7 Lessons from the SG Deep Dive
In this SG Deep Dive, we examine how offenses are attacking the Hedge-and-Plug pick-and-Roll coverage that continues to spread throughout European and modern basketball. Here are 7 lessons from the conversation:
- Attack the Transition Between Jobs: The plug defender is most vulnerable when shifting from protecting the roll back to guarding the ball. The offense should attack that change of responsibility before the defender can rebuild their stance and ball pressure.
- Stretch the Relationship Between the Hedge and the Plug: Holding the big, widening the dribble, or rejecting the coverage increases the distance between the two defenders responsible for the action. That can open the short roll, expose the plug defender’s recovery, or force the backside to declare who owns the roll.
- The Screener’s Second Action May Matter More Than the First: The first screen triggers the coverage. The Gortat, seal, rescreen, or uphill return is often the action that creates the actual advantage.
- Use Rescreens to Change the Coverage: A boomerang screen can make it difficult for the big to hedge a second time. What began as Hedge and Plug may become a drop, switch, or late show against a ball handler prepared to attack it.
- Create Forced Rotations, Not Prepared Rotations: The traditional pass-out and second pass may activate the exact rotation the defense has drilled. The better solution creates an advantage inside the two-player action and forces the other three defenders to solve something they were not already expecting.
- Defensive Technique Must Account for the Next Movement: A plug defender can get wide and square enough to remove the short roll, but that same stance may leave them unable to recover to the ball. The technique cannot only solve the first responsibility.
- Coverage Fluency Expands the Defense’s Risk Budget: Once the positioning and rotations are automatic, defenders can jump on pickups, stunt at the next pass, and take calculated risks without breaking the coverage behind them.
📺 Deep Dives Discussed in this Episode include:
- Tuomas Iisalo – Hedge and Plug Defense {🔒}
- “Reject the Hedge and Gortat” – Beating the Hedge and Plug {🔒}
- Hedge and Plug Defense – Handwork and “Jumps on the Pickup” {🔒}
Transcript
Dan 00:00
Welcome to the SG deep dive, where we revisit some of our favorite ideas covered inside SGTV, the Sunday morning newsletter, along with favorite conversations from the podcast. Today, we’re diving deeper into our breakdowns and discussions on how teams are attacking the hedge and plug pick and roll defense, along with the blending of learning and coaching frameworks and finish with some of our favorite teams that we’ve watched this year so far.
Let’s dive in. All right, guys, great to be back for another deep dive episode since our last time together. Lots of fun stuff on the newsletter, interesting podcasts, tons of stuff going on in the world of basketball. Excited to dive back in with a bunch of that stuff today, mostly looking at some things that we highlighted. So Eric Fawcett, as you join us, I will kick it to you to lead us off.
Eric Fawcett 00:50
Yeah, like you said, super exciting time in the basketball world. So we had a month of really good stuff, stuff that had me thinking. And I wanted to talk about a couple of those topics. And I think one of the most interesting pieces we did was about attacking the hedge and plug, and I think when you look at the biggest trends in basketball right now, particularly the biggest trends in Europe that are coming over to America and the rest of the world, I think hedge and plug comes up all the time. It’s something that I don’t know if you guys have the same type of experience, but I think maybe the difference to me between like an emerging trend and a trend is whenever I see it, do I clip it? And there was a time that when I saw hedging and plugging, I clipped it all because I was like, Oh, this is interesting. And now you just see it so often. It’s not quite as notable.
It’s here and seems kind of here to stay. And so much has been kind of discussed about the coverage and why it’s so effective, but there hasn’t been as much work on how do you attack this thing? So I really like what we highlighted. But before we get into that, I do think it’s kind of important to set the stage with why this coverage is effective, why teams use it and how have teams in the past attacked it. So Pat, you’ve probably seen this the most coaching in Europe. Why do you think that teams have had such success with the hedge and plug coverage? And before we get into what we highlighted, how have been some of the traditional ways I’ll say traditional like this coverage has only been really popular for the last year. So traditionally, how have teams looked to attack the coverage?
