This week’s podcast with 2026 G- League Coach of the Year, Vitor Galvani, covered several areas we’ve been studying closely ourselves—from the details behind Hedge & Plug and the rotations supporting it, to guard-to-guard screening, second-side offense, and the relationship between shot selection and pace.
What stood out was how often the conversation moved past the coverage or action itself and into the decisions underneath it: where the screen is set, who is involved, what the offense is trying to take away, and when a team should adjust without abandoning its core principles.
7 High-Level Lessons:
- The pickup point should change the plug. When the screen is higher, the on-ball defender can get underneath and bump the roller. Closer to the three-point line, the defender chases over and plugs down with the roll.
- Give the hedge clear exit triggers. Galvani’s big released when the ballhandler changed direction or picked up the dribble. Those triggers kept the hedge aggressive without leaving the big stranded outside the play.
- Design the Protection Plan to avoid unnecessary rotations. Rather than automatically X-out behind Hedge & Plug, Galvani used the Fence (player at the Nail) to jump on the pickup while the MIG recovered home, trying to discourage the direct corner skip before creating another closeout advantage.
- Gap positioning can be aggressive rather than passive. “See Numbers Go” gave backside defenders permission to attack exposed dribbles and spins. The gap wasn’t simply there to contain the drive—it became a place to generate turnovers. This is similar to our conversation with UT Martin HC, Jeremy Shulman.
- Build changeups inside the base coverage. Black was the call for Hedge & Plug, White was Drop, and Gray was a short show with the guard chasing over. The advantage was being able to change the problem without abandoning the defensive system.
- Separation comes before guard-to-guard screening technique. A defense that steers or jams the screener can kill the action before the screen matters. Galvani’s answers were to randomize the screen inside the offense, layer action on top of action, or create separation before sprinting into it.
- Shot quality organizes more than the offensive possession. Galvani adjusted pace because better offensive involvement supported the effort required by his defensive system. More predictable, higher-quality shots also made Tagging Up and offensive rebounding easier to organize.
Transcript
Dan 02:25
Coach, we wanted to start with something that is a really interesting topic for us, and I know throughout the world it’s gained in popularity, say, the last few years, and that’s the hedge and plug defense.
And then for you, someone who’s run it, all the tweaks, the variations, the learning from running that at a high level, at the G League level, and your learnings from that.
Vitor Galvani 02:46
Going into the G League, I had done that previously in Brazil. It’s a defense that a lot of teams were not used to it because initially when you think about hedge defense and how to beat it, you’re trying to solve it with the hitting the roller, and with the plug like that, a lot of times that read is not there. So it’s something that gave us a lot of success when I was in Pie-ros in Brazil, coaching First Division team there.
Then when I came to the G League, it was a big question mark ’cause a lot of teams are not doing aggressive coverages in the G. And my thought process behind implementing that was really what is the G League, and the G League, for me, is a scoring guards league. So I really wanted to take those scoring guards, make them do something else they don’t see every day. And with the amount of practice that you don’t really get in the G League, I think it’s really hard. You’re going to be playing a lot of different teams, and all of a sudden you play a team that plays hedge, and how can we attack that? So my thought process behind that was really trying to stop those scoring guards because I do say, like, the G League talent level is one of the best leagues in the world. The idea was really to stop those guards from scoring.
Dan 03:57
To start, one thing with the hedge and plug, for those listening, obviously you’re hedging the ball screen, and you’re plugging with the person guarding the ball for a half second to a second. What were some of the learnings with the communication between the big hedging and the guard plugging early on, so their communication was good on where the ball screen was being hedged, where they’re plugging to, you know, those kinds of things?
Vitor Galvani 04:17
Yeah. So our main principles with that, I’ll go with the on-ball defender first. So it really depends on how high he’s guarding up the floor. Ideally, we would like to have a lot of pressure on the ball handler so that he would be playing further away from the three-point line.
And then with that, if he was indeed playing further away from the three-point line, he would almost kinda, like, go under the screen and then really bump the roller. So that’s why a lot of times it took the roller away. If he was playing right at the three-point line, then he would go over the top of the screen and then back his way down. I would call it, for them to have a reference, because also the practice where we practice in Mexico City, they have a FIBA three-point line, so the ball handler defender would go all the way down with the big until the FIBA three-point line. So that’s maybe a step in the G League three-point line, and then he would come back. The screener’s defender, his role was really anticipate that, so I want him to arrive at the point of the screen already showing the ball handler that he was there. Because if you arrived late and you start, you try to hedge at the last moment, two things happen. One, there’s a lot of splits, and like I said previously, guards in the G League, they’re very skilled, so we were trying to prevent splits. So I wanted him to arrive hugging, trying to put this into image, like hugging the outside hip of the screener’s defender, and at the last point he would let him go. So it was like Tabellini said, temporary switch. And my main idea, and this is something that Thiago Splitter taught us when we were first implementing it in a call that we had with him over Zoom back when I was still in Brazil, is that- Ideally, the big man, the screener’s defender, would not let the ball handler go around the big. So I’m sure you guys have seen like Virginia in the past, a lot of times they would hedge and the ball handler would go around the big. Ideally, we would just keep him on the same side he was coming to, and then the question is for how long is he hedging? And for us, it was two triggers. Either the ball handler’s defender would change directions, so change hands. Let’s say he’s coming off a, to his left side on a ball screen, and then he, if he would change hands and go to his right side, that would be the trigger for him to get back to his man. Or if he would pick his dribble, then the ball handler’s defender would jump on that pickup, and the big would immediately sprint back to the screener’s defender.
