With the clock running down the point guard tucks the ball under his arm and calls his teammate up to set a ball screen…
Sound familiar? Of course it does. It’s what happens on nearly every single team at almost all levels.
Before teams starting getting really creative with end of clock scenarios the default go-to was a spread play where the team’s best player would get the ball, everyone else would clear out, and that player would go one on one and rely on their talent to get a basket or win the game.
Think Michael Jordan hitting his iconic game winner against Craig Ehlo or even more so, hitting his game winner against Bryon Russell in the 1998 NBA Finals.
Now think of Kawhi Leonard looking to clinch the Raptors first NBA championship in game 5 in Toronto. Leonard got the ball and looked to attack his defender by getting to the right elbow. Andre Iguodala flashed to help which forced Leonard to give up the ball to Van Fleet. Van Fleet then made the pass to Lowry and he got blocked on a three point attempt.
Today, that kind of clear out play doesn’t work like it used to.
Today, more often than not, teams will use a ball screen to force the defense to decide their strategy on how they want to defend the ball. That decision making is all the difference.
When using the ball screen however, I always try to teach one basic, fundamental rule before making a decision: take two hard dribbles off the ball screen before making your read.
The reason for taking two dribbles off the ball screen is what makes this valuable. Firstly, at one dribble, off the screen the defense only really needs one defender to defend both the player with the ball and the screener. The advantage goes to the defense. Secondly, at one dribble off, especially if the ball handler doesn’t move past the spot that one dribble takes, the defense can do all sorts of things to make the ball handlers job very difficult. They can double team the ball, they can force the ball handler into a very difficult pass given the angles that don’t exist in that scenario, and they don’t necessarily have to show their defensive strategy on the ball screen (is it a hedge and recover? are they switching? are they allowing the ball defender to fight over or go under the screen?).
The second reason why the second hard dribble off the ball screen is needed is for several reasons. For starters, with that second dribble you create more space between the ball handler and the screener. That forces the defense to reveal which defensive strategy they are employing. By doing so, the offense can make a better decision. Are they switching? In which case you should have a mismatch on the ball and the ball handler should attack. Or, conversely, does the ball handler get the ball to the screener for his/her mismatch? Are they hedging and recovering? In which case if they do, the ball handler just has to wait for the player hedging to start his recovery before attacking further. Are they playing straight man? Well if so, and assuming the ball handler has created the prescribed space that the two hard dribbles provides, he/she should have a clear look at the basket. The second dribble creates space not only between the ball handler and the screen but between the two defenders which is definitely to the offense’s advantage.
Thirdly, that second dribble gives the ball handler a much better angle if he/she is going to make a pass to the screener. At one dribble, especially at more traditional developmental levels, the ball handler has a very difficult angle from which to try and make the pass to the screener if the read is there to do so. A better angle means an easier pass and possibly more importantly, an easier catch for the screener. As with so much of the way the game is strategized today it comes down to space. And the more space you have the better decisions players can make. So the rule of thumb then is, when using a ball screen, the ball handler must attack off of the ball screen for two hard dribbles before making his/her read on the play.
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