Pat 02:22
a 360 view of why it’s having so much success right now and having its moment. I think quite simply is it allows you to put aggression on the ball without actually putting two on the ball like a typical hedge coverage whether the guard is you know usually let’s say you think of going over chasing the ball handler while the bigs out there and as we kind of talk about the hedge and plug that on-ball defender is kind of following that short roll to an extent or going under the ball screen you know whether it’s a hedge and plug or just some sort of under to control that short roll while the big is out there two steps showing putting pressure on the ball so it allows you to put pressure on the ball handler without putting two on the ball and then behind it with the plug and the three help defenders I think it keeps you so compact and then from there teams are just building out their rotations and this kind of ties into how teams have traditionally attacked a hedge which like the old saying is you know you beat it with two passes and we still see it now as we get into what we highlighted you know I think 80 90 percent of the time teams are still looking like I mean if they can’t hit that short roll they’re going to try to pass it out to the 45 guy whether he’s in front of the ball behind the ball and then from there it’s looking to attack through that second pass create a long closeout and rightfully so the defense knows this and so I think what it’s allowed you to do is create so much clarity on the defensive end because you know what’s coming you know it’s okay if it goes that 45 it goes corner and we’re building rotations out of that and the teams are just constantly repping it so it still takes a lot of work it takes high energy but you can prepare for it you know you can prepare for the closeout they’re plugging the short roll never really giving that up working on the ex outs and so it allows everything behind the ball to be very compact and to be very prepared and how they’re going to rotate I think the really good teams then add the next layer of being able to protect the corner closeouts you know if it’s a baseline drive building in the rotations that the guy’s trying to break middle shrinking the court with that stunt from the 45 like I think that’s like the next layer of the teams that really get elite with it again it’s aggression on the ball without putting two on the ball being very compact protecting the paint and then just flying around off of the strategy or often the knowledge knowing that the offense is looking to beat you with that second pass and just knowing well that second pass is either going short roll corner skip or strong side corner and we’re going to be prepared to play off of it
Eric Fawcett 04:46
So I think this is also why I look at the hedge and plug and feel like it’s established it’s here to stay because it’s not just one coverage and people have found one solution. You are starting to see teams really develop out of it and like you said, there’s a lot of teams that know which passes might come out of the action and they know exactly how they want to rotate out of it. Now the other adjustment that I see is a lot of teams are able to use the hedge and plug and effectively guard the ball screen two on two and they aren’t helping as much and in a way they’re able to add aggression with the hedge while still trying to keep it a two on two coverage almost like a drop but being kind of on the exact opposite end of the spectrum in terms of aggressiveness. And I think that that’s where what we highlighted with the rejected Gortat is something that is really interesting because it’s not a solution to the hedge and plug that requires a number of passes let’s swing swing let’s attack off that not that there’s anything wrong with that but I thought that the rejection and the Gortat was a way to kind of attack the coverage two on two and put the defense in a situation where they don’t have the protection in place to handle that.
So Dan you of course played a huge role in the newsletter and huge role in the breakdown. Can you give me some of the highlights you thought about the way that this offense worked and some of the skills from that that you thought played a huge role?
Dan 06:07
I want to also point out because at the top, kind of ask Pat about why this defense has been effective and why so many teams are doing it. I think the art of what makes the hedge and plug really good is it’s not always just a straight hedge and plug, but you’re seeing teams use these variations of maybe it’s a two-step show, maybe it’s just a one-step, maybe it’s just a quick stab, and the guard does get over because they didn’t need to go under the area of the floor. Is it higher out towards half court? Is it closer to the three-point line? I think the fun part, let’s just stick on the defense for a second, then I promise I’ll answer your question. The interesting part of the defensive side is really great defensive coaches are figuring out the hedge and plug as a base, and then how do we keep it a two-person dance with the screener and the ball handler? I think that’s a really fun thing to see because the traditional hedge and plug, the guy’s going to fly out, two-step, big hedge, the guy guarding the ball is going to get under, he’s going to be a one-man zone, he’s going to plug it up. For those listening to a visual thing, that’s a very base coverage, but then as defense has gotten smarter, they’ve adjusted the variations of how they’re running the hedge and plug, which then leads to the offense needing more solutions to play out of it to answer your question now.