Pat 06:57
Really clear. I like kinda differentiating between how far above the three-point line versus on the three-point that they are and the role that the plug plays.
With this coverage, and you mentioned it especially in the G League being so guard-orientated, and I mean, I think a lot of teams really try to play through their guards. When offenses started to flip the screen, re-screen, how did you start to work with your big and navigating those? And then what role did, maybe how did that alter the plug if there was a flip versus a re-screen? I guess once you started to face those counters, how was your defense reacting?
Vitor Galvani 07:32
A lot of teams couldn’t exactly prep for that in a way that I faced it in, for example, in Brazil when you have more time to prep for a game. So in Brazil, we really suffered playing against a team that did the re-screen. I think, like, that’s one of the best ways to beat the coverage, and also flipping the screen. With the flip, I think it’s a little bit easier if you have a big that is really willing to be attached and is really mobile in a way that he can flip with the screener’s defender. Now, there is the, like the Verjeau flip where he immediately gets there and then he flips it, but there’s also a way to do it that really messes up the coverage, which is where you, like, you almost set the screen and then at the last moment you flip it.
So it’s almost in between like a flip and a re-screen. That’s something that I didn’t see in the G League, but I did see one team, the South Bay Lakers, they did the re-screen and that really brought us some trouble. But one thing that I would say, and sorry for the language here, if shit happens, just switch. That was our secondary coverage. So if shit happens, you’re late. Ideally, I would have a mobile big that could hedge and then get back to his and then hedge again. I’ve seen Valencia doing it in a way that, like, the big doesn’t even go to the bottom side of the… Bottom being the side closest to the rim. But he doesn’t even go to the bottom side. He stays on the high side, and then on- once the re-screen happened, he does the hedge again. So that was super interesting. We couldn’t exactly get to that point, and again, it’s not something that I faced a lot this past season, but ideally would be doing two hedges or how many ever hedges you can do. But if you’re late, if shit happens, switch, and that’s how we lean to.
Pat 09:21
The other thing with this coverage that we really like is the clarity it can provide within the three defenders in terms of always tagging with the low man on the two side coordinating the X outs. And maybe before we get too detailed, but again, kinda your learnings with coordinating the tag, the X outs, and kinda how the ball if, as teams start to, okay, realize they can’t attack through the guard, that they need to start playing through usually the two pass principle to beat the aggressive coverage.
Again, starting broadly, just what you’ve kinda learned in teaching the rotations behind the coverage.
Vitor Galvani 09:55
So we would call the three mans behind the ball the protection plan. So we had the low man or MIG-
Pat 10:01
MIG
Vitor Galvani 10:01
… supporting guide, the last man on the two side. And then we had the, we call it fence, which was the safety. I don’t know if you guys have another term for it, but that top guy on the two side, we call it fence. But the idea behind the term of calling it fence is I wanted him to be on a direct line in between the ball handlers and the corner men. We tried this year, and it worked pretty well. We even got some steals out of it to not X out that much. Our idea behind it was to really have that fence man, again, the top guy on the two side, to own the pickup jump also, and we got a lot of steals out of it. It was something that, like, we would shell a lot. So whenever the ball handler would pick up, I had the on ball defender jumping, and I had the fence man also jumping in case he was trying to hit that corner man direct pass. So the MIG, the low man, he would then come back to his because if the ball handler was to make that pass directly to the corner, it would be like a lob pass, so it wouldn’t be a fast pass. Now, were there times that led to open shots in the corner? Yes.
But I have worked with aggressive coverages in the past where we were trying to X out. Every time we X-ed out, it seemed like there was a goal catch about to happen or attacking the close out, a catch and drive, something that was to happen, and I thought it was because of the X out in rotation. Immediately you sprint it to the ball, that’s advantage. So my idea was to, to not X out, was to take that away. Sometimes it works, sometimes it not. It’s still something that it’s a question mark in my head on the best way to do this, the X out or not. And also when the ball hit the roller. I think, like, when the ball hit the roller is one of the biggest questions mark regarding the hedge and plug. There are a lot of ways you could do about it. I’ve seen Tenerife, for example, in their aggressive coverage to come down with that MIG and really be aggressive, and then he was the one immediately picking up, like, the top guy on the two side after he stopped the roller. I’ve seen Tavellini going with what I call the fence, dropping him back. And then the on-ball defender picking up that top guy. So I think, like, that’s one of the biggest question marks in basketball is how do we rotate after the ball hits the roller? But with the plug, that didn’t happen a lot because the on-ball defender was plugging, so that prevented us from getting to rotation a lot.
