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Mid-Year Top 10 Sets & Actions

July 20, 2021

We’re 6 months into 2021 and from March Madness, to the Euroleague Final Four, to the NBA Playoffs, there’s been a ton of creative and high level offense being run by great coaches all around the world. Here is our mid-year Top 10 Sets and Actions. A full video with all these sets is included for free below on SGTV.

Here we go…

#10 – Furman’s “Elbow Scissor Action”

Furman Head Coach, Bob Richey, runs some terrific action, much of it flowing from an elbow catch. Here, the angle and speed of the “Scissor Cuts” creates a great downhill drive opportunity…

#9 – Chemnitz Niners – “Zipper Shallow Cut”

Chemnitz Head Coach, Rodrigo Pastore, in Germany’s BBL is well worth a deep-study (we did it last year HERE). Their cocktail of clever spacing, timely off-ball cutting, and inverted screens is one we’ll gladly sip on this 4th of July weekend. Here, they utilize a nice “Shallow Cut” underneath a middle PNR…

#8 – Erie Bayhawks – “Side Stack Turnout”

Erie Bayhawk Head Coach, Ryan Pannone, is highly respected across the globe for his encyclopedic basketball mind. We’ve been squeezing as much juice out of him as we can lately as a podcast guest, “Crunch Time” guest, and most recently, this past week in our SG Plus “Q&A Session” (see below). This “Turnout” set with a “Side Stack Screen” ending, along with all the other variations the Bayhawks run out of it is quite “Pannone-esque”…

#7 – Levallois – “Flex to RIP PIN”

The “Flex Offense” can get a bad rap for being a bit rigid or “old-school”, but when you take off it’s nerdy glasses, dress it up a bit by adding another action like a “RIP PIN”, and slow-mo walk it down the stairs, it can bring back that “love on prom night” feeling all over again…

Here’s how Levallois in France’s Pro A dresses it up…

#6 – FC Barcelona – “ZOOM Clear Pick N’ Pop”

It was a great year for FC Barcelona and Coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius as they made it to the Euroleague Final with a mixture of both creative offense and defense. Here, they run some great “Clearout” action for a Popping Big by first masking it with a simultaneous “Ram Screen and ZOOM DHO” before clearing out a side with a baseline cut…

#5 – Bayern Munich – “Post Grenade Flare” Action

Coach Andrea Trinchieri is always worth checking in on, and here he adds a Flare Screen for a Post after he completes a “Grenade DHO”. This then flows nicely into an open-side PNR where the screener slips out early for a jumper…

#4 – UCLA/Texas/FC Barcelona – “Double Ghost” Actions

Coach Mick Cronin and UCLA “Ghost Flared” and “Double Ghosted” their way through the NCAA Tournament this year on their way to the Final Four. Here, a crafty way to get a shooter or playmaker into space for either a shot or downhill attack in space…

*The full video below also shows the “Double Ghost” actions utilized by Shaka Smart at Texas, as well as Coach Jasikevičius and FC Barcelona.

#3 – Pesaro “Flare Slip to Pindown”

We’ve really enjoyed watching the variety of ways that teams are utilizing the Flare Screen in different parts of their offense. Whether it’s at the end of the clock to attack a switch, as a masking action before a PNR, or, like here with Pesaro, as a way to set up a shooter coming off a pin down. What we specifically loved about this action, is that “Slipping” the Flare helps create separation for the shooter from their defender, making it easier to read their angle coming off the middle pindown…

#2 – BYU – “PNR Pitchback Option”

A unique and creative twist here from Coach Pope and BYU this past season within their Middle PNR game. There are many sets and actions where a player has the option to “pitch” the ball back to a teammate before flowing into another action, but Coach Pope adds this “pitchback” option for his PG during the Middle PNR. Here’s a quick look at how they flow into it…

Here’s another angle that shows the confusion it can cause for the two defenders guarding the PNR and the “pitchback” when the offensive player is sprinting over the top of the PNR…

Baskonia – “Touch and Slip” to Attack Switch

Baskonia will “touch and slip” the Stack Screener, a great way to attack a team attempting to cover the normal Spain action by switching the two guards…

Maccabi Tel Aviv – “Side-Screen the Stack Screener”

Another nice variation where a side-screen will be set for the “Stack Screener” by the offensive player in the corner…

Loyola Chicago – “Quick RIP Screen for Big”

A great set Coach Moser ran for an early bucket against Oregon St. in the NCAA Tournament, by setting a RIP screen for the big instead of running the normal Spain action…

Phoenix Suns – “Veer for Corner Shooter”

A crafty “Veer Screen” by Monty Williams for Mikal Bridges to attack the weakside help…

It’s been a great first half of 2021 and we look forward seeing what the rest of the year has in store.

For a complete look at all these great actions and sets, here is our free video out today on SGTV…

https://tv.slappinglass.com/programs/top10_jan_june_2021mp4-53598c

Bundles of Fun

Happy 4th of July to those in the U.S., we hope you’re enjoying your Holiday Weekend. Along with putting together the mid-year Top 10 Sets and Actions, we’ve also put together a few Bundles of some of most purchase, viewed, and downloaded “Deep-Dive” Breakdowns from the past year.