Earlier this year we launched an exciting annual project called “SG Ventures”, where we searched for coaches who were working on interesting projects related to basketball/coaching/performance and collaborated with them to help bring those projects to fruition. You can read much more about the details of SG Ventures HERE.
We have a number of projects in the works, and today we’re happy to release Part One of a three-part series with coaches Drew Dunlop and Jake Grossman founders of, The Pro Lane, a high level, year-round basketball training center in Wisconsin.
Drew and Jake both have experience coaching and training players from the pro to amateur levels, and we are happy to be collaborating with them on a series of videos that deep-dives into some of the most useful skills being used in the game.
Each installment of the series is a two-part video first showing the why’s, how’s, and when’s of the skill being used at different levels around the world followed by an “Inside the Drills” video breakdown where we looked at live drill footage with Drew of him teaching these concepts.
For the first part of the series we looked at “The Reject” of a ballscreen and why it’s such an important skill/read to learn at all levels.
The Reject
We began with a global view of “the reject” and the advantages of searching it out during an on-ball screen. Most PnR coverages are built around and most effective when the ballhandler is forced to use the screen, so, one of the main benefits of rejecting the PnR is that it immediately puts the defense in an unfamiliar scramble situation…
 |
Every team rehearses situations or rotations that may arise out of the guard accepting the screen, but very few are as prepared to recover out of a complete tactical breakdown.
With the advantage created by the reject in mind, we worked backwards to pull apart the skills and reads that go into successfully rejecting the PnR, detailing the different visual cues that can trigger a reject by the ballhandler…
- Stepping towards the screen
|
- Defender Adjusting their stance
- Defender turning their head
- Backpedaling/Flat footed
- Against the reach
After understanding when to reject the PnR, we traveled further down the rabbit hole to look at how some of the best in the game rejected the screen, identifying the skills that routinely used to do so.
A few themes that pop up over and over again when looking at these reject-wizards were that they arrive at the screen with no contact, use clever change of pace and change of direction, and/or rip & jab to beat their defender into the gap.
Arriving Without Contact vs “Connect & Direct”
On the defensive side, the number one culprit of getting beat on the reject was lack of on ball pressure. Highlighted in this episode was of course the importance of setting up the defender to create the separation…
|
as well as tactical ways a coach can help create an advantage and/or separation for their guard before the screen…
|
Zooming In: A popular way of alleviating on ball pressure prior to the primary ballscreen is through the use of DHOs, toss backs, screens, etc.
On the defensive side, another takeaway from this project was the importance of ball pressure and “Connecting & Directing” within any given ballscreen coverage. Throughout most of the film study we were hard pressed to find an engaged, ball-hawking defender getting beat on the reject. Not that it never happened, but most the time when the on-ball defender was connected the initial reject didn’t lead directly to paint penetration, but was instead used as a way to set up another on-ball screen at a better angle.
Back to the offensive side of the ball, when a defender willingly concedes space to the ballhandler opportunities for the reject arise more frequently. By conceding that space before the screen, the defender puts themselves at a disadvantage, where they may be late in chasing over the screen. This is often when you see defenders jump early to the screen in order to catch up, switch their foot angles, or stare down screens in anticipation…
|
or react to foot fakes…
|
We’re not breaking any news here, but after several hours of watching rejects it becomes pretty glaring just how often a reject results from a willingness of the on ball defender to leave a cushion without making the guard work for his space.
“Inside the Drills” – Developing the Reject
The last piece of this “Reject” puzzle is how coaches can implement “the reject” into a player development setting and marrying the skill aspect with an understanding of the reads/visual cues of when to use it. For this important teaching aspect The Pro Lane took us inside their developmental sessions and shared their thoughts on drill design and the constraints used to create an environment conducive to using/learning the reject.
Our “Inside the Drills” session with Coach Dunlop consists of three drills:
- 1v1 + 1 PnR Set Ups
- 2v1 Middle & Side PnR Set Ups
- 3v3 “Play It Down”
Each drill posed their own unique challenges to the players, with the drill’s structure forcing them outside of their comfort zones while providing them with instant feedback.
Of note during the session was the struggle of the players in slowing down long enough to read their defender and accept what the defense has given them, reject or not. A great point raised by Coach Dunlop, and one we have heard often on the podcast, is that these players struggle because they lack sufficient, game-like reps to help make them comfortable.
This was a key point of emphasis for Coach Dunlop in his sessions, to find ways to put players in situations where they are forced to make quick decisions. Sometimes, though, they missed the correct reads…
|
…and as Coach Dunlop mentions, a major battle as a coach is fighting the urge to simply give the players the solutions, especially when in a player development session where perhaps the better path to achieving the breakthrough is through posing questions andchallenging the player to analyze what he/she is seeing. In these types of environments where learning is at the forefront, it can be better to cede a bit of control and accept the mess. Or, as Coach Dunlop mentioned, if the drill is not working, changing the constraints or approach in order to help elicit the desired action…
|
For more much insight on these drills and structuring constraints to help build “the reject” into your offense view our full film room session now on SGTV…
