Recently, we hosted the first session of our Summer SG+ Coaches Roundtable, an open space for coaches from around the world to connect and share what has been on their minds this offseason. These Roundtables have often been quoted by members as one of their favorite aspects of SG+. From concepts and drills, to intriguing systems and teams to study, this month’s conversation covered a wide range of ideas from coaches from the pro to high school levels.
What always stands out in these sessions is how similar the coaching journey is. No matter the level, league, or location, so many of us are working through similar questions, challenges, and areas of focus. That shared experience is something we truly value, and are grateful for the opportunity to learn from one another as we all prepare for the season ahead.
Across this month’s thoughtful and wide-ranging discussion, three main themes kept coming up that helped drive a rich and reflective conversation. In today’s newsletter, we’ll highlight those ideas and offer a few thoughts to keep the discussion going.
#1 – Randomizing Screening Actions
A common theme among coaches this offseason has been the pursuit of two goals: playing positionless and playing faster.
Both aims have led coaches to explore the use of more randomized screening actions, giving players the freedom to reshape the offense by inserting themselves into screening situations, regardless of size, role, or position. This often means empowering guards to become screeners through ghost actions, double drags, or flashes to the elbow to initiate the split game. The goal is to blur traditional roles and create a more dynamic and less predictable offense by finding new ways to play, especially early in a possession.
This randomness gives the offense a way to inject more skill into screening actions. Instead of routinely playing with a rim rolling big in the ballscreen or running splits through a limited presence at the elbow, perimeter players can step into those roles and apply their skill sets in new ways. By blending skill with structure, teams can create more fluid and difficult to guard offensive actions.
“I have too much skill in the action!” – no coach ever.
In our opinion, one the best case study for this style of play this offseason is Cal Poly SLO {🔒}. In a recent “Film Room” session with SLO Coach Kyle Bossier, we highlighted how their positionless approach allows them to generate randomized screening actions, most often in the form of middle third Ghost or “Hot Stove” {🔒} screens.
Zooming In: One key consideration when shifting to a fully positionless offense is dedicating time toteaching screening angles. As Coach Bossier notes in the Film Room Session, the SLO coaching staff were often surprised by how little players understood how to set a great angled screen from a technical standpoint when operating outside of their usual roles. Without defined or “skill-specific” positions, every player must be capable of applying “action-specific” technique. Whether it is setting a screen, slipping, or spacing off the ball, each player needs a foundational offensive skill set to function within the system.
Not ready to fully commit to being completely positionless? Consider slowly introducing randomized screening actions. In last week’s podcast with new Radford Head Coach Zach Chu {🎧}, we discussed one simple way to do this: after made baskets, have perimeter players inbound the ball while the big sprints the floor on a hard rim run. This adjustment helps your team flow more quickly into four out spacing and, in turn, creates natural opportunities to play out of drag screens or double drag ballscreens (77), now with more perimeter skill and shooting involved in the action.
By shifting inbounding responsibilities, teams can eliminate the predictability of always having the four or five trailing and involved in the double drag—where the five rolls and the four pops (still hard to guard too btw!). Instead, this adjustment increases pace and adds a layer of unpredictability to the 77 alignment, making it more difficult to guard and allowing for greater variety based on the skill sets of the players involved in the action.
Another consideration? Remove non-perimeter based players—sorry, bigs—from the split game by encouraging guards to flash to the elbow for a catch and trigger the split cuts. When the player at the elbow is a threat to drive, pass, or shoot, the action becomes much harder to defend. Plus, the defender on the ball has likely had very few reps, if any, guarding the split game from that spot on the floor {🔒}.
While every roster has its limitations, one of the central themes from last week’s Roundtable was the value of removing more positional constraints within offensive actions. By infusing these actions with as much skill as possible, coaches are finding new ways to stretch defenses and create advantages, no matter who is on the floor.
#2 – “Split-Decisions”
Speaking of split cuts, another lively part of the Roundtable came when the conversation turned to “Split Action”, a long-standing way to add randomness to an offense.
But…not all splits are created equal. A shared observation among several coaches was that while high splits remain effective, low splits are being defended with much more consistency.
To be fair, Low Splits (splits happening below the wing with a player in the corner) are still a highly effective action run within many top offenses, but one of the main drawbacks can be the slower pace at which the action develops. With more ground to cover to enter the screening area, the low split naturally takes a little longer to develop. That delay can give the defense time to drop into shell coverage and pin the ball to a side, making it harder to generate clean advantages.
The geometry of the action does not always help either. The North to South nature of low splits makes it easier for defenses to zone up and identify clear responsibilities. Often, one defender stays high and another low, absorbing whichever cut goes toward the rim and whichever pops to the perimeter. In contrast, the more “East to West” nature of high splits can create more confusion, and it’s often in the middle of the floor. The roles of high and low defenders can blur, making it more difficult to communicate and switch cleanly.
