"Get Action": A Primer
Come and Get It
Welcome to our “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter”, where we explore the best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world of basketball.
This edition will cover:
A “Get Action” Primer & Mike Martin Podcast
“Extra Pass Podcast” and January in Review
Best Sets of the Week
“Masterclass” Announcement
Teams to Watch & Things to Read
Let’s dive in…
Come and Get It
This week on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast we had the pleasure of hosting Brown University Head Coach, Mike Martin. Coach Martin is highly regarded as one of the best young head coaches in the college game and we did our best to keep up with him as we explored topics of “forcing left” as a defensive scheme, seeking knowledge from other disciplines, 5-Out Actions, Inverted Screens, “Start, Sub, or Sit”, AND… the increasingly popular “Get Action”. We decided to further unpack the action in a full breakdown video, the inaugural “Extra Pass” Podcast (more on that in the newsletter below), and in this newsletter.
Terminology-wise, the “Get Action” has a variety of different names… “Curry Action”, “Flash Action”, “Grenades”, “Go’s”, and more. For simplicity-sake, we’ll refer to it as “Get”.
What is a “Get”?
Simply defined, a “Get” or “Get Action” is when a guard throws a pass to a Big and immediately follows for a handoff. Though a “Get” can happen anywhere on the floor (like we’ll see) it is most commonly used on the perimeter where the offensive guard is either 1) Sprinting “East/West” for the return handoff…
Or 2) Sprinting “North/South” to receive the handoff…
Both types of directional “Gets” present their own unique reads/opportunities for the offense and unique challenges for the defense, but the main advantages of the “Get” for the offense is that:
It is almost impossible for the Defensive Big in the “Get Action” to Hedge Out or Double the Guard coming back to the ball for fear of the Offensive Big “Keeping” the ball and attacking downhill since they have yet to use their dribble (as we’ll see below). The majority of the time in a “Get Action” the Defensive Big will be playing some level of “Drop” coverage to prevent a “Keep” from the Offensive Big, and be available to help on a drive or shot from the offensive guard should he/she spring free on the follow.
The “Get Action” can simplify the decision-making process for the guard once he receives the ball back from the Offensive Big. Knowing that the Defensive Big will almost certainly be in a “Drop” means the Offensive Guard can focus on reading/feeling where their defender is and make the appropriate play. As we’ll discuss below, the main read from the guard is whether their defender goes over or under the “Get” and then they can play off of that decision. In a PNR the offensive guard has to read both their defender AND what the Defensive Big is doing (Dropping/Hedging/Trapping/Switching etc.) BEFORE reading what the Help is doing.
The “Get Action” allows coaches to put an offensive player into an action that gives a similar look to a PNR without having to actually run a PNR. So, a coach can teach a great shooter who isn’t necessarily a playmaker in the PNR to play through “Get Action” and receive the same/similar benefits of a PNR. A great example of this is the Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson. Though Robinson is not a player the Heat will often put in a PNR, they do excel with him in “Get Action” as it generates similar headaches/rotations for the defense that a tremendous PNR player like James Harden might.
Reads and Actions
Now, here’s a look at many of the main reads and actions that flow from a “Get”. We’ll start with the reads of the Guards.
Guard Reads: Defender Chasing —> Over
First things first, just like a PNR, the best advantages of the “Get” come when the defending guard ends up going OVER the Big on the handoff. So, it makes sense whenever possible to run “Get Action” with a shooter as his/her defender is often programmed to go OVER every action they’re in for fear of the shot if they go under.
When they do get the defender to chase over the top, here are the next options…
1) Shoot It
The natural tendency of a defender is to let up for a split second after their man passes the ball. So if an offensive guard can create quick separation from their defender on a “Get”, even if the defender goes OVER, they can still find space to rise up, knock down a jumper, and make their coach feel like they’re on a Belichickian level for a moment.
2) Read Help
If the defender does a good job of staying more attached but the offensive guard can get an angle downhill, the read for the offensive guard becomes the Defensive Big and the backside help. If the Defensive Big steps to help at all then the guard can play through whatever advantage is presented. In the case below, it’s a wide-open layup for the roller as the weak-side defender stays with the “Shake”. For a full Primer on how teams “Attack the Tag”, you can find that in a past newsletter HERE.
3) Pitch and Rip
If the defender is able to successfully beat the offensive guard to the spot and prevents him from going over the top, this opens a “Rip” opportunity for the guard back away from the “Get” handoff…
4) Cut Backdoor
If the defending guard is committed to denying the handoff back to the guard in the “Get Action”, the read is to cut backdoor (or do something tricky as we’ll see later) …
Guard Reads: Defender Chasing —> Under
The next set of reads for the guard is if their defender goes “under” the “Get” handoff. In this situation, the reads relate closely to the reads in the “over” situation, but with one step needing to be added before getting there.
1) Shoot It
One of the simpler reads in the “Get Action” for a shooter… if their defender decides to go under the handoff and they have airspace… let it fly.
