Cody Toppert, BC Zalgiris Playbook, and the Genius of Željko Obradović
A week filled with "Old School" flare...
Welcome to the Slappin’ Glass “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter”! Where we’re sharing the best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world for you to enjoy over your morning coffee.
With games back being played in Europe along with the NBA Conference Finals, there was tons to dive into.
So here we go…
Slappin’ Glass Podcast
We both learned and laughed a ton this week on our latest episode of the Slappin’ Glass Podcast with the Assistant Coach of the Memphis Tigers, Cody Toppert.
Coach Toppert shares a wealth of knowledge from his stops as the Head Player Development Coach with the Phoenix Suns and Coach Igor Kokoskov, his time as Head Coach of the Northern Arizona Suns of the G-League, and currently working with Penny Hardaway at Memphis.
Among many topics, we dive deep into the in’s and outs of high level player development, teaching the PnR, gaining trust, special situations, being a “2 Play ATO team, fouling up 3… and 2, the coach/life balance, and much more.
…And if you haven’t been able to listen to it already, not only is Coach Toppert a fantastic articulator of high level concepts, but he’s also a ton of fun…
Speaking of high-level articulators, last week’s episode with Coach Ryan Panonne of the Erie Bayhawks is well worth an hour your of time. Thanks to the many of you who have shared it and reached out with such positive feedback about the episode. We loved it too… though we didn’t do much besides make sure the red “Recording” button was turned on; Panonne did all the heavy lifting. And like Toppert, Panonne can quote good movies too…
If we weren’t already excited enough about the guests we’ve been honored to have on the podcast so far, next week’s guest is Head Coach of the Polish National Team, Mike Taylor!
You can subscribe HERE.
The Genius of Željko Obradović
Speaking of “Old School”, Coach Željko Obradović has been one of the best coaches in the world for quite some time now, and is known for combining old school fundamentals with creative and cutting edge strategies on both sides of the ball . His influence on the modern game is tremendous. We put together this YouTube breakdown of his Fenerbahçe team from last year covering the concepts he teaches.
BC Zalgiris’ New Playbook
New BC Zalgiris coach, Martin Schiller, is REALLY fun to watch. We broke down many of the creative actions they’ve been running in their first few weeks of play.
Sets/Breakdowns of the Week
Some things we enjoyed looking into this week:
1) {Rajon Rondo’s Defensive IQ} How he subtly makes the Lakers such a great defensive team…
2) {Horns Backdoor} from Yale and Brad Stevens. Two different ways to get the backdoor for a player in the Horns alignment…
3) {UCLA Brush Screen to Step-Up} This is great action that flows nicely into the modern European step-up screen. You see this action a lot of the time starting from a “Diamond” or “Iverson” set, so here is a nice wrinkle…
Playoffs!?
The NBA playoffs are being well covered from a variety of great sources, but we also looked at The Heat’s Zone Defense, the Celtics and Heat adjustments to each other, an interesting stat on “Style of Play” with the 4 remaining teams, and Denver’s use of a popular European set.
But enough about us…
The Best from the World Wide Web
Coach Kyle Brown broke down the Santa Cruz Warriors Ballscreen Attack
Coach Brent Tipton gave a great presentation on Transition Offense
Jackie MacMullan joins The Ringer
How one of the world’s best economists, Tyler Cowen, does “deliberate practice”
Thanks for reading and have a great week,
Dan and Pat