I think we were talking earlier about, and Pat said, using the two quick passes to beat a hedge historically. Well, if the hedge and plug is setting you up so that they’re in their spots to rotate to those two quick passes, now they’re still whole, they’re keeping it two on two, they’re forcing you to move it out of it, they’re forcing you into two passes to where you’ve repped the rotations and you can handle the ball screen. Now thinking about the reject and the gortat or these re-screens or hooking the screen or these different ways that teams are trying to basically now punish you for hedging and put your guard who’s guarding the ball as they’re getting off the plug. This is what I like about the gortat, these things in the reject, is you’re putting that person in a, quote, micro closeout with the ball handler coming downhill at you ahead of steam or the term mentioned on the video in the deep dive was, Pat, was it like awkward or wrong way closeout where basically their feet are tangled because they’re trying to recover back to the ball from a micro closeout while this guy is now rejecting or coming downhill and take all the strategy. If you can just get a great ball handler attacking in a micro closeout with a defender with their feet kind of not square, advantage offense, especially these really good players at a high level, and then you add in now this gortat screen at the back end that allows you to have space and then last point, punishes you for your backside help.
You got to make a decision. If they’re gortating this thing, are you going to pull in from that bottom defender, leaving two on the backside or can you handle it still two on two, I think is like the fun tweaks and adjustments.
Eric Fawcett 09:00
Yeah, I loved our use of the term micro closeout. And again, it’s something that as our game has evolved, we start to see movements that are new, and you don’t see in other areas. And this short roll plug to closing out, that’s often two or three steps back to the nail two or three steps to back to the ball handler is a very unique kind of footwork that you don’t often see in basketball. And then the other piece of it is these guards that have to go and plug, often they’re getting very square to the ball, because they want to be big, they’re often having to plug a short roll against a much bigger target. So they don’t have their weight loaded on a back foot to come and close out and get often they’re getting extremely square to the ball, they’re looking wide with hands wide, sometimes they are jumping, which I personally don’t think is advantageous. But they’re trying so hard to keep the baller to that short rollers hands that they end up so square. And now they have to make this very difficult short closeout from a situation where again, they don’t have their weight loaded on their back foot. And I just thought that was a piece that made this solution to attacking the coverage very unique.
And the other piece of it that Pat, you pointed out with the initial breakdown that I never really thought about. And then as soon as I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it. And it just was so apparent was the fact that in so many great pick and roll coverages, no matter what they are spanning the spectrum of aggressive to conservative, there’s ball pressure, there is shepherding that guy over the screen, or or warring that guy over the screen over aggressive, you want to put it. And with the hedge and plug, there is that point where they have to disengage. And just to be able to attack that moment of vulnerability, suddenly, every time I see a hedge and plug coverage, I see an opportunity for that. And then also the way that that can relate to with the hooks, I also feel like that was another thing, Dan, you mentioned that was such a common way of trying to beat the hedge and plug as the case with so many hedging coverages trying to put that screen on the opposite side and surprise the defense a little bit and the role that plays. And that’s another thing you see with some of these teams that are so good in the hedge and plug, really steering that screener making it so that they kind of have to set the screen on the side of the ball handler they come from. But I think too, when we’re talking like the micro skills, the micro closeout, that’s very difficult that disengaging with the ball handler, Patrick, how are some other ways you think that that could be incorporated both in attacking the hedge and plug like that brief moments of separation, maybe even if you think you can see that in some other coverages in a way that could be vulnerable.