Pat 12:36
Working in that same vein of taking away passes and the shrinks, if the pass went to the fence man’s matchup, so they hit kind of that release pass, were you having that fence player then try to shade the swing pass to the corner, or still sit square on the ball and protect the roller because the mig is now going out to the corner and the big is recovering? You know, we’ve seen it both ways, you know, trying to take away the extra versus taking away the roller, I guess. What would the fence guy’s responsibility…
Vitor Galvani 13:06
So because he was in fence positioning, it was not possible for him to do that and then prevent the extra pass, the swing-swing pass to the corner. Our whole idea for defense, and I know we might get into the gap and all that stuff, was really to protect the paint. Our idea was that that swing-swing pass was a swing to the top man and then a swing to the corner, and not a swing to the big rolling. He even had high hands trying to protect the roller, you know, by the screener’s defender, a half a second so that he could then recover to his own man. So we were really trying to prevent that pass to go inside the paint.
Again, not a lot of teams. You would think a lot of teams would do that more. I remember Tomas’ teams, uh, with Paris, they were really amazing at this swing-swing and then attack it from there. But it really didn’t happen that much where it was a really a problem for us. And if that were to happen, I would tell our guys, “Hey, our biggest thing this past season was we can close out.” So I would just tell them, “Hey, in a closeout, really, if it’s a shooter, of course, make him put the ball on the floor and then force him to his weak hand,” and that’s what we did. So long story short, just really trying to protect that paint.
Pat 14:18
Coach, you mentioned the gaps. With the hedge and plug, if you’re able to keep it sort of a two-on-two game, there are times where you could get more spread out, maybe to deny extra passes out, versus being more compact and protecting the paint.
And I think you’ve dealt with that decision, and I think recently you talked about being more of a gap-oriented team. And can you talk a little bit more about that decision and why?
Vitor Galvani 14:38
Yeah. So for us, I wouldn’t say, like, we were just one end of the spectrum. For us, our idea was what is the offense trying to do? So and let’s take that away. So we had a call for when we try to deny, that was dead. We would like, “Dead, dead, dead,” and then that could be on the inbounds where we’re trying to dead in, which mean we’re trying to deny. And that could be, “Oh, they’re trying to get into this half court set.” A lot of teams, like, they do, for example, I would just mention the delay where you hit the big and then you play zooms out of it. We were really trying to deny that if we saw that that was about to happen. Now, if we didn’t read that and, or if the ball handler was trying to attack, then we would immediately jump into the gap. So that was the idea behind it.
I don’t know if we were able to finish at one of the best teams in protecting the paint, and I think some of that has to do with sheer size and athleticism. But the idea also behind being so much in the gap is that because of the lack of size and athleticism that we sometimes have within our roster, it was a way for me to still keep applying the same ball pressure that I wanted while having a protection plan behind it, and that protection plan really came with being in gaps.
Pat 15:54
With that decision to be more in gaps, sometimes coaches say, like, the more in gaps you are, the more potential to give up, let’s say, more three-point attempts, ’cause the closeout is potentially a little longer. With the rise of how many threes teams shoot, especially at the higher levels, did you care?
How did you talk about that, if it came up at all?
Vitor Galvani 16:11
Of course, I did care, but I just had to really choose. If teams are gonna beat us, they have to one dribble drive and then immediately pass, and a lot of guards are not willing to do that. They wanna get inside the paint before they make a passing decision. So with that, we created a lot of turnovers.
I think we were one of the teams that led the league at some sort, top five, whatever, in points after turnovers because we were really in that gap. Now, there was a multiple effort factor that came into it, because you needed to be in the gap and then you needed to get out and still do the closeout the best you could, and I think we did a good job at it. If you are to look in, uh, in our spot-up numbers defensively, if I’m not mistaken, like, we’re a good once per possession rating. But that’s something that happened a lot. So it was just a, a factor, like, I saw that we could not stay home whenever there was a drive about to happen. We could not really contain the drive one-on-one. Our idea was really to gap that and really go for the steal in case that were to happen. I remember we played Sioux Falls once, and they had this guard, Smith, that played in Real Madrid, and he came up to the bench when there was a, I guess a free throw happened or something, and he was like, “Man, you guys trap on every drive.” I was like, “Uh, that’s not how I phrase it, but that sounds interesting. I’m gonna steal that.” So yeah, it’s something like we would do it, and sometimes if you are to watch our clips, there were three guys on the drive almost going for the steal. We had this thing called see numbers go. So let’s say a guy on the right wing, he’s trying to drive right. The defender on the left wing, if he were to see the numbers on the back of his jersey, he could then go on his backside and… ‘Cause a lot of times because the defender ahead of him was stopping because he was in the gap, a lot of guards would then, instead of passing the ball, which would be the obvious read, they would try to spin move. And on that spin move, we would, as Smith put it, trap. So also a lot of steals that came with the see numbers go concept.
Pat 18:20
Elaborating on that too, if you did have the guards that were willing to give it up, did that then lead to reteaching peel switching off the gaps? And again, just like you said, the number, the trigger probably was the see numbers go, but how maybe you then coordinated the peel switch and maybe even the secondary stunts against teams that were willing to attack the gap and throw it ahead.
Vitor Galvani 18:40
Yeah. So we definitely worked on peel switching also because again, since we were basically getting to a rotation once a drive was happening, our whole idea was to protect the paint. So never forget that.
