Ode to the Jump Stop
Don't Stop Believin'
Welcome to our “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter” where we consolidate much of the best basketball content we’ve seen from around the world of basketball.
In today’s Newsletter we’ll cover:
Insights from our podcast with David Fizdale
The great playbook of Coach Mihailo Pavićević with his club Mornar Bar in Montenegro
Villanova’s historic use of the “Logo Jump Stop”
A “Special Edition Newsletter” announcement
Best Sets of the Week
And more…
Let’s dive in…
David Fizdale on the SGP
Former Memphis Grizzlies and New York Knick Head Coach, David Fizdale, joined us this week on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast. Coach Fizdale is known as both a great basketball mind and high level communicator and those qualities shown through in our conversation.
Among many things, Coach Fizdale was highly insightful on:
A behind-the-scenes look at an NBA Head Coaching interview
What he looks for in hiring assistants
Why he wants his assistants to disagree with him often
“Slipping” and “Exiting” screens
And the topics during our “Overrated or Underrated” segment were:
Pre-Game Naps
Icing Side Ball Screens
“Junk Defenses”
Pre-Game Shoot-Arounds
As always, thank you for the continued support of the podcast. If you have a second we’d appreciate a rating and review to help it continue to grow, you can do so HERE.
Next week on the show…we scratched our itch to explore the defensive side of the ball in a “Defensive Extravaganza” episode with a 4-time NCAA National Coach of the Year. We recorded the episode in a wall-sit.
Mihailo Pavićević Playbook 2020
Coach Mihailo Pavićević’s runs a ton of interesting and detailed actions with his club, Mornar Bar, in Montenegro. We’ve been following Mornar Bar for a few months and enjoyed putting together this breakdown of their recent playbook.
Along with this video breakdown, here are the Free FastModel PDF’s of the playbook.
“Logo Jump Stops” - ‘Nova Style
Villanova has enjoyed an unbelievable run of success recently, winning NCAA championships in 2016 and 2018. They’ve combined great coaching, talent, and program culture to place them in the upper echelons of college basketball (not to mention Jay Wright’s suit game).
At the base of all of their great offensive action is Villanova’s constant use of the traditional Jump Stop, especially at the “Logo” in the middle of the key. Though fundamentally simple at its core, the Jump Stop at this location of the floor has numerous advantages. Let’s look into the teaching points…
#1: Playing Simple
The first advantage of this concept is that it simplifies the game for the ballhandler. Villanova will always take a layup if they’re able to blow by a defender, but if not, it doesn’t matter if the defender does a great job staying in front of the ball on the initial offensive move because the Villanova players KNOW where they are going and will methodically bring the ball to the spot.
#2: Playing Slow
Once the player gets the ball to the “Logo” or deeper, the Jump Stop has the added benefit of slowing down the mind of the ballhandler and can cut down on unforced “penetrate and kick” turnovers…
#3: “Cut on the Stop”
Now, for the other 4 players. The benefit of the Jump Stop at a central point on the floor opens up tons of cutting, posting, and kick-out opportunities. See here how Villanova will “Cut on the Stop”, punishing the defenses’ tendency to look or stunt at the ball for a split second as it is driven to the “Logo”.
This is also the case when a player is down in the “Dunker Spot”…
And lastly, Villanova will use a “Reverse Pivot” on their Jump Stop to help find the “Dunker” or “Cutter” after they’ve moved away from the ball.
Villanova is legendary for their adherence to simple fundamentals, and their use of the Jump Stop is one of the main places we see this play out. We also talked about Jump Stops in last week’s podcast with Iceland National Team Head Coach, Craig Pedersen, during out “Overrated/Underrated” segment.
Here is the entire edit of this concept…
Special Newsletter/Video/Podcast
In the spirit of Thanksgiving in the U.S. this week, we’ll be putting out a couple of fun pieces of “Extra” content. In addition to our normal podcast, playbook, and newsletter, we’ll also release:
A special podcast episode we recorded with the Executive Chef for Team U.S.A. basketball, Shawn Loving, AND…
A Deep-Dive “Special Newsletter” with a full Video Breakdown on the Best Actions, Concepts, and Sets for “Attacking the Tag”.
Best Sets of the Week
1) { Georgios Bartzokas - ATO Shallow Cut } We recently wrote a newsletter that featured the “Shallow Cut”, and here was another great use of the cut. The timing here is tremendous.
2) { Sarunas Jasikevicius - ATO Masterclass } This was one of the latest ATO’s from Coach Jasikevicius that turned our heads. The subtle misdirection and timing here are special.
3) { Moncho Fernandez - Grenade to Flare SLOB } We’ve really enjoyed breaking down what Coach Fernandez does on both sides of the ball with Obradoiro. What caught our eye in this set was the unusual angle of the Grenade DHO. Really great stuff… even if they got lucky in the clip…
{ Extra Credit } Screen, then Re-Screen, then Re-Screen, then Re-Screen, then…
Food For Thought
Some great reads and content we’ve enjoyed this week:
Coach Chris Dorsey consistently puts out great basketball/coaching content. We especially enjoyed this post showing 3-man game breakdowns and how they translate to the court.
Coach Liam Flynn is another great follow. Here was a great post on “Next Defense” and a “Scram Switch”.
Coach John Leonzo has been sharing valuable content for years. His website is well worth your time. Here was a nice post showing how the “45 Cut” can be used in the flow of a 5-Out Offense and a DHO.
The NY Jets and the leadership qualities they should look for in their next coach.
Thank you for the support, we’d appreciate a quick share of the newsletter to those in your circle. You can do that here…
Have a great week coaching and be on the lookout for Wednesday’s Special Edition Newsletter,
Pat and Dan