Pat 11:21
you brought up a really good point and I think as we got into the video breakdown jumped out of this and I think where teams are maybe looking to exploit the coverage is that that guard is not chasing the ball they’re disengaging to plug and so you’re seeing teams with the ball handler just kind of not trying to fight the hedge but just hold the big in his hedge spot put them the defense now to disadvantages then they what we’re terming reject the hedge but just like you go away from the hedge and first and foremost you know i have a lot of clips and saw two where they just go away from the hedge and it just actually makes maybe a better angle to find the short roll because now maybe the short roll is kind of working with the ball and kind of trying to find like a pocket behind the plug as the plug is also now focused on the ball the next step too is if they rim roll and i’ll try to keep this as concise as possible without a video you know like if you reject the hedge and just even dribble out wide not even rejecting the hedge to attack like this micro closeout the coverage is always helping with the two-man side but of course as the single side has to be ready to shift with the ball so based on spacing even if you reject wide it can confuse who should be in the home spot or helping the role versus who’s like oh i might need to get back out especially if you’re rejecting wide to the two-man side it’s actually just kind of putting some teams in some confusion just because yeah there’s freedom and space just to go away from the hedge rather than fight it and so i think the very simple it’s just kind of opening up some passes that maybe weren’t there if you just try to keep pounding your head or break the hedge which the coverage is designed for i’m sure in the future we’ll put it together a breakdown we’re looking at too is trying to split the hedge and that screener kind of just keep screening the plug guy i call it like you stick the plug so you don’t even really roll you can just keep holding your screen let the big jump out reject it and then just try to there’s like a little channel that’s maybe created between the hedge and then your screener continue to screen the plug guy as they try to go under you know you just keep screening him again blurring the lines between what is illegal and illegal screen so that’s i’ve started to notice too which i really think is interesting but again just the big picture takeaway within this gortat that we chose to focus on is just i think teams are understanding like hey well there’s so much of the court where there isn’t ball pressure because that guard’s having to plug and just like turning back and starting to explore that stuff and i think you know i’ll throw it to you dan because i think you’re looking at some interesting screening things and i mean the flip screen has been around forever and that still causes some confusion but i think dan i’ll throw it to you with kind of looking at these boomerang these a re-screen but a very interesting one too as well
Dan 14:02
Yeah, I think something we’re looking at here for an upcoming breakdown and deep dive is now these people just terming boomerang screens where against these teams that are hedging, even if they’re not hedging and plugging, but just against teams that are hedging, say more traditional hedge, where you’re screening, you’re rolling to the nail, and then you’re coming right back up vertically uphill and getting like an uphill screen now on a guard that’s now disengaged, not into the ball, but more or less now the big can’t hedge it a second time. And so you turn the hedge into a drop or switch, or you kind of get it to a different coverage that you turn the hedge into a drop. And if you’ve got a guard that’s good against a drop, or you’ve got a team that likes to operate that way, you just say, hey, we’re just gonna keep it, we’re gonna come right back uphill. And now it’s almost impossible to hedge twice on the other side with these kind of boomerang screens. So I think those things are interesting.
And it’s like another variation of teams trying to attack this hedge and plug. Also just throw in the gortot at the end. You know, you’ve seen the gortot screen a lot in different ways. I think when a big is hedging and recovering, they’re so primed to be gortot screened because they’re vertical. They’re usually not looking to like get low and bang into another guy. They’re honestly like kind of looking for the ball, the ball handle to help. And so that gortot screen, it becomes like less of a forceful, you almost don’t even need to hit all the time. You just need to be in the way as you roll. And the screen can be so effective rather than sometimes you see the gortot screen where the post is already in the dunker spot and it’s like they’re ready to crack in and hit each other where when they’re recovering from a hedge, they’re more vulnerable to be hit on those gortot screens.
Eric Fawcett 15:40
I feel in some of those clips, you almost saw the like American football style, you know, two hands in the air just standing, not looking at the guy, you know, take the player to the official’s hands on that one.
