The "Peel Switch": A Primer
Like Clockwork
Welcome to our “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter”, where we explore some of the best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world of basketball.
Today’s Newsletter will include:
“Peel Switching”
A Deep-Dive into the Defensive Concept made popular by this week’s Slappin’ Glass Podcast guest, Will Voigt.
Best Sets of the Week
Projects We’re Working On
Teams to Watch
Interesting Reads
Let’s dive in…
How We Got Here…
This week on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast we were fortunate to host Telekom Bonn and Angola National Team Head Coach, Will Voigt. It’s an interview we looked forward to for months as it gave us an opportunity to examine the philosophy, rules, and rotations of the “Peel Switch” Defense for which Coach Voigt has become known for (making us sweat-out questions during “Start, Sub, or Sit” is another thing he’s a pro at).
We were first turned onto the “Peel Switching” defensive concept during our podcast with Polish National Team Head Coach, Mike Taylor. In our conversation with Coach Taylor we asked about some of the “best new concepts” he had seen at the National Team level and he told us both on AND off-air that we should “talk to Will Voigt about the Peel Switch.”
Below is a combination of the teaching points we learned from Coach Voigt on the podcast, other coaches brains’ we picked about “peel switching”, as well as our own self-study of the defense.
At the end will be links to our breakdown video as well as PDF’s for further study. Coach Voigt also has his own video for sale of the defense, which we’ll link to below as well.
Peel Switching: Core Philosophies
Coach Voigt highlighted on the podcast that “Peel Switching” is a fairly simple concept at its core. So, what the heck is it?…
A “Peel Switch” can be defined: “When a defender is beaten on dribble penetration, the nearest help defender switches onto the ball while the beaten defender “peels off” and switches to another player.” It also involves the other defenders rotating to their next switch if need-be.
It was a concept Coach Voigt learned from his Angola National Team players. As Coach Voigt talks about in the podcast, the players were naturally “Peel Switching” during 5 v 5 scrimmages and the more he watched them do it, the more it made sense to create an entire scheme around it.
It is a system designed to not have “2 on the ball.” Often times, when a player is beaten off the dribble and the next defender comes to help, there is a moment of having “2 on the ball” while the original defender recovers back to their man. The “Peel Switch” is designed to minimize that situation and keep everyone matched up.
The “Peel Switch” gives the defenders in help-side a simple “clock-like” rotation while the switching occurs.
Here are a few of the main “Peel Switches”…
#1 - 45 Drive - “Corner Peel”
The first “Peel” we’ll look at are those that come when a defender is beaten on a “45” or “Slot” drive to the short side of the floor. One of the most common “Peels” comes from the defender on the same-side corner. In this rotation the corner defender will switch onto the ballhandler and the “beaten defender” will peel back to the corner…
As Coach Voigt mentions during the podcast, this can be one of the more dangerous “Peels” if it comes too early and the offense has a knock-down shooter in the corner that they offense is able to move the ball to before the “Peel”. Coach Voigt spent time in San Antonio with the Spurs organization and he spoke about their philosophy years back of never helping off a corner shooter, so this “Peel” takes both practice and a bit of a mindset shift from a coaching standpoint to commit to it. As we’ll see later, this “Corner Peel” is one you don’t have to do if you’d prefer to keep the corner guarded for scouting purposes and would rather “Peel Switch” with a post and rotate on the backside.
When executed well, though, this “Corner Peel” can lead to offensive confusion on the drive and steal opportunities for the “Peeling” defender as the offensive player tries to throw it back to the corner…
#2 - “45 Drive” - “Post Peel”
Another option on a “45 Drive” is to switch and peel with the Post. This can happen regardless if there’s an offensive player in the corner. See below an Empty Corner “45 Drive” and how the post steps up to take the ball and the on-ball defender peels and switches onto the post.
#3 - “Middle Drive” - “Post Peel”
Now, instead of the ball being driven down towards the baseline from the wing/”45”, we’ll look at “Post Peels” if the defender is beaten middle.
As shown, once the guard hears the call to “Switch” from the post defender he immediately “peels off “ and works to get inside position on the offensive big. Here’s another look from Coach Voigt’s Angola National Team…
There are different types of “peel switches” that can take place on this action and coaches can make their own decisions on how they would handle this drive. The main decision being whether the guard who was beaten off the dribble should “peel” to the inside of the offensive big, OR if the guard who’s beaten should “peel” back to the perimeter and take the “shake” while the defender guarding the “shake” rotates to the inside of the offensive big.
