Van Gundy Points & "Inverted Screens" Primer
The Privilege of Coaching
Welcome to our “Sunday Mornin’ Newsletter”, where we explore the best ideas, strategies, and coaches from around the world of basketball.
Today’s edition will cover:
Jeff Van Gundy - The Week that Was
Inverting Screens: A Primer
Best Sets of the Week
Masterclass on February 21st
Teams To Watch/Things to Read
Let’s dive right in so you can get to your SuperBowl chips and cervezas…
Van Gundy Points
In the middle of 2nd quarter of last Saturday’s Lakers/Celtics game on ABC, while one of us slept soundly in Germany, the other lept off his couch in California when Jeff Van Gundy graciously gave us a shout-out on national television. It was a humbling, surreal moment and we appreciate both Coach Van Gundy and those in the basketball community for the continued support of what we do.
We were also fortunate this week to host Coach Van Gundy on the Slappin’ Glass Podcast, and as you might expect, he gave both an insightful and entertaining interview diving into:
The Chemical Makeup of Great Organizations, Coaches, and Players
What Matters in Winning
Innovations in the Game
Aaron Fearne’s “Tagging Up” at the NBA level
Inverted Screens (see much more below)
Attacking and Playing Zone Defenses
A hilarious “Start, Sub, or Sit?!”
Best Career Investments
And too many quotable fun/insightful “Van Gundy Points”, but here’s a few…
“Dumb gets you beat, and dumb is forever.”
“Coaches learn as much from players as players do from coaches.”
“I’d rather lose with the headband guy then win with the high-socks guy.”
“…players don’t care if you’re big or small, black or white, played or not-played… they care about if you’re sincere, reliable, competent, and trustworthy.”
“Timeouts… why do we have them? Why are they allowed?… And halftime, what’s that all about?”
“As I’ve gotten older, I wish I had a greater appreciation when I was younger for the privilege it is to coach. And I don’t care what level that is…to have an opportunity to lead people.”
Throughout the podcast, Coach Van Gundy gives some truly powerful reflections on life, coaching, and not driving baseline on guys wearing black socks… (yes, you read that correctly).
Inverted Screens: A Primer
Our project of diving into “Inverted Screens” started a few weeks back with an off-air conversation with last week’s podcast guest, Mike Martin of Brown University. In our preparation for the interview we enjoyed seeing the ways Coach Martin used an “Inverted Screen” for their versatile All-Conference forward Tamenang Choh as a way to create space for him to attack downhill or play through whatever advantage the screen created. We continued our conversation about the use of Inverted Screens/Actions with Jeff Van Gundy this week as well.
Outside of Coach Martin and Coach Van Gundy, we also picked the brains of past podcast guests Cody Toppert, Zak Boisvert, Josh Loeffler, and Scott Waterman about their thoughts on the uses/advantages of the screen. A big thank you to all of them.
Inverted Screens: What is it?
A simple definition of an Inverted Screen is: A ballscreen set by a Guard for a capable playmaking/scoring Big. It probably goes without saying that if your Big can’t attack, make good decisions, or score then this action isn’t for them unless that kid’s mom is your Booster Club President.
Below we’ll go through many of the reads/advantages created by the Inverted Screen, but here’s one way it looks like to start…
Attacking the Switch
One of the common defensive counters to an Inverted Screen is a “Switch” of the guard onto the ballhandling Big. Here are the common Reads once this switch happens.
#1— Switch to Post
After coming off the Inverted Screen, if the Offensive Big cannot get downhill to attack the rim, a common way to continue punishing the defense is for the Offensive Big to “get off the ball” (pass to someone else), and post the mismatch. This situation creates an immediate advantage for the offense were the defense either sends a double to help their mismatched guard in the post (where the offense can then kick-it-out and play through extra passes or closeouts), or the defense lives with the Offensive Big operating against a smaller guard 1 v 1.
Another way to Post the mismatch instead of throwing to the perimeter and then reposting, is for the Big to “Reverse/Crab/LeBron Dribble” into the Post after the guard switches onto them. This action is shown in our breakdown video below.
#2 — Switch to Throwback
The next option on the Switch, is for the Big to “Throwback” to the Guard who has just set the Inverted Screen and is popping back to the perimeter.
