The masters of the left corner

Nearly every player on the New York Knicks' roster operates with one rallying cry repeated daily by coaches: "If you're open, shoot it." The left corner on the floor has become the Knicks' Promised Land. According to the article - The Masters of the Left Corner - the Knicks' have made 49% of their 112 3-point shots from the left corner. The league average on all 3-pointers is just 35.9%.

The left corner is the prime real estate for a number of Knicks: five players shoot at least 50 percent from there, including Mr. Felton's 80%, Shawne Williams, 73.3% and 50% from Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari.

What makes the left corner so effective? D'Antoni's philosophy is based on his belief that 3-point shooting skills are inherent in nearly every NBA-caliber athlete. His staff immediately started preaching the corner 3-pointer for the floor space it creates for other players to drive to the basket and for the increased reward it produces on the scoreboard. The article also discusses the impact of Raymond Felton and Amare Stoudemire's pick n' roll game that creates open shots. Different than traditional pick n' rolls D'Antonio has always run spread pick n' rolls.

Some excellent lessons for the advantages of 3-point shooting and the use of pick n' rolls to create advantage situations.

Downscreen into a Ballscreen

Goal of the screener on a ballscreen is to arrive before the hedge arrives - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsWkgsZEfw - Consider distorting the action that leads to the ballscreen - One way is to create two actions (downscreen into a ballscreen) because it is difficult for the defense to stop two things at once.

Floppy Cross Screen Action

Here is a Floppy Cross screen action by Barcelona - Variations on simple concepts such as a cross screen action can disguise a simple action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6NlMB2jPWA
When designing your plays consider adding sequences together to disguise the intent. This will confuse the defense and present the defense with multiple things to defend. Remember also to not complicate things too much as simplicity is sometimes the best option when it comes to getting your best match-up the scoring opportunity.

Making a difference

The concept that coaches "get what they accept" is so simple and so true. At the peak of any season, beyond a team sharing the ball and making their shots, coaches often comment that championships come down to aspects such as defense, rebounding, and ball protection.

That said, why are players allowed to come in to the gym and not work with a purpose, even if they are in for extra/leisure time? The small changes will make the big difference. Granted, the sport needs to be fun but consider the following:

• if a player walks in to an empty gym and sees a ball they will likely pick it up and dribble it - they would be more effective going through a short series of dribble moves
• if a player is simply taking shots, get them to move to new spots, move laterally or inside/outside, chart their progress, take a set number, don't just shoot
• emphasize footwork, don't simply shoot close to the rim, self-pass to imitate a post reception and then work on various moves to each shoulder
• throw the ball off the backboard, work on rebounds, catch above the head with two hands, protect the ball at the chin, work on strong wide pivots with a look downcourt
• pass the ball off a wall, practice good pass reception to strong ball protection - applies to post players and perimeter players, vary the body location of the catch (chin, overhead, hip, etc)
• work on slides, digs, loose balls, close-outs - these can be done without a partner
  

Look Opposite

Sometimes, in order to truly grasp a concept, players need to look at the opposite of what is requested or required. What does that mean? Essentially, they need to BE the type of player that they do NOT like to play against. This theory has been promoted by successful coaches (Knight, Hurley, etc) over the decades. Examples:

• if a guard struggles against an aggressive defender that gives them no space to work then that guard should defend that way when they don't have the ball
• if a post player does not like to take a beating when working in the attack areas close to the rim then they should be a punishing post defender themselves
• if a perimeter defender feels that they play good close-out defense but still manage to be late versus a quick shooter then they need to improve their own quick shot release
• defensively, if a player does not like to defend versus big, quick, strong attackers that are constantly working then they should be that way when they are on offense
• offensively, if a player does not like to be punished by a defender that makes plenty of contact, gives no space, and seems to react properly to every move then they themselves need to defend in that manner
  

Horns Ballscreen Action

The horns action is a simple double high ballscreen play that is run by many teams. The difference here is how Barcelona distorts the screening angle and position by moving the screeners prior to the point guard using the ballscreen. If you do run a lot of ballscreen consider changing the angle and position by using 1. Late Pivots (screener changes the angle at the last possible second), 2. Sprint to Screen (screener sprints to screen to disrupt the hedge defender), 3. Screen to Screen (The screener is screened before they go to set the ballscreen, again with the goal of disrupting the hedge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSTrD8PtBA0

Horns into Crossscreen Set

Below is an offensive set run by Barcelona at the 2010 Euroleague Basketball Championships. This set shows how you can combine offensive sequences to create a set. Barcelona runs a ballscreen horns action (which isn't as effective as it could be because the ballhandler does not get to the shoulder of the screen) into a basic crossscreen downscreen sequence. In this case Barcelona forces the switch on the crossscreen so now a guard is covering a post at the rim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04m38_JBXE

Zone Offense Concepts

To prepare you for Don Casey's topic at the 2010 Can-Am Coaching Clinic - The Temple of Zones - we wanted to present some past clinic zone offense notes from Don Meyer.

Zone Offense:
1. Beat it down the floor
2. Rebound
3. Get ball in the pocket with players that can make plays looking Rim, Post & Opposite
4. Screen out, Seal out / Forward guarding guy, passes to top & makes cut off screen into pocket. Post then seals out on forward on catch
5. Throw back into 3 or 4 players / Loop Flash. Cut thru on baseline with 4-man off post screen. Loop shooter to top & flash opposite wing. Same action
6. Loop Skip / Post up the next defender. Make defender go over the top of the screen in to allow pass to baseline to post

Also here is a commonly used overload set play vs. a 2-3 Zone in video format:

Elbow Shooting Drill

This is the week. Finally the Can-Am Coaching clinic is here. Registration is open all week. Hope to see you there.

Here is another play from our library of Can-Am Coaching Clinic footage. University of Florida assistant coach, Larry Shyatt, shows you how to run an elbow shooting drill. Shyatt adds some twists to the traditional drill to make it more competitive and game-like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_H7MPClvw4&feature=related