2) Re-Screen
If the defender goes under the handoff, but there isn’t enough airspace to shoot it, then the Offensive Big can turn and Re-Screen for the guard. This Re-Screen often forces the defending guard to have to go OVER the Re-Screen and the offensive guard can flow through the read progressions listed above.
There are a variety of further actions and reads teams can run with their guards within “Get Action”, many of which we detail in the breakdown video below.
Big Reads and Actions
Now, onto the Bigs in the “Get Action”. We mentioned it above, but it’s worth stating again, one of the biggest threats the “Get” creates for the offense is that the Offensive Big still has the option of the dribble while the guard is sprinting full speed for a return handoff. Below are the reads and actions the Big can make from both the dribble and the pass in the “Get Action”.
1) Big Keep—> Finish
While the Offensive Guard is sprinting towards the Big during the “Get Action”, if the Offensive Big feels or sees his defender begin to hedge out at all toward the guard, they can simply “Keep” the ball and attack downhill.
2) Big Keep—> Guard Curl
If the return handoff is not available to the Guard, and the Defending Big is dropped back in coverage, the Big has the option to find their Offensive Guard continuing his Curl Cut over the top…
3) Big Keep —> 2nd DHO/Get
So far, we’ve focused on the reads and actions that takes place with just the two offensive players in the “Get Action”, but there’s also a world of opportunities that arise from Keeping the first “Get” and flowing right into another action. In the case below, continuing directly into another DHO/Get. This is highly effective as the three help defenders are often concerned about their help responsibilities during the first “Get”, so Keeping on the first and flowing into another often catches the Helpside Defenders a step slow in recovery.
4) Big Keep—> Inverted Screen
In the breakdown video below we highlight a variety of other “Interesting Actions” that can be run out of the “Get”, but, to further build on the point above about the advantage of Keeping the first “Get” and flowing into another action, here’s a Keep followed by an Inverted Elbow PNR for the Big…
Additional Resources for Study
For deeper study on the “Get Action”, here are additional pieces of content we’ve put together:
“Extra Pass” Podcast coming this Tuesday…
“Extra Pass” Podcast
It’s been a fantastic start to 2021 on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast, and this Tuesday we’re excited to release our first “Extra Pass” Podcast episode.
The “Extra Pass” episodes will be short, highly focused conversations about a specific strategy or topic of interest. These 20 minute “mini-episodes” will be used to further dive into the deeper details and teaching points of topics that we covered in a podcast, video, or newsletter.
Tuesday’s first episode will be all about the “Get Action” from our conversation with Coach Martin.
If you already subscribe to the Slappin’ Glass Podcast you do not need to do anything different to get the “Extra Pass”, as it’ll show up right along the normal Friday podcasts. If you haven’t subscribed and would like to get both, you can do that HERE.
And as always, we appreciate any Review or Rating you can give if you’re enjoying the show.
Slappin’ Glass & ChampionShift Masterclass
An area of coaching that we are excited to explore and expand into in 2021 is the area of the game outside of the X’s and O’s. As much as we LOVE deeping diving on Get Action, Peel Switching, and anything Moncho Fernandez does, we also understand how important handling stress, sleep, self-care, and all the areas of life off the court are to maintaining balance and growing as a coach.
So, we are excited to partner with former Phoenix Suns Assistant Coach, Bret Burchard, and his great company, Championshift, on a Free Masterclass this February 21st.
The Masterclass will be Co-Hosted by us and Coach Burchard and combine both Mindset Training from Coach Burchard, and and X and O study of some of the top European Trends from us.
We’re looking forward to it!
Here is the link to sign up for the Masterclass.
Best Sets of the Week
In the Best Sets of the Week there’s a ton of great action including:
Tenerife: A 3-2 Zone Set AND a great “Zipper to Cross Screen” man set
Bakken Bears & Slam Ostrow: RIP Screen to Lob Actions
Cody Toppert’s Double Ball Screen Series (Veers, Rip Screens, Flares, and more)
Furman University: “Shape Up” Get Action (Clever action for a shooter)
Mike Martin and Brown University’s “Inverted Screens” from 5-Out Motion
Teams To Watch
A few teams we enjoyed watching this past week:
Bakken Bears (Denmark - Basketligaen)
Alabama (NCAA D1)
Academy of Art (NCAA D2)
Iberostar Tenerife (ACB/Champions League)
Stanford Men and Women’s Basketball (NCAA D1)
Interesting Reads
Thank you for reading and for the support. If you enjoy the Newsletter we always appreciate the assist and passing it along. You can do that here…
Have a great week coaching,
Dan and Pat
Tools We Use
We’re excited to partner with Instat for all of our video and analytics. Subscribers to our Newsletter can get a 10% discount off the platform.
Any interested coaches can email us at slappinglass1024@gmail.com
Great read! The Full “Get Action” Video Breakdown is set to private, could you please change it? THX!!!