In this situation the Guard may have a clean look at a Shot if the Defensive Big is slow on the switch…
Or, like the clip below, even if there isn’t a “Full Switch”, but rather a “Show and Recover” by the Defensive Guard on the Inverted Screen, the Offensive Big can still throw the ball back and play through a closeout…
#3 — Switch to Rim Roll
Not as common, but with a player like Jimmy Butler who can both Pop and Roll, this is an interesting option to take advantage of the split second of indecision by the defense to either Switch or “Show and Recover”. Guards are not usually taught to “Roll”, but if you have one that can this is a nice wrinkle.
Attacking the Under
If the Defense decides not to Switch the Inverted Screen, the next Read for the Offensive Big is to attack downhill into the space created by the Defensive Big trying to go under the Inverted Screen and stay with his man…
The thing to note here from the offensive side of the ball, is the value of sending a shooter to set the Inverted Screen. As shown above, the defender guarding the shooter is often afraid of losing contact with the shooter so when the Defensive Big tries to go Under the Inverted Screen he essentially has to go under TWO people before trying to slow down the Big attacking downhill at him.
In the breakdown video we also show other options available when attacking the “Under”.
“Ghosting” the Invert
We’ve talked about the value of a “Ghost Screen” in a past newsletter HERE, but the advantages the Ghost (“Slip Screen”) creates in a normal screen also materialize in an Inverted Screen as well.
#1 —Ghost and Attack
The first, and simplest option, is for the Big to attack downhill into the space created by the “Ghost”. Much like the “Under”, the Ghost screen can create a situation where the Defensive Big is on their heels giving the Offensive Big the advantage as their attacking the rim.
#2 — Ghost and Find Shooter
On the Inverted Ghost Screen, if the defenders either 1) Run into each other (like shown below), or 2) Miscommunicate on their coverage, then the Offensive Big can often find the Shooter open for a shot or attack.
Side Note: Steph Curry is a problem in all Inverted Screen situations…
Unique Inverted Screen Actions
The above actions show the Inverted Screen being used mostly from a “1-2-2” Offensive alignment common to “5-Out” Offenses. Below are a couple of unique actions where the Inverted Screen is used within other sets/alignments.
Note: We cover more unique Inverted Actions in the breakdown video as well.
#1— Euro Flow Motion— “45 to Corner Invert”
A really nice twist here to the normal “European Ballscreen Continuity”. In this action, the corner guard who usually elevates for the next open-side ballscreen instead turns his cut into an Inverted Ballscreen for the Big.
For more on interesting European Ballscreen actions, here’s a past newsletter breaking down many of them.
#2— Inverted “Spanoulis Action”
Another interesting way teams set an Inverted Screen is from the “Spanoulis Action”. In a normal Spanoulis set the offensive guard receives a GUT DHO after coming off a Flex Screen, but in this action the offense turns that GUT DHO directly into an Inverted Screen for the Big. As Zak Boisvert would say, “Nasty Stuff.”
Further Resources for Study
To go along with this newsletter, here is our “Inverted Screens Breakdown Video”…
Best Sets of the Week
Some great sets and actions we looked at this week from Furman, Memphis, Melbourne, Chemnitz, and more…
Masterclass with ChampionShift
An area of coaching that we are excited to explore and expand into in 2021 are the tools and skill sets beyond the X’s and O’s. As much as we LOVE deep diving on “Inverted Screens”, Get Action, Peel Switching, and anything coming from the ACB, 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 Coach Burchard and us, combining both Mindset Training and an X and O study on some of the top European Trends.
We’re looking forward to it!
Here is the link to sign up for the Masterclass.
Teams to Watch & Interesting Reads
Teams We Enjoyed Watching:
SE Melbourne Phoenix (NBL)
Army (NCAA D1)
Joventut (ACB)
Wisconsin (NCAA D1)
Texas-Dallas (NCAA D3)
Interesting Reads
The Science of Reasoning With Unreasonable People (some good crossover with how coaches might approach conversation with players struggling to accept their role).
Thank you for reading and for your support. If you have a moment, we’d really appreciate a share of the newsletter with others who would find value in it. You can do that here…
Have a great week coaching,
Dan and Pat
Oh…one more thing… we put out our first “Extra Pass” 17 minute “mini podcast” episode this week all about the “Get Action”… much more on these to come.
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
Just discovered your newsletter. It is fantastic. LOVE the video breakdowns. And each post has a ton of knowledge, links and tools. Keep up the GREAT work.