BC Lietkabelis Head Coach, Nenad Canak, has helped his team reach the Lithuanian League Finals after upsetting perennial powerhouse Zalgiris Kaunas and has done so by running some of the more unique and intricate actions in Europe. One such action we are highlighting this week is their “Iverson Loop Elbow Series.” Here’s a quick look at the action before diving in…
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Building off the good bones of this initial entry, Coach Nenad has the ability to play to the strenghts of his wings, leverage the shooting ability of his 4s, and generate post opportunities for his Center, all of which can be viewed in much further detail in today’s breakdown on SGTV.
What we find particularly interesting and will focus on below, is why the Iverson Loop entry is such a unique action to build an advantage from.
Forcing the Chase
One of the best and most obvious things to like about the Iverson Loop is that it forces the defender guarding the loop cutter into a chase with his/her head turned away from the ball. When running a shooter over the top of the initial Iverson screens, very seldom will the defender attempt to cut both the screens and risk the shooter popping back for the shot. As shown in the clip above, the defender cuts the first screen but attempts to chase over the second screen. With the corner cleared on the same side of the loop cut, the option and threat of an easy pop back/flare and shot should the defender cut the 2nd screen can make going under both or even one of the screens a chancy decision for the defender.
Against better defenses, forcing the defender to chase will obviously not result in a lay up drill every time, but what it does so well is put that chasing defender at a disadvantage as the offense connects this cut into a secondary action. In this case below, Lietkabelis flows right from the Iverson Loop cut into some nice “Screen-the Screener” Shuffle Cut action…
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Zooming In: With the defender focused on chasing over and fighting to get back to neutral, Lietkabelis does a masterful job of immediately putting him into another screening action, often leading to blown coverages or miscommunication from the defense.
Turning a cutter into a screener is often hard enough for a defense to guard, but adding the blind chase over the top of the Iverson Screensimmediately before it can work opposing defenders and coaches into a bit of a frenzy…
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With the single mindedness of chasing over the Iverson Screens, the defender is left playing catch up on the next action. Here’s another action we loved from Lietkabelis as they run the shooter out off of a double stagger after the Shuffle Cut Post Entry…
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Zooming In: This is a good example demonstrating how the defender is left “flying blind” after chasing over the entry screens. In the example above, the defender has little awareness of where the ball is and in poor position to impede the wing’s movement coming back off the stagger screens. He does an admirable job competing but everything is reactionary at this point.
Freeing the 4
Another strength of the Iverson Loop entry is its ability to loosen up the defender of the second screener, in this case the 4 man. Here’s Lietkabelis flowing into a Gut DHO for the 4 after the Loop Cut…
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Zooming In: Not a great example of “Cutting Hard” by the wing, but regardless, the 4 man/elbow defender will almost always be playing behind and on the low side ready to support the cut over the top. In most of the clips on the video you’ll see the elbow defender needing to take at least one step back to help control the Loop Cut allowing Lietkabelis to flow into secondary actions with a slight advantage.
Lietkabelis runs a handful of the actions that flow out of the above action because the entry can generate an easy catch for the 4 man with the added advantage to then facilitate…
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Zooming In: With the defense loosened after the initial Loop Cut, Lietkabelis can connect a number of actions through their 4 man. Notice above how the ball never hits the floor after the entry pass. The Iverson Loop has created the opportunity for Lietkabelis to build the advantage off the wing’s movement with the 4 man then able to bridge these actions unimpeded.
From there, the sky’s the limit for Coach Nenad and the actions he can stack on top of this entry. The complete breakdown and PDFs are now available on SGTV…