I would always say this to, to our players. Never forget that we’re trying to protect the paint. So when I first introduced peel switching to some of them was something completely new. It’s like, oh my gosh, I’m gonna help from the corner. Like, oh, how is that gonna happen? And then as the season went on and then they would peel switch, so there was the guy in the gap that would pick up the handlers driving, and the guy that just got beat would then peel to the corner, and then he all of a sudden was getting steals out of it. And they were like, oh, that works. I remember some video sessions, we had James Bouknight in our team and it was a big pleasure to coach him, and it was like, man, that’s kinda crazy, but it works.
So yeah. I was very fortunate to have the group that we had because a lot of the things that we did was really unorthodox for them, but they really bought into the concept of protecting the paint and knowing the ins and outs of it.
Dan 19:45
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Pat 20:44
Did you ever run into the issue, Coach, of, you know, talking about the multiple efforts on defense of when the guys should or shouldn’t compete or over-compete or weren’t competing enough to try to win their one-on-one matchup? You know, maybe just running the closeout, they run ’em out, and then they’re just looking to peel switch right away versus, you know, where they’re situated.
Like, this is when we needed to compete for that next step, that half step, and they’re just looking to peel right away and rely on the gap help too much.
Vitor Galvani 21:11
Yes. That was very individually. Like, we saw that some players were the, oh, I know there’s a lot of help behind me, so maybe there’s not a lot of effort. But then the way we would hold them accountable, it’s either the easiest path for a coach, come sit by me or a video sessions. Like, if you’ve just given up this drive and there needs to be more effort on the ball of course. So there was accountability factor.
Something I would always mention, like, try to guard this as best as you can one-on-one, knowing that there’s gonna be help behind you, but just try to guard this as best you can. Be disruptive on the ball. Be active. Our gap help, we would call it chest. So you would hear if you were to listen to our games in some empty arenas that we sometimes played in, I would be, “Chest, chest, chest.” And that was really the call to show chest off the ball so that the ball handler would see bodies in front of him and maybe would be a little bit more reluctant to get into those gaps.
Pat 22:09
On that chest call, who would be triggering the peel? Would the gap defender be kinda telling the defender to peel off? Would the guy who’s beat be saying, what, uh, your call, chest, that I need to go?
Vitor Galvani 22:21
Yeah, so that’s super interesting. I was talking recently to a handball coach in Brazil, and I was asking him because if you wanna watch gap defense, just watch handball. That’s a lot of what they do.
And I was asking him exactly that, like, what is the call on the peel switch? And then what he told me, he’s like, “Coach, the game goes too fast for us to call anything specifically here. This is a read base.” And when he said that, it really clicked with me. Oh, okay. Yeah, it does happen too quickly. We would still have a term for it. We would call it peel, peel, peel, peel, with the guy peeling off to the ball handler, so it wasn’t the on ball defender. But it was basically a read. I think it made so much sense to like, yeah, you read. He just got beat, so just call it out. I would be talking a lot on the sidelines, so sometimes that communication came from me, but a lot of times in a game, that was just a read that happened so fast, and they would automatically do it by running different shell drills we would do in practices.
Dan 23:17
Coach, kinda going back to the hedge and plug for a second, one of the interesting decisions to make on it is when you might pull it off, when you might not do it. Were there times where you would not hedge and plug, late game, like side, whatever the situations might be where you’d say like, you know, we love it, it’s great, but we’re potentially not gonna do it, and what would be the cause of that?
Vitor Galvani 23:39
Ideally, we would do it whole game because again, that’s a coverage I believed so much I didn’t see a reason why to change it. Even end of shot clock or end of game, I would still try to do it and really trust in our principles and the stuff that we’re putting the time to work on.
Now, I would definitely change if it wasn’t working. I remember, so our calls were if we were doing the hedge and plug, we would be in black. If we, we do drop, we would be white, and the fake hedge would be gray. So that’s our terminology, how it went for us. And I remember specifically one game against the Cleveland Charge. Their coach did a tremendous job preparing for the hedge and plug, and they had a Killian Hayes playing, and I guess he’d seen that before. He was torching the coverage. I think we were like down 17 up at halftime. And I remember us going to the locker room, and I had, like, one coach saying, “Oh, I think we should switch.” And the other one was like, “I think we should go and drop.” And the other one was like, “I think we should blitz more.” And I was like, “Man, we don’t know what to do.” So I get into the locker room, and I was, like, telling our players, “Hey, what the fuck you guys wanna do?” Again, sorry for the language, but, “What do you guys wanna do?” And then they gave me the solution. It was like, “Coach, let’s just go in gray. Let’s just go in gray.” ‘Cause the way they were beating, they were running a double drag with a shallow cut, and that really disrupted protection plan behind the ball. So they gave me the solution. They were like, “Let’s go into gray.” I was like, “Let’s do it. Let’s do it.” So it wasn’t me, it wasn’t the staff, and we did it. We came back, won that game. So that’s really on the players that we had with that. And to not go too much into details, but the gray, instead of plugging, we would still show with the big, but he wouldn’t get disconnected. So he would stay attached with the rollers, and he would just show, and the on-ball defender would then go over the top instead of, like, plugging into the screener. So basically, like, the on-ball defender would do the same thing as he would do in a regular drop coverage, you know, fight over the top, try to cancel the screen by himself. But the big was really showing, and that triggered they were ready to beat the black, but not ready to beat the gray.
