fast and gives a great bounced pass with one hand for his teammate to score. See how he prepares the pass making the last dribble a little bit higher than the others, how he extends his arm, and his wrip's flexion at the end of the pass...

"Playmakeresque" as my friend Jeff would say...