Pat 15:49
one other take away on this note of how are teams looking at attacking it I think probably the big overarching theme I seem to find and what we talked about when like talking about the benefits of the coverage that the coverage is actually solving the pick and roll two on two in certain extent and I think teams are starting to realize we need to generate an advantage in the ball screen not just simply always accept it. Teams still 80-85 percent of the game are trying to play through the two passes just because these types of strategy take a lot of energy but I think they know going into it they need to have solutions whether it’s this boomerang screen a flip screen what we’re looking at rejecting the hedge court taught that they have to find a way in the two on two to build an advantage because it’s just not going to be enough over the course of the game to just think against the teams that can do it well and talent being equal that it’s going to be enough I think is also like another key point we’re starting to see with the offense and that’s for our content purposes some unique solutions being presented and fun to study and one last thing and Eric I wrote it down he said it just you mentioned that you weren’t a big fan of like the jumping on the plug guy I have probably like 70 clips no joke after we did our jump on the pick and roll breakdown whether it was looking at hedges or drops I just thought like I think this also applies more so like the handwork and how important the handwork is in the coverage and being big on this compact but I am terming it jump on the hedge and plug and not only from like the plug guy but the ex guy on that pass out so I haven’t noted down I’m going to make you a believer when that breakdown comes out there are benefits that just being aggressive I mean for sure hands up and then running the risk on the pickups to start jumping
Eric Fawcett 17:30
Well, that one’s really interesting because to defend my position, I suppose when we did the jump on the pickup video, it was almost like at the end of the play, if a guy picks up the dribble, now let’s leave our feet. And it’s kind of at that detail.
Whereas the jump in the plug, you almost need to jump so early so that you take away that immediate kind of pocket, you know, little lollipop over the, you need to jump so early so that you’re also have your feet back on the ground. So if he does turn that corner, you have the ability to not get attacked while you’re in the air. So it’s almost like a very opposite skill set where the moment that that hedge goes out and that ball handler is maybe there’s contact, maybe he’s just getting around the hip of that hedge. I think that’s the great time for the jump. Do the jumping jack be nice and wide, but I think it’s just one of those things when he comes bearing down or if he gets that one dribble around. But hey, I look forward to your videos. I will happily be converted, but you know, Pat, the one thing I was just even thinking about too is when teaching the hedge and plug in situations when the defender’s feet are on the ground, whether that’s after a jump or not, could there be a situation where they flip their footwork just a little bit so that they’ve got one foot a little bit behind the other so that if they need to make an explosive move, an athletic move to make that closeout, they’re in a better spot than just having their feet totally square to the ball handle. So that’s something I’m also kind of thinking about looking at is like, what can you do for this plugging guard who’s in just a very unique position here that is so unlike every coverage? But yeah, I’m into whatever you’ve been looking at when it comes to teaching technique on the plug, because I don’t think that is an area that has been explored too extensively.
Pat 19:04
I will caveat it, it may not be for every coach, just the benefits of telling your players to jump and leave their feet. But I think you see with the teams that, like anything, do this coverage all the time and then it starts to get into, they’re able to just read better within the coverage. And maybe that’s another plus to it, like it’s the rotations, everything becomes so second nature, you know, just habit that then that allows your defense to just get collectively smarter and start reading, having better instincts. And that’s where you see these jumps.
And I mean, I think, too, as I project out and this isn’t a deep dive on the future projects, but I think it also be like a really cool study of just again revisiting the coverage because it’s all within the rotations. And just if you’re primed in the proper position and able to then kind of have some defensive instincts or read the ball, these are where these jumps become advantageous and they’re like calculated risks. It’s not just everyone’s on a pogo stick, just hoping that they get a deflection. And I think the bigger thing is that it speaks to playing with hands up, as I think it is with any defense you see that are elite, it’s also that their handwork is also incredible on top of their position and their, you know, defensive communication.
