2 IN 2 OUT

I watched a movie about an injured firefighter. He was, in the movie, a son of a firefighter. When this firefighter was an adolescent, his father died in a fire. According to the story, his father violated a fundamental rule of fighting fires. You never go into a burning building on your own. Two go in and two come out.

My mind works in a strange fashion at times. This two in and two out made me think of some of the two on two situations that occur in basketball. For example, negotiating a pick and roll on offense or defense is usually a

"two in and two out" situation. Pass and cut movement on offense or defense requires two players to be involved whether it is on offense or defense. For some reason I started thinking about this two in and two out

application in respect to screening.

If you watch college basketball, you soon become aware of how the game has changed. Some time ago motion offense was the most popular offensive design vs person to person defense. Now the trend is towards

what is commonly referred to as dribble drive or read and react offense. Spacing has become critical. Penetration off the dribble and "reading" where the help is coming from have become extremely important. Partly because of the shot clock, the high pick and roll has become standard operating procedure. There is nothing new about using the pick and roll on offense. It is about as old as the game itself. I must admit I find the two on two pick and roll action with three other players standing or sliding into open areas somewhat boring.

Since we ran an offense that NEVER used ball screens, I decided we might benefit from having a secondary offense that used ball screens a lot. We eventually added a continuous ball screen offense patterned after

a high school offense used in Indiana. Because it was a sort of change up offense and because we NEVER used ball screens, it was at times very effective. It was easy to adapt to time and score with it. We could

take time off the clock without giving the appearance we were holding the ball. Also, we found if we could be patient enough, that after the third or fourth ball screen the defense often broke down.

Needless to say the coach's mind can be a strange thing. I was taking a walk awhile ago and the thought entered my mind about why we were not more effective in our continuity pick and roll offense and one of

the things that came to my mind was .... screening angles! It was a seemingly small detail we did not teach correctly. So I started to do some research (I guess better late than never) and thought I should share some

aspects of the pick and roll I would try to teach better if I were teaching this part of offense today.

Someone once said, "don't confuse me with the details! We all have seen pick and roll action in game after game after game. We can easily take the view that it is simple one person getting in the way of the person

guarding the ball. Simply just execute being an obstacle and the dribbler using that obstacle to get away from his defender. IF IT ONLY WERE THAT EASY.

Some "details" I wish I had emphasized more effectively:

1.GAP - Player with the ball needs to create a gap between himself and his

defender. He may need to jab step, rip, fake, use a dribble to create space

between himself and his defender. If you don't create a gap, your defender

will be much more likely to get over the top of the screen with little to no

contact.

2. SET UP THE SCREEN - Player with the ball must wait long enough for the

screener to jump stop into the screen and be momentarily still. Move to

quickly and you can create an offensive foul on the screener. Also,

fake away from the screen to set up your defender. If your defender does

not react to the fake, attack the defender on the side without the screen.

Just because the screen is set does not mean you have to use it.

3. SPRINT INTO THE SCREEN - Some screeners like to jog into the screen rather

than cut quickly into the screen. Ideally, you want the player defending

the screener to be separated from the screener thus putting him

(screener's defender) in a poor position to help on the screen.

4. SCREENER'S STANCE - Jump stop or quick stop landing on two feet. Knees

bent. Feet at least shoulder width apart and stationary. Hands folded

across the chest for girls and one hand wrapping the wrist withe

the arms straight and the hands protecting the groin area for boys.

5. CONTACT - Hold the screen through the contact then react to the action.

6. ATTACK - Depending on the execution of the defense, the dribbler should

look to come off the screen shoulder to hip and after two or more dribbles

read the defense and make a decision.

7. SCREENING ANGLE - The screener should set the screen on the back of the

ball defender's hip. So as a reference point, the screener's back is facing

the corner NOT the sideline. This angle is very important and is a very

common error in ball screen execution. If the screen is to high, you end

up getting in the way of the dribbler.

8. Roll or Rim Run - Two common reactions to setting a screen is for the

screener to either reverse pivot and roll to the rim looking for a pass or

execute a rim run by using a front pivot and cutting to the rim. A "rim run"

is an effective reaction to a team that switches ball screens.

9. Pick-N-Pop - If you have a screener who can face up and shoot perimeter

shots then a pick-n-pop action can be very good for your offense.

Screener simply screens then slips into an open area and looks for a pass

from the dribbler.

*Screen to get the screener open is also an effective technique to use. This

puts pressure on the player defending the screener because this action

should separate the defender from the person sprinting to set the ball

screen.

**Depending on how the defense reacts to ball screens, can and should,

affect how the offense reacts. For example; if teams hedge and recover

the pick and roll may be more effective. If defense switches, rim run

can be effective and if the defense traps the dribbler, the pick and pop

reaction may be a good decision.