Apologies, as we’re on our second cup of coffee today and that’s likely a confusing paragraph…but… if you look at the two examples above hopefully you can see how either “Peel” can happen and the major communication that needs to take place within this defense for players to quickly decide who should “peel inside” of the offensive big and who should take the “Shake Man” elevating behind the play to the wing. Both can happen and both are effective.
#4 - Top Drive - “Corner Peel”
Above, in Peel #1 we looked at the “Corner Peel” on a drive from the Wing/45. Here is the same concept but with the drive coming from the middle third of the floor and with the defender who’s beaten “peeling” off to the corner.
And… for extra credit, here’s the same action but with Two Peel Rotations…
In the last example, see how the “Switch” doesn’t come from the corner defender, but from the nearest defensive guard while the beaten defender “peels back” to the perimeter.
# 5 - “PNR Peels”
We dipped our toes into this concept during the podcast with Coach Voigt, but he admitted that using “Peel Switching” during the PNR could be a whole other podcast (we’re working on doing that). But, we did talk briefly about all of the interesting possibilities that might exist when you use “peel switching” concepts when guarding a PNR. Those familiar with “Next Defense” will see that “Nexting” and “Peel Switching” a PNR are similar in a lot of ways. “Pexting” as the kids say.
They don’t.
In the first “Top PNR” scenario, once the on-ball defender is beaten in the PNR he “peels” off behind the action to take the “Shake/Lift”. The ballhandler is picked up by the “Low Help/Tag” and NOT the Big guarding the on-ball screener… that defender guarding the on-ball screener is “choking/jamming” the roller to disrupt his roll…
And in this 2nd situation with an Empty Corner PNR, you can really see the “Next” defensive concept happening as the “Nail Defender” takes the ballhandler and the on-ball defender “peels” back to the perimeter. In both cases the ballhandler is picked up by a “Help Defender” and the Defensive Big stays with or jams the roller.
Further Thoughts and Resources
As we mentioned earlier, there are more “Peel Switching” scenarios and decisions that coaches can talk through when implementing this defense. Coach Voigt mentions how some of these rotations can come quite naturally to players, while others take some getting used to. The real advantage is that, when done well, the “peel switching” defense can disrupt and take away the normal “penetrate and kick” or “PNR Reads” of the offense. If anything, it’s interesting food for thought to think of how some of these concepts could be worked into other defensive systems.
Resources
{ Sets of the Week }
As always, so many great things being run all over the world. Here were a few of our favorite sets from the last week…
#1 - { VEF Riga - Iveson to Blind Pig Backdoor } Just loved this set. The special sauce being in the nice backside decoy action while they run the “Blind Pig”…
#2 - { Chapman University - “Inverted Elbow PNR” } Part of our ongoing “Interesting Action” breakdowns. We’ve been slowly putting together content on “Inverted Screens”, and this one is just really hard to guard within 5 - Out Motion…
#3 - { Posting Guards - Villanova “Seam Drive” } We’ve also been on a “Posting Guard” kick lately and have always loved this simple way Villanova gets their guards into the post with a “Seam Drive”…
EXTRA CREDIT - { PNR from the Post } Like mentioned, we’re on a “Guard Posting” kick… here’s great action for a guard in the post as a facilitator AND a crafty PNR from that spot…
Content We’re Working On
Some of the concepts we’re studying at the moment for future videos/newsletters:
Posting Guards
Unique Zones/Junk Defenses
“Cancelling the PNR Action”
As always, if anyone has clips, ideas, or teams they’d like to point us to with any of these or other concepts, feel free to reach out… slappinglass1024@gmail.com
Teams To Watch
Here are 5 teams we enjoyed watching this week:
Michigan (NCAA D1)
VEF Riga (Latvia/VTB)
Hapoel Jerusalem (Champions League)
Phoenix Suns (NBA)
Argentina National Team
Interesting Reads/Listens
A few things we enjoyed:
With Tom Brady in today’s NFC Championship Game, a nice article on his “Pathological Approach to His Craft”
Another good article on craft… “Steph Curry’s ‘Organized Chaos’”
One of us here at Slappin’ Glass sat down with Coach Menelik Fernandes this week for a conversation about “No Middle Defense”, “End of Game Plays”, and much more on his fantastic podcast, Run it Back. Thanks Coach for the opportunity.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoy the newsletter we always appreciate a share!
Have a great week coaching,
Dan and Pat
Tools We Use
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If interested email us at slappinglass1024@gmail.com
Guys I would like to Thank you for every single word of this topic. You give me chance to add updated defenses and offenses insights.