"Blockers & Movers!"

The point of setting a screen or pick is to impede the progress of the defender. Just like the movement of the person using the screen, who can execute a variety of cuts, so there are a variety of screens that can be set.

Screening seems to have become less significant aspect of offensive basketball as more and more teams seem to be using the dribble drive type of offense with very little screening accept for the seemingly inevitable

ball screen with the shot clock winding down. So what are some of the elements to consider when teaching/using a variety of screens? Lets look at a few of the most common types of screen and how they might be used.

I wonder what the other three offensive players are doing?

14 Common Screens & Screen Actions:

1. Back Screen .... Must give the man your screening space to move

2. Ball Screen .... What angle are you going to set the screen?

3. Cross Screen .... Slip the switch?

4. Combo Screen .... A combination of a down screen into a ball screen

5. Double Screen .... Set shoulder to shoulder

6. Down Screen .... Your butt tells the cutter (mover) where he is to cut.

7. Elevator Screen .... Two screener set a side by side screen with a slight gap

between them. Cutter moves through the gap which is closed once he is

through.

8. Flat Screen .... A ball screen in which the screen is set on the back side of

the man being screened.

9. Flare Screen .... Screen set at such an angle that the cutter moves to the

open area on the perimeter.

10. Flex Screen .... Back screen set on the baseline

11. Floppy Screen .... Stagger double set on one side and a single screen on

the other side. Cutter has the option of using either screen.

12. Hammer Screen .... A variation of a back screen in which the cutter spaces

on the baseline and looks for a pass across the lane.

13. Ram Screen .... Typically a diagonal screen set by a perimeter player for

a post player.

14. Stagger Screen .... Double screen set at an angle or stagger

15. UCLA Screen .... A cut off a pass in which the cutter rubs his man off a

screen set at the elbow.

Screener (Blocker) Basics:

1) Sprint to set the screen

2) Set the screen with feet no wider than shoulder width

3) Grab your wrist and protect yourself with knees bent to absorb contact

4) Screen bodies not spots on the floor

5) React after screening ... Depending on how you are being defended and

depending on the ability of the screener you might pick and pop, pick and

roll, or slip.

6) The better screen you set the more likely YOU will be open after screening.

Cutter (Mover) Basics:

1) Set up the screen by moving in one direction then cutting tight off the

screen. Don't give your defender room to get between you and the

screener.

2) Read the defender ... if the person guards your tail, curl off the cut. If they

cheats over the top of the screen fade to an open area.

3) Wait for the screener to establish their position. *It is always better to be

too late rather than too early coming off the screen.

4) The screener's back tells you "where" to cut.

5) Show your hands as soon as you clear the screen

6) Try to break the visions of the defender

7) Finish all cuts .... sell your cut even if well defended.