Dan 20:11
your last point on the jumps and all that. It’s very similar to me to like zone concepts where the really great zones, you hear teachers of great zones say like you want to stunt the most obvious next pass, right? So balls being reversed. You want that top defender to stunt to where it’s obviously going. And I think like you see that a lot in some of these pick and roll coverages where you’re jumping or stunting at what the most obvious next pass is.
You see that like on the closeouts where you’re doing the closeout and they’re stunting into the next pass to the corner rather than to the ball. So you’re just creating that little bit of confusion. The off season looks quiet from the outside, but coaches know better. It’s film, portal lists, and recruiting boards all running at the same time. Huddle keeps it from becoming a logistical nightmare. Sports code, fast recruit, and huddle instat all in one place. One workflow instead of three browser tabs and a spreadsheet. Learn more at huddle.com slash slapping glass today. One reason we’re excited to partner with the NEBC is the work that they continue to do advocating for coaches. The NEBC serves as a national voice for coaches across all levels, making sure they have a seat at the table as major decisions shape the future of college basketball. They’re also supporting coaches through first chair, a new virtual seminar for NEBC members entering their first season as a college head coach, built to help them navigate the unique challenges of leading the program. We’re proud to support the NEBC’s work, helping coaches grow, lead, and have their voices heard. Learn more at NEBC.com.
Eric Fawcett 21:48
So moving on to some of the podcast content from the past month, something that I really enjoyed listening to was the episode with Dave Collins, talking about shared mental models, I believe, and blending coaching methods was something that I thought was really interesting. And Dan, there was something that was discussed that I just immediately thought about you and I thought about, I wonder how Dan is thinking about this because I feel like so much of the time that coaching is talked about, is it science or is it art?
And I’ve always kind of had an aversion to that kind of classification because it kind of makes it seem like science is like has to be entirely devoid of art and art has to be completely devoid of the other. And obviously you have a background as a musician where I personally feel like science and art, technique and art are very intertwined. And something that he said that I just absolutely loved was he referred to coaching as informed art, which is a term that I will probably be stealing. So I am curious what your thoughts were around the concept of informed art and what some of your takeaways were from the conversation.
Dan 22:47
Yeah, well, to your point, not to be too nerdy, but all notes in a musical scale are spaced the correct way mathematically. So that’s why there is a lot of crossover between the two. And I actually really did enjoy that as well.
And basically the whole conversation being, listen, here’s what some of the quote unquote science says about how people learn theory. And then here’s the art of the practice. Here’s where true coaching comes in and you want your art, quote unquote, to be informed. You want to know the science behind it. You want to know what works and potentially what doesn’t work. But then when you get out there as a coach and you’re putting a practice or whatever it is together, you also have got to use your feel, your eyes, your gut, all that kind of stuff because what you think looks good on paper or sounds good, or even sounds good in a podcast where you’re talking with your staff before practice versus when you actually get out there, there are different things. And I thought that Dave was really insightful. We got a lot of coaches reaching out afterwards that really found a lot from that podcast. And because I think it spoke to something that’s on a lot of coaches’ minds, which is we’re in a world right now where there is a lot of informing about the science part of it. Or there is a lot of quote evidence-based stuff where it’s like, there’s evidence coming at you and there’s this, there’s this study, there’s this science. But there’s also the human element and the art of it. And I think that Dave did a great job of talking about how you’re blending those two things so that you don’t want to just dismiss the science. You don’t dismiss what some of the best teaching things or learning takeaways are. And so I just thought from an overall standpoint, I took a lot personally from it. I think it made a lot of sense. I think he spoke directly to a lot of coaches in a way that obviously they enjoyed because we did have a lot of feedback in a positive way from that show.
Pat 24:27
I like building off a Dan’s point to, you know, when he talked about know your audience, I think at different levels, if they go use amateurs, pros, that’s going to dictate a lot, but even within like your team and kind of everyone’s at different points in their career, different points in their skill level, and how that also like this is in for relevant information that we as coaches need to take and decipher in terms of how we need to teach them and the techniques we need to help them learn. And the same thing we talked about know the context, the context of what we’re trying to do.