Dan 25:49
Coach, that’s great stuff. Thanks for all your thoughts there.
We do wanna transition now to a segment on the show we call Start, Sub or Sit. We’re gonna give you three options around a topic, ask you to start one, sub one, sit one, and then we’ll dive into your answer from there. So, Coach, if you’re set, we’ll get into this first one.
Vitor Galvani 26:05
Perfect. I’ve warm up for days. I’ve been studying this a lot, so hopefully it’s not a depends answer. But I’ll do my best.
Dan 26:15
All right. Sounds good. So, Coach, this first question has to do with guard-to-guard screening, and this is gonna be the three different things that would be the most important things to teach when you’re teaching these guard-to-guard ghost screens, different types of screen actions. And so I’m gonna give you three options with these guard-to-guard screens, and your start here, like I said, would be the most important in your mind when having a successful guard-to-guard screen.
So option one is the screener reading the hips of the defender. So the approach screener, is the ball open, is he square, you know, reading the hips of that defender. The second option is KYP, just knowing the personnel of who’s in the guard-to-guard screen action. And then the third option is the pace of the screener. Fast to slow, sprint through, stop and set it, all these different things that you can do in the guard to guard, and just the pacing of that screener. So start, sub, sit, great guard-to-guard screens. Hips of the defender, reading those, KYP, or the pace of the screener.
Vitor Galvani 27:13
And we’re talking about offense here, right?
Dan 27:15
Offense, yes.
Vitor Galvani 27:16
All right. I would say definitely start at KYP. I think you really gotta know who is the on-ball defender. Is it a bad defender? Is someone we’re trying to attack, so you might slip out of it? Or who is guarding you? So, uh, is it that the screener’s defender a bad defender, then you really need to set it. So I think, like, KYP is the most important.
I would say pace is definitely the sub here. Hard sub, because the hips of the defender are, are also important. But just having to choose one and don’t be on the fence about it, I will sub, uh, pace and then sit the hips of the defender.
Dan 27:53
Let’s start with your sub, the pace. With a good guard-to-guard screen, what is the type of pace that you want the screener going into that screen? I know there’s a lot of ways to do it, and you can fly through, you can stop, you can start, stop. What was the initial teaching points for you, at least, with that pacing?
Vitor Galvani 28:09
If I could add, I would put pace alongside creating separation, because when you were saying, I was thinking defense initially, and then for us to really defend well the guard-to-guard screens, for us, the biggest factor was steers or jam the screener so that he couldn’t have the pace. So I think, like, creating separation is one of the biggest factor, and I think within that scope of creating separation, then running into it, and I’ve heard a lot of terms, quick in, quicker out, slow in, faster out, whatever you wanna call it. But really, you’re only able to do that if you have separation, initial separation. So I think that’s what messes up the defense.
‘Cause a lot of teams, they’re, “Oh, let’s switch on contact.” But if there is no contact, if we’re just touching a hip and you’re really confused that if there is a change of pace. Now, I won’t say that reading the hips of the defender is not important, because I think, like, that’s also something that, you know, if he’s opening the hip, then you might try to slip out early. But I think, like, that’s something you would do one possession. Let’s say they’re really trying to switch and he’s opening the hip very early in the process. So if in one possession they do that, the next possession when we run the guard-to-guard screen, there needs to be something already clicking in your head saying, “Oh, I need to slip out of it very quick.” So it’s something that you can do from one possession to the other, knowing what they’re trying to do with the coverage, just like any coverage. So yeah, I think, like, that’s really, really important, but I think you can adapt from one possession to the other.
Dan 29:45
The coordination of these guard-to-guard screens and who’s in charge, who’s going first, ball handler or screener? If you’ve got the guy with the ball with a live dribble, let’s say, it’s a live dribble in the middle third of the floor and you’ve got a guard-to-guard screen coming, what’s the read for the ball handler on whether he can go early, whether he needs to wait, set it up? I mean, I know it’s a dance between the two, but what are the teaching points there?
Vitor Galvani 30:06
I think they really need to be in sync with each other. I think as one is approaching, the other is going. I think, like, that, ideally, that would be the way to go.
Of course, now, again, going back to the KYP, which was really the most important, let’s say the guy coming up to set that guard-to-guard screen, he has a bad defender on him. So you might then wait a little bit more because- You know that he’s gonna set the screen, and if you’re just going, like, and really trying to cross paths with each other, you know, the ball handler and the screeners, if you’re just trying to go and he’s trying to set the screen, that’s gonna be a movie screen foul 1000%, especially in the G League. And so, again, knowing who’s coming to set that screen, and you might wanna wait if the bad defender is on the screener’s defender. Now, if the bad defender is on you, most likely the screener’s gonna then slip out, so you might try to go a little bit early so that they confuse the call. Because again, you might already have advantage with the on-ball defender being a bad one or someone that cannot really contain drives. So you might try to go early. I told you guys I was not gonna do it, but it depends.