Lastly, a third strike against the low splits is that they often result in empty-side ballscreens, which leaves the offense susceptible to the ICE coverage…
Zooming In: While this isn’t a split game or empty-side PNR, the “Switch to ICE” {🔒} concept applies here. When coordinating a low split, it becomes easier for defenders to switch, especially as the action moves lower on the court. The defender switching out can stay on the high side of the player cutting into the ball, putting them in an ideal position to ICE or down on the catch.
#3 – Studying the NBA Finals
Much admiration was expressed for both the NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the runner-up Indiana Pacers for their success at the highest level of the sport. Both teams played styles that resonate deeply with the values most coaches hold—unselfishness, attention to detail, and precise execution. Here are some key takeaways coaches shared from watching these performances:
Indiana Pacers
Tying it back to our earlier discussion about increasing randomness and variation in offense, Indiana was held up as a perfect example of unscripted plays being generated through the willingness of the guards to throw the ball ahead in transition. By simply using the advance pass up the floor, Indiana routinely put themselves in situations where they could attack a broken floor.
Zooming In: At last summer’s Slappin’ Glass Socal Coaches Summit (more on this year’s Summit announced soon!), Coach Tom Bialaszewski {🔒} discussed the benefits his team derived in Italy playing through the throw ahead pass and the habits they drilled to attack a broken floor.
The Pacers’ use of the throw-ahead pass consistently created mismatches, unbalanced alignments, and general confusion—all of which opened opportunities to pressure the rim, trigger cutting and relocation actions. While the NBA Finals are often known for a slower, more methodical pace, Indiana stuck to the tempo and style that defined their regular season success. That commitment made them a universally respected runner-up and a model for playing fast with purpose.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Anyone who watched the NBA Playoffs knows that Oklahoma City’s ability to turn their opponents over was nothing short of astonishing. One of their methods of creating steals that a lot of coaches picked up on was the back side steal on outside slot drives.
Zooming In: In the middle third of the floor, if a player drove the opposite slot, the Thunder would send the top player on the weak side to sprint in from the ballhandler’s blind spot to make a play on the ball, often resulting in steals before the ballhandler even knew he was under duress.
Additional Resources: For a further look into these backside steals, or the “Steal the Spin” {🔒} concept, view our breakdown video on the coverage or UCLA Associate Head Coach, Darren Savino’s{🔒}, Socal Coaches Summit clinic on their application of this philosophy.
Steals created by Oklahoma City were loud plays that changed the momentum of the game and often turned into layups on the other end, but it wasn’t just their aggressive steals that made their defense so stifling.
Appropriate Helps
Understanding when and how much to help is something that the Thunder seemed to grasp better than anyone in the NBA last season and it made every one of their defensive possessions a tremendous study. On some possessions, or at some points in possessions, you could notice how heavily OKC would be loading to the ball. While on the very next possession, they remained dedicated to sticking to shooters and offering very limit gap presence. This ability to diagnose when to be aggressive and when to trust their shell was a huge part of Oklahoma City’s success, and a lot of coaches are looking at this through the lens of how it could help at their level.
The play of the low rim help was a particularly interesting point of discussion. The defensive decision-making required from that position, processing the angle of the drive, factoring in the player-specific scout, and weighing the desired shot outcome, was remarkable.
Even though we all train our shell rotations—with the low help rotating over and the second helper splitting two on the weak side or cracking down on the dunker—a blind application of this coverage can lead to unnecessary over-helping. Without enough emphasis on reading driving angles and developing situational awareness, these rotations can become automatic rather than intentional, often doing more harm than good.
One key takeaway from watching Oklahoma City was the importance of drilling defensive decision-making. Helping players distinguish between a threatening “line drive” and a non-threatening “wide drive,” or recognizing that a left-hand drive may require less help than a right-hand one, can lead to smarter, more efficient rotations that protect both the rim and the second side.
Oklahoma City’s ability to apply the appropriate level of help on drives played a key role in avoiding breakdowns on the second-side X-out. By not over-helping, they stayed out of long closeout situations, which meant fewer rotations and less scrambling. One solid closeout was often enough to level the ball and neutralize the drive, keeping them out of the blender and maintaining their defensive structure.
Certainly some of the Thunder’s success came from having the athleticism, length, and IQ we wish we could have at all levels, but much of what they did defensively are things that we could all learn from and implement with our respective teams. You can bet a lot of us will be going back for further study on their title-winning defense.
A big thank you to all the coaches who took part in the first Summer SG+ Coaches Roundtable. These conversations sharpen how we see the game, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to keep learning and growing together.
The full video replay of the session is now available on SGTV for those who want to revisit the discussion or catch up on what they missed.