All these things are information that we’re taking in to inform the environment we need to create. And if it is a shell drill, if it is a block training, if it is or more dynamic, you know, putting out some sort of competitive constraint led drill, I just thought that was just a really good clear, concise point that kind of helped clarify things for me, I guess, in terms of how I think about these things and how I try to prepare practice or talk with my players and what we want to do with our players. And that was, I think, the biggest takeaway for me, like he gave just kind of a clear kind of guiding principle that just to help us center on like where all this information should sit and where all these strategies should be taken into account and maybe have more benefit, less benefit here, based off of what your audience, your players are in the context in which you’re trying to teach.
Dan 25:45
Just for those that maybe haven’t heard the episode yet, I mean, I think it’s probably worth just noting, you talked about blending the three big frameworks when you talk about learning and the science behind it. And so he talked about cognitive science, which sort of like, you know, what’s going on internally, cognitively, you talk about eco design or the CLA approach, constraint led approach.
And then I guess it would be kind of a newer one, but predictive processing. So basically how we’re like prediction machines in a sense and trying to predict what’s going to happen next and basically blending those three things together.
Eric Fawcett 26:17
Yeah, and I think that something he did was practical conversation about how to incorporate these types of things. And I think that on these bigger topics, sometimes I can feel overwhelming by thought he had some really good, actionable ways to incorporate these things.
And then I will also just add the other thing that I loved is that he talked about how you can learn from bad days, but how you can also learn from good days, because I do often feel like in the coaching world, in the basketball world, it’s all about you’ve got to fail, and you got to fail some more, and you’ve got to learn from that failure, and then you should probably fail a little bit more. And when you’ve got mud kicked in your face, like that’s when you learn. And I kind of enjoyed him being like, Oh, no, you can actually also learn from the good days. And I just thought that was something that was a little bit refreshing from a lot of what we often hear. So I’m curious if you guys had any reaction to that, it may be even what you think about making sure your players can learn from those good days, and not just taking the bad losses that time in the locker room after a really difficult, difficult challenge to be like, okay, well, like this is the time you need to learn versus the time where it’s joyful to do so.
Pat 27:19
My first thought is this is where like having that constraint led approach is actually really beneficial because it helps you push the scales. I think the biggest thing we worry about is with winning, like does the team get complacent? Then that’s where like these, you know, if you just said, okay, we’re going to show a good win here, we’re going to start doing some shells, some five on no offense, then maybe of course the complacent is going to come in.
But if you have like the technique about this, yeah, putting constraint on something, being able to move it now. Okay. Like, Hey, let’s push our guys. We need to keep growing, keep that competitive mindset. So the first thing that came to mind is hearing that like, how can we learn from our success? I think this type of technique, this constraints allows us to keep moving the dial, keep moving the goalposts in a way that yes, we’re having success and like, let’s keep challenging. Let’s keep pushing our guys there and avoid maybe the complacency that we get worried about as coaches when there is success.
And I think too, of course, through failure, like motivation is obviously easier the next day with the team or you know, everyone, the next practice is always usually the good one when there has been some failure and everyone’s a little pissed.
Dan 28:22
I guess I’ll just add, I think what Dave was talking about and what is true is that you can learn just as much from like you said, Eric, good day is a bad day. I think it’s just worth noting as a coach, why? Like why was that practice good? You have that sort of reflective practice and noting, oh, that was a good practice. And why did that happen? Was it the setup of a drill? Was it, you know, we’re coming off of a win, whatever it is, and just seeing how potentially you can build upon that or find that again when needed. And I think to his point, it’s worth not just glossing over the good days. You should note those too, because it’s kind of why we do it, right?
We’d like to have some good days in between. Guys, maybe a fun quick lightning round to end the show here. What are you watching or thinking about segment here? And just quickly hearing from three of us on who’s loaded up on the video player. I’ll kick it to you, Pat, on who you’re watching.