Pat 31:15
Looking at a screening technique and when the team’s gonna switch, and you do have a player who, the screener that can play in that short role, and now kind of looking at what we call the hot stove screen, where they’re just gonna kind of touch them on the hips. Just the teaching points or what you worked with your screeners when you realize, and even with the guard to hit the short role, just the communication, the technique of they’re switching, we wanna start to hot stove to get to the short role.
Vitor Galvani 31:40
So if they’re switching and if they’re trying to switch under, by that I mean, like, the on-ball defender’s trying to get underneath the screener and then prevent him from rolling, then we would try to go into what we call, like, a blind side of the defender. That just mean a flat screen. To then really try to get into that angle. And then I would really teach our bigs, or not our bigs, but whoever was setting that screen, because sometimes we did it with guards. We use exactly the term you said, a hot stove, and maybe it was holding the screener a little bit, maybe it was rolling a little bit early. But that’s something we, especially with the team in Brazil, I remember very vividly one playoff game was best out of five series, and the team we were playing, they were switching a lot. So I went with a two bigs lineup because one of our bigs was really good in the roller, and the other big was really good in the dunker and catching lobs. So from game four to five, we worked on it against coaches, against dummy defense, a- against our younger players. Really, really worked on that synchronism between the guard, the bigs, and setting the screen to really, really look for that pocket pass. A lot of times it was pocket pass, sometimes it could be a over-the-top pass. But really understanding the passing windows that were there and how to play out of it. And we won that game five and were able to advance, and I think a lot of it was because of the screening angles we were trying to set.
Now, if the defender’s trying to go over the top of the screen, which if I remember right, RGV did a great job. They switched everything, but they made it tough to switch. It wasn’t like they were just switching if there was no contact, whatever. Then need to set it, the screen a little bit better to then look for the roll option.
Pat 33:25
Following up on, I guess the decision when they are gonna switch. The decision between the screener to maybe, like, hold the screen and look to kind of seal them off versus more that hot stove push off and get into space. Were there any sort of triggers, or in terms of what you were reading the coverage, or was it all just kind of player dependent on whether to just kind of hold the guy, switch seal, versus hot stove and kind of quickly get into a space?
Vitor Galvani 33:48
We had a specifically, like, an Iverson set. So the guy would go through the Iverson, and then one of our bigs would set the screen on the sideline, empty side ball screen. And then in that situation specifically, because we were trying to hit the top guy into a high-low pass. So we would just exchange positions once that empty side ball screen was happening to have then the other big flash up to then really hit the high-low option, to hit the high balls into that. So in that specifically situation, I would tell the guys really hold.
So we would call it, it wasn’t a hot stove, it was a cold stove. So we would really hold that screen to then try to look for the high-low. Now, if it was like I said previously, the flat screen angle, then I would try to really hot stove it and then hit the pocket there.
Dan 34:41
You talked about getting steered earlier and creating separation. I think that’s great teaching point.
What were considerations or what were counters to where teams were trying to steer your guard-to-guard action, maybe really physical? Or if the guard-to-guard screen was coming into east-west versus north-south, like, did you have teaching points on if you’re getting steered, here’s a retrigger that you can get to?
Vitor Galvani 35:03
That’s great question because we struggle with teams that were able to steer a lot. We’re trying to set those guard-to-guards. For me, the best answer would then be you’re really trying to prevent that from happening by playing action on top of action. And what I mean by that, like, you cannot… If you wait for the action to develop and to then go set up the ball screen and then it, it, it all becomes a shell, it’s really easy to then steer, jam the screener, and then you won’t have a lot of advantage out of it.
Now, if you can do it randomized, where just within the offense you see it and then you’re quickly trying to get into it, the guard-to-guard, without your defender being on top of you, that’s a way of doing it. But now we’re really trying to run an action for that guard-to-guard, is really to push off your defender before sprinting into it to create that separation. So I would really tell our guys, “Yes, this might be a foul or whatever, but, uh, I haven’t seen it being called that much. But really push off your defender, get into his body, and then really sprint into it so that you can create that initial separation.” So long story short, either randomize within your offense, running action on top of action, or create that separation if something more of a set, like create that separation by pushing off your defender.
Pat 36:20
All right. Coach, our next start sub sit, you did mention that you played a little bit differently in terms of pace last season, and I think a lot of the conversations we always have over the summer is teams looking at how do we play faster? How do we play with more pace? So we thought it’d be fun to explore with you kind of your decisions that went into that and maybe some factors.
And so for this one, start, sub, sit, the biggest factor that would influence how much pace you do or do not want to play with. So option one would be just your overall depth, how many guys you realistically think you’re going to play or not play. Option two would be your point guard ability, maybe not so many or not a strong, you know, point guard. And then option three would be defensive identity, kind of mirroring your offense, your defense, knowing that you’re gonna be probably a defensive first team.
Vitor Galvani 37:13
I’m gonna sit all of those.
Pat 37:16
Okay, fair enough.
Vitor Galvani 37:19
Love that. I will start shot selection, and I will attach that jokingly. Like, I think if I had to choose one, it would be the defensive identity. I think those two, shot selection alongside defensive identity, were the most important ones and a big reason why we went with a more slower pace.
