As more coaches look to play in flow and keep their offenses as unpredictable as possible, the role of the bigs becomes a central consideration. Their skill sets directly shape how they can be spaced in transition, and that spacing determines which triggers the offense can access—allowing the possession to keep moving without pauses.
In the push to play faster, many offenses have empowered perimeter players to run more randomly and fill spots regardless of position. Now, there’s a growing emphasis on how to randomize and empower bigs in transition as well—further raising the unpredictability of the attack.
Previously, we studied Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Kattash’s transition offense with two bigs{🔒}, and how their different spacing options naturally flowed into actions. More recently, we had a tremendous conversation with Chattanooga Head Coach Dan Earl {🎧} on how he randomizes his offense by empowering the 5-man to sprint to any of their spacing spots and flow directly into action. If you really want to go down a rabbit-hole on SGTV and 5-man flow concepts, we also did a full Film Room Session with St. Louis Head Coach, Josh Shertz {🔒}, as well.
Of course, when we say “random,” it doesn’t mean chaos. Players are self-aware and tend to run toward their strengths in transition. Over time, common spacing alignments emerge, shaped by the abilities of the bigs themselves. That self-awareness and intentionality brings us to today’s focus: Finland’s use of the short corner in transition to attack broken courts with cuts and create “uphill” pitch opportunities.
Broken Court Cutting
In our podcast conversation with Finland Head Coach Lassi Tuovi {🎧}, he highlighted Finland’s advantage of having skilled bigs who can handle the ball—allowing all five players to run in transition and create early, unique give-and-gos or baseline pressure through quick post touches. Leveraging the mobility of their bigs, if no immediate finish at the rim is available, the rim runner doesn’t fight for deep block position but instead funnels out to the strongside short corner.
By prioritizing the post as a trigger man rather than a back-to-the-basket scoring threat, the short corner catch becomes both a cleaner entry pass and a spacing tool. The catch area clears the rim, opening space for multiple cuts in transition…
Zooming In: When the ball enters the post early, the defense is often still scrambling to find its shape—and more than likely hasn’t maintained perfect floor balance as it runs back in transition. Additionally, the early baseline pressure from the short-corner catch places the ball behind the defense, challenging their ability to maintain ball-man vision. Together, these dynamics create a fertile environment for cutting from multiple spots on the floor. As shown in both gifs above, this can be a “go” cut from the entry passer or a middle dive from the trailer.
Ultimately, like many arrival attacks, it’s all about using pace to find cracks and exploit them, whoever finds themselves unchecked in transition or staring at the back of their defender’s head can become a cutter.
Maintaining Flow
The low-hanging fruit of this attack is the immediate cut from the passer. To maintain spacing and flow, that cutter continues through to the opposite corner, opening the lane for a secondary cut from the strong side—especially if a defender fails to put their body between man and rim.
Action toward the rim is ideal, but these same principles also create clean opportunities for players on the weakside. So far, everything has occurred on the strongside—a strongside short corner catch with strongside cuts. To balance the floor and sustain flow, the weakside must stay active.
The most important weakside action is the corner lift, which removes the low man who might otherwise provide late help on cuts. Lifting the corner also clears space for the cutter to exit the paint quickly, opening second cut opportunities for teammates.
Once lifted, the weakside naturally works itself toward the ball. Depending on the strengths of those players coming out of the weakside, cutters can seamlessly turn into screeners to free a shooter, or playmakers can chase into an uphill pitch with the big stepping out of the short corner.
This is a transition attack where different player archetypes can be used and leveraged, with the system giving room for cutters, shooters, and playmakers alike to impose their strengths while still maintaining the flow of the offense.
Ultimately, empowering bigs in transition not only raises the unpredictability of an offense but also ensures that every player on the floor has the freedom to impact the possession. When bigs can read the defense, fill spacing intelligently, and trigger actions from multiple spots, the offense becomes both harder to defend and more capable of creating high-quality scoring opportunities for all five players. For continued learning on Finland’s short corner transition concepts, SG+ Members can view the full video breakdown on SGTV!