Pat 29:14
I’m watching a lot of Valencia and a lot of Paris only from what we talked about today. Those are the teams that really do a lot of the hedge and plug. I like the style they’re playing, that kind of total basketball we’ve also talked about. And watching them from their perspective of now that they’re in like playoff series, how teams are trying to attack the coverage. So exactly to the conversation we had.
A series I really did enjoy watching was Valencia versus Bilbao in the playoffs. Valencia swept them, but it was two really good games. And I really liked Bilbao. We’ve highlighted them this season on some of the unique stuff they’re doing with their offense. But I liked that series from the sense that Bilbao did a lot of icing and weakening. And again, just seeing how Valencia was trying to attack that and then vice versa, Bilbao trying to attack Valencia. So the chess match that was going on there. Eric, what about you?
Eric Fawcett 30:00
I think something that’s been really interesting for me is watching the Spanish ACB playoffs. And I just wanted to give one quick story for people who don’t know about Real Madrid went to the EuroLeague championship game. And on one hand, that was also just very interesting because they pretty much had all of their centers get injured. So they were playing extremely small and to see them go through the EuroLeague playoffs, figuring out different ways to scramble out of switches to push post catches further out, I thought was really, really interesting.
But then I also will just tie this back to the Spanish playoffs. So Real Madrid goes to the championship game and within a couple of possessions of winning a EuroLeague championship. And then they go back to ACB playoffs and they lost to the eighth seed in the first round in Tenerife. And it just showed the complete brutality of European basketball and how challenging that is. And Tenerife didn’t lose in the next round, but I just think their actions for shooters and using shooters as screeners and getting them open again is just really, really fun to watch. And I think when a lot of people think, quote unquote, European basketball, they think about these kinds of complex actions that are layered and have these small guards doing a lot of stuff and setting back screens and then getting an action for themselves. I think a lot of people’s positive aesthetic thoughts about European basketball are really kind of captured with Tenerife. So I thought that was a fun kind of series and tying it back to this EuroLeague championship to then losing to the eighth seed in the first round. That just shows where, just how competitive European basketball is.
Dan 31:23
Tenerife had Patty Mills this year to run all that interesting stuff for, which was fun to watch. I guess I’ll just close with, it’s no surprise we love watching Valencia here.
So the other series that was interesting, I think it was the yearly quarterfinals series between them and Panathenakos and just getting down O2 and then coming back just was an incredible series. And then for Valencia to get into a yearly final four because of it, I thought was an incredible watch. So I would say that series was one. And then just because we’ve talked about it internally here, anybody who has access to it has got to go back and watch the Zaragoza. And I was looking at, it’s the Breogan, the pronounce it. Bregan. Yeah. Breogan finish in the ACB the last game of the year where Zaragoza was facing relegation if they lost. And they were down, I forget, six, seven, eight in the last minute and just an incredible series of events. And for anybody who, well, for anybody who’s ever been afraid to foul up three, maybe don’t watch it. All the analytics, everything that could have gone wrong with it does, but it’s an incredible finish. Zaragoza ends up winning and staying in the ACB and it was just quite a watch. So I would say that just from a, depends on what side you’re on, entertainment standpoint, but just as a basketball fan, seeing that game and seeing how it ended and what it meant to those clubs, that was definitely an interesting watch.
Pat 32:42
I’ll quickly add, just so we don’t have an all Spanish sweep of what we’re watching. I was watching Turkish semi-final with Bahceshir and Besiktas, and probably gonna butcher all those names.
But coach Marco Barac who we had on the podcast coaches in Bahceshir and Besiktas has a really good coach and that was a fun series that went five and every game being really close. That was another one I was watching there as well and I think worth a look for anyone interested in watching some European matches.
Dan 33:11
Well, guys, this was great. Thank you everybody for listening to this last edition of SG Deep Dive. We’ll see you next week.