Now, that is not to say that I don’t like to play fast. I have had teams in the past that do play fast. They had a great point guard, so that would be my sub, and then the depth would be my sit. I really haven’t been with a team that maybe didn’t have a lot of depth in it. I know that that is a factor, but I will start shot selection alongside defensive identity first.
Pat 38:03
I’ll follow up with the shot selection. Is it the shot selection in terms of the shots you’re trying to give up on defense, or the shot selection of your team and what maybe your team is skewing too far in the wrong direction in terms of shot selection?
Vitor Galvani 38:18
Yes, our own team, because initially throughout the season we had different phases, and it was… I’m not afraid to change as the season went along. We started with the idea to play a little bit more fast than we finished it with, but what I was seeing with playing fast is that was taking really a toll on our defense because what we saw in video, if the guy didn’t feel a part of the offense, then when he came down to the next possession, I would look at him, and the pressure that we wanted to have on the ball or being in gaps, like we mentioned, or running the hedge and plug, it’s all effort-based system. So if you don’t have that, then there’s no way you can play defense.
And then we would see the other clips where we would share the ball a lot. And by sharing the ball a lot, it’s not to say that we’re just moving the ball with no purpose, because you gotta watch out for this term of playing slow, because it’s not that we were playing slow. We were still playing fast. It’s just that we were moving the ball from side to side with purpose. So what we really saw is that once our players, and maybe this is a roster factor that we had to deal with, but our players, when they felt involved in offense, they were way more committed to run our defensive schemes. Yes, I could be the hard-nosed coach, “Oh, it doesn’t matter if you touch the ball or not, you need to play hard-ass defense” and whatnot. But I went with, “This is what I have in front of me, so let’s us really try to manipulate our offense and really run those actions, try to play with pace, of course, in those actions, but let’s really look for the best shot.” And by that, we wanted a catch-and-shoot shot or at-the-rim shot, lob, whatever. So if that was not the case, then we were just moving from side to side. I would joke to my assistants that we ran the slower version of Valencia and Paris offense. You know, we were still r- running the first side drag screen, second side pass and chase, third side step up. But we were really looking, like, do we have a great shot on this first side? No. Second side. Do we have a great shot, catch-and-shoot, at-the-rim shot on the second side? No. Swing it back to third side, and then we would play it from that.
Pat 40:23
In that transition offense, when you flowed to the second side, first, were you randomizing your spacing? Was it just kind of filling spots, or was it always, I think you’ll see with that kind of offense, having, like, your four man or another big in that slot.
So first question there is just kind of randomize or more of like a structured break spacing, and how are you teaching or what were you preaching on that second side two-man action, whether it was a handoff, a pitch, an exchange, and tying it into the shot selections, the shots you were trying to hunt off of that second side?
Vitor Galvani 40:55
Again, that’s a great question because we adapted as the season went along, because there were times our four would then arrive to the corner. And the way we learned as the season went along, it was an idea from one of my assistants to really set a uphill screen. So I’m running the drag. We’re four out spacing, run the drag, ball screen, the big roll. We swing it, and there’s a guard on the opposite wing, and the, quote-unquote, “big,” the, the… our four man is on the opposite side corner. That four man would then set what we call a uphill screen or step up screen, and then we would create advantages, a lot of advantages out of that, to a point where I almost wanted every time the four man to be there because we really created so many advantages.
Because as we were talking about the guard-to-guard screen, that’s almost a guard-to-guard in the way that we played with our four because… So his man was synced in because he was the bottom on the two side. So when we swung the ball, there was no way that they could steer the screen, and a lot of teams, they switch one through four. So we would set that hot stove, or as I said, warm stove, whatever, on the second side to then get into the roller, and really got a lot of advantages out of it. We had one player, RJ Melendez, Puerto Rican kid, and he was a master out of it, almost to a point where we call this screen RJ screen because he was really, really good in setting those. So it would really depend. Of course, now, if the four was to receive, we would want to pass and chase instead of the DHO. I think the DHO, it’s a little bit harder to create advantage than a pass and chase and set that screen. So ideally, we would do that. Now, if there were a team that would try to deny or be a l- little bit more into bodies, then we would need to run the DHO.
Pat 42:41
With the pass and chase, what was the positioning or what were the spot on the floor you were trying to fight for, for that action, that exchange screen to take place? And what were you telling the corner? To hold corner, to come up early too, and again, fighting for that spot and the timing of this pass and chase?
Vitor Galvani 43:00
This is a great topic also because we always hear, “Oh, stay deep corner, stay deep corner.” And the first coach I heard mention it, I’m friends with George Bouzikas, he’s the assistant coach for Olympiacos, and then he mentioned that Olympiacos doesn’t always play filling the corners. And when he said it, I was like, “Oh my gosh, they’re the best offense, and they’re not filling corners. Like what’s going on?” But the reason behind that was that he wanted to have space for the corner player, offensive guy, to have space to attack baseline, to drive baseline. So if you’re just staying deep in a corner and you get that pass and chase, a read that we would always work on the pass and chase is to really lift from the corner to be almost at the break right there. Ideally, that’s where we’re getting the ball to then be able to reject the screen and then drive baseline, and that’s a read. It wouldn’t be possible to do that same read if we were just staying deep corner. So ideally we would arrive deep corner, and as the ball was swung, we would then lift a little bit at the break to also give a good passing angle, and then to have both reads. Reject the guy that just passed it to me screens, or could I then use the screen.
