Adapting Post-play for Undersized Big Men

Фото: Le Mans, the first division French team

John David Jackson is the head coach of Le Mans, the first division French team. Born in Canada, where he also played for the national team, he had a basketball career as a player in Hungary and France. He started his coaching career as assistant coach of Le Mans in 2006, took over the head coaching duties two years later, eventually leading his team to the French championship in 2009.

Le Mans, the French Pro-A team that I coach, is known for having athletic players and an up-tempo style of play. One of the principal reasons for such characteristically rapid play is that many of our players are fast, strong, and energetic. However, we lack in size when compared to teams in other top continental leagues. The difference in size is particularly evident when it comes to big men. Many teams have a starting line-up with not a single player smaller than 2 meters (6'-5") in height.

Things can get quite interesting when a small, mobile French team faces off against one of these traditional European teams with very tall players.

Many of the standard defensive tactics for dealing with such a size deficit are common knowledge (aggressiveness on the ball-screen, three quarters or full front defense on the block, double teams with organized rotations), but it's also important to know how to turn a size disadvantage into an offensive advantage at the other end of the floor.

The following observations and ideas are things I've done to effectively adapt and adjust a team's offense in order to get the most out of their "undersized" low-post game.

Diagonal entry screen: In or out?

Rather than just feeding an undersized big man directly on the block, I often try to give him an advantage by running his man off a diagonal entry screen (back screening for a big man to give him a path to the block). If he uses the screen correctly, he should put his bigger defender at a disadvantage. Here's a "read" we like to teach our post players to make whenever they receive such an entry screen.

"In-Cut"

If the big man's defender fights to go high over the screen, we run the «in» cut option. This means cutting directly to the low block for a catch and score. The cutter must pass close to the screen, forcing his defender to follow in his tracks. If well executed, he should arrive first to the block. and with a well-timed sweep pass from his teammate, he should receive the ball close to the basket with his defender sealed well on the high side for an uncontested finish (diagr. 1).

Keys:

• "Setting up" the defender: faking backdoor or calling for the ball before the screen is set will keep the defender from anticipating and jumping to contest the cut; if he does jump early to the high side, the backdoor cut will be wide open and must be used.
• If the screener's defender contests or «bumps» the cut, the post cut must be turned into a down screen to free up the screener for an uncontested jump shot (diagr. 2).

"Out-Cut"

Once a bigger, slower defender has been punished by trying to fight his way over the op of the diagonal screen, his adjustment the next time will most certainly be to try and go under the screen in order to beat the cutter to the block and put his big body between him and the basket. At this time the cutter must recognize or "read" the defender's choice to go under and adapt his trajectory by making what I call an "out-cut." This means running directly out to the would-be passer in order to set a ball screen. The defender's big man, who went under the screen will consequently be way out of position to defend the ball screen. With this advantage, a well-executed "two-man game" should create a direct scoring opportunity (diagr. 3 and 4).

Keys:

• "Sell the cut": Make sure the defender has committed to going under the screen before making an out-cut.
• Set a good ball-screen: Eliminating the on-ball defender will force the late defender to choose between the open guard and his own man rolling to the basket.

Force a mismatch off a stagger screen

This is simple, but effective play. Most power forwards in France are swingmen or "tweeners" - they are too small to play as a 4 and probably on the tall side to be playing 3. Therefore they are "between" a 3 and a 4, or a "tweener." At some point in their career, however, they played the small forward position. The ability of these undersized power forwards to use down screens or flare screens to catch and shoot in movement is rare for a big man, and something French coaches like to take advantage of. Start by running your most dangerous guard off a vertical stagger screen.

Your center should set the first screen and your tweener the second. The guard should just curl around the second screen and cut to the basket or to the big corner to force the help of the defenders of the power forwards (diagr. 5).

After his initial screen, the center should reverse his path and immediately set a flare screen for the tweener, who will flare out to three-point range for a jump shot. More often than not, this forces the 5, the big man, to switch out onto the tweener, who is a dangerous shooter. When this happens, the center should flash to the block where he can post up against a more manageable—and smaller—forward (diagr. 6).

If the tweener doesn't shoot, but rather passes to his center, he should immediately make a cut to the basket or a perimeter exchange to create a further difficulty for his bigger, less mobile defender (diagr. 7 and 8).

Keys:

• Point guard must create a good passing angle for the flare screen.
• Quality spacing and utilization of the initial stagger screens will avoid defensive anticipation on the ensuing flare screen.

Inversion: Just to keep them guessing, the same advantage on offense can be created by sending 4 as the initial screener on the stagger. In this case, the guard should fake using the stagger and instead make a baseline backdoor cut, thereby soliciting the help of 4's defender. Player 4 will then quickly use the second staggered screen for himself (diagr. 9).

Once more, this will often cause the defending center to switch out onto 4 and the attacking center should immediately flash to seal the 4's defender (diagr. 10). Both of these situations, when well executed, can create two interesting matchups:

• A dangerous perimeter player isolated against a cumbersome, immobile defender.
• A smaller, less-imposing post defender against your undersized center gives him a chance to do some damage on the block.

Of course, it goes without saying, if the defenders are late and don't switch, you have to punish them by shooting the open jump shot.

Post-out hand-off movement

If you have set plays that call for a direct one-on-one post play but the size difference between your post player and his defender is too imposing, teach to your players how to integrate a dribble-out hand-off to your actual post. Timing and spacing are capital on this type of hand-off, so if you're going to use it successfully, it should be practiced often to help the players get a feel for it. 

On the post catch, the big man has a couple of seconds to quickly decide whether or not he wants to play one-on-one with his opponent. During this short time, his teammates have initiated their movements, which should always have a strong-side pass solution (diagr. 11). Assuming that the big man has decided to play the hand-off option, he should dribble out towards the three-point line to almost, but not quite, the free-throw line extended, just before his ball-side solution arises. At this point, he pivots and makes the hand-off pass, after which he should roll to the lane, stretching out the distance between himself and the ball handler (diagr. 12). In the case where the defending center doesn't help on the hand-off, the ball handler will have an excellent chance to attack the open baseline (if his man followed over the hand-off) or shoot the pull-up jumper, if his man went under the hand-off (diagr. 13). In the more likely case where the defending center leaves his man to stop the ball-handler, the ball should be dropped off to the rolling big man, who is on his way to the lane (diagr. 14).

Keys:

The player representing the ball-side solution should be versatile enough to:

• Turn the corner and finish close to the basket.
• Hit the pull-up jumper.
• Read the help defense and make the right decision.

In the meantime, the weak-side players must recognize the post-out hand-off and be available for the skip pass, should their defenders close down in the paint and put extra pressure on the big man (diagr. 15).

Having a balanced attack is essential to a winning team, and for me it is more sensible to adapt your offense to suit its player strengths than to leave them at a disadvantage or, worse yet, neglect a key sector such as the inside game. The entry-screen read, stagger-to-flare screen game, and the dribble-out hand-off are just three of the many good ideas that coaches can use to help turn their team's height disadvantage into an offensive advantage. Of course, as with all aspects of this great game, nothing is absolutely foolproof, and as different defensive solutions are presented, the coaches and players must discover appropriate responses together. Basketball will never stop evolving in this manner and I suppose that's why we're all so passionate about the game. I encourage you to be imaginative and wish you success if you try out any of these "little big man" options.