I am constantly on the lookout for trends in European basketball, and I’m guessing a large part of why you subscribed to The Painted Possession was probably to keep an eye on these too.
When it comes to trends developing overseas, there is often something you’ll see that’s totally new and different that catches your eye immediately, and then you start to see it trickle across the continent. That is not exactly the case with what we’re talking about today.
The first time I saw this BLOB work, I didn’t think much about it, to be honest. Then I saw another team use it, and I still wasn’t particularly moved.
Then I saw four, five, six, and seven more teams running it and having success.
Suddenly, I’m dialled in.
This was a good reminder that the flashiest play doesn’t make it the best, and something doesn’t have to be overwhelmingly weird or different to become a trend. This simple play and alignment didn’t make me jump out of my seat the first time I saw it, and you’re probably in the same boat, but when so many different teams are having success with it then it’s undeniable.
I am as guilty as anyone of factoring in aesthetics with offensive basketball, but plays like this are a perfect reminder that play design is about results. And my goodness, are teams having great results with it.
Watching this play have such great results while being so simple does bring a few questions, namely, how is something this straight forward continuing to create easy buckets?
Something I think about often with offense is playing with the pattern recognition of a defense. As offenses have become more and more complex, defenses have had to adjust. There is a common vocabulary of basketball actions, and everyone is used to stringing together the same movements offensively which has made defenses used to guarding them a certain way. Whether it be a shuffle screen the screen action, or a stagger into a twist, or an elbow catch into a split, there are certain things the offense does that will allow the defense to instantly know what to expect.
Perhaps the most ran BLOB in the world is the 31 screen the screener action. 3 players line up on the baseline, with the 4th player around the nail. The player in the middle of the three on the baseline goes and sets a backscreen on the nail player, before receiving a pindown towards the strongside corner. There is a reason so many teams use it, but defenses also have gotten much better at guarding it–because when they see that alignment, and see the backscreen coming, they not only know (at least theoretically) how to guard the backscreen, they are conditioned to get into the screen the screener coverage as well.
Clearly, something about this double rip has completely broken the pattern recognition of defenses, because it’s something that we haven’t seen much of, and there isn’t the same level of institutional knowledge with how to guard a double back screen. Is the primary defender fighting through both? Just the first one? Is it a second screener switch? Clearly, defenses just haven’t had enough reps with this kind of action for there to be a clearly established way of guarding it.
Then, there’s the matter of the player guarding the inbounder. It would be easy to say that this player isn’t doing their job in most of these clips, but when you watch them back you can see that this player is in relatively good position and times their play on the ball pretty well on the pass. When you look back at these clips, you see that what makes this BLOB so effective is that the paint is opened up so wide that the cutter could theoretically get on the backside of the rim or the frontside, and as much as many coaches think the defender on the ball should be able to take away the entire paint, that isn’t at all reasonable. You can also see in a few of these clips how difficult the position is for this defender under the rim who almost looks like a soccer goalie on a penalty kick, moving laterally and trying to pick a side where the pass could go.
After establishing the threat of the shot at the rim, there are a lot of the classic screen the screener and slip out opportunities of many BLOBs, and there is extra space for that shooter to operate with how three players are operating so narrowly in the middle of the court.
Still, as we talk about it, there doesn’t really seem to be a lot of magic to this play…but perhaps that is the magic? This isn’t anything sexy, it isn’t anything too exotic–it’s just a reminder that defenses are not used to guarding a double rip down the heart of the floor like they are used to guarding so many other actions. And clearly there is utility in using movements that just aren’t as common in the game right now.
And that’s why you keep an eye on the trends.