Pat 44:07
Let’s say it is your four man in this traditional sense. They pass it.
Are you having him fight for any angle or is it more important just kind of, hey, the speed of the action and confusing but… Or like, you know, go in. Sometimes I hear like, touch elbow, come out. But I guess the angle you’re wanting that four man to fight for when he passes it.
Vitor Galvani 44:24
We would always say like fight for the under on those screens because, again, if teams were trying to steer and then switch, we really needed to fight for the under. So we would try to get in the angle, try to hit the back pocket of the on-ball defender. So that’s what we try to do a lot of times and try to force that switch so that we could have the over the top pass as an option. So yeah, it was that.
Now, if they were not switching, we’d just really set that screen. There were a couple of teams that played two bigs, and they were trying not to switch that screen on the second side. Then I would just say set the screen and then roll and play out of it.
Dan 45:00
Coach, going back to the Start, Sub, Sit, I did want to go back to what you mentioned, which was the shot selection, going back to the tying your pace to your shot selection. Because I think the other interesting thing, and I know you’ve done this, but is tagging up and how tagging up and great tagging up teams connects to your shot selection. And talking a little bit about obviously why better shots are easier to tag and how that kind of fits into your whole total basketball system.
Vitor Galvani 45:26
I’m one of the biggest tagging up proponents in basketball, I would say, but I was not able to do this past season in the G League, and I think a big reason behind that, initially, our shot selection was not ideal, and it was almost like if you’re shooting and it’s a surprise, not only for the defense but for the offense, they’re not ready to tag up and then play on from there. Again, the tagging up works better when you know when the shot is about to be shot. And I know coaches go different ways about it. You guys just had, uh, Tabellini and he mentioned it like, it doesn’t matter what shot, you still gotta go tag up and play with that relentless effort all throughout.
But with us this season, was at the beginning of the season where I had to really choose what am I going to emphasize right now, if it was gonna be the tagging up or if it was gonna be more of, like, how we’d run our offense. I leaned to the second. So yeah, it really does affect the way I see it, like you’re tagging up. I think the team I was with in Brazil, we also didn’t play too fast, but we led the league in offensive rebounding percentages because we were taking good shots, and then after that we would a lot of times… The tagging up is a transition defensive system, I like to say, but the secondary effect of that is really the offensive rebound, which we got a lot out there.
Dan 46:44
Coach, you’re off the Start, Sub, Sit, Hot Seat. Killed it. Took us on some detours, which is the best. We loved it, so thanks for playing that game with us.
Coach, we got a final question to close the show. Before we do, this was a fantastic conversation. Thanks for all your thoughts and thanks for coming on today.
Vitor Galvani 46:59
I’m super appreciative of being here. Thanks for all you guys do. It’s been great. That Start, Sub, Sit, Hot Seat was fun to be a part of.
Dan 47:07
Coach, our final question that we ask all the guests is, what’s the best investment that you’ve made in your career as a coach?
Vitor Galvani 47:13
So my biggest investment in basketball career was, as biased as this may sound right now, it was listening to basketball coaching podcasts. And the backstory is this: in Brazil, when you’re around the age of 18, 19 years old, you usually have to make a decision. You either continue studying or you try to go professional in your sport. In my case, that decision was basically made for me by my two engineering parents. So I went to engineering school. I did it for three years, but at some point I became really frustrated with it. At that same time, I started helping coaching under 13 and under 14 kids, and I realized that basketball was still the thing that gave me energy. So my dad at the time noticed that I wasn’t happy, and one day he called me to the kitchen then said, “Do you want to be an engineer?” And I was like, “No.” And then he asked, “So why are you doing it?” And I told him, “Because I don’t want to be a disappointment to you and mom.” So then he said something I will never forget. “You’re only going to be a disappointment to us if you’re a 27 year old and I still have to feed you.” So this was his way of saying, “Go figure it out, but take it seriously.” So he told me, “Here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to finish your physical education degree,” because in Brazil, you need that degree to become a coach, “and until graduation day, I will support you financially in every way that I can so you can pursue your coaching education.” But he also told me something very important. He said, “Your profession is a tough one. Today you might be employed and tomorrow you might not.” So you need to find ways to separate yourself from everybody else, and that really stuck with me.
So I had to find ways to understand basketball better, and I had to find a way to learn the game, follow trends, keep improving. And unfortunately, in Brazil, we didn’t have a lot of coaching clinics, so that’s when I really got deep into the podcast world, and I’ve been doing that ever since. It really shaped the way I think about the game. It became a part of my daily routine. I’ll go to the weight room, I’ll be listening to you guys and a lot of the other basketball podcasts that is out there. I’ll go on the road, and I’ll be listening to it. My wife doesn’t really appreciate whenever I’m on it. She would rather be listening to music. I like to say, like, my music taste is from 2009, 2008 because after that I started really getting to the podcast world. So yes, my biggest investment was listening to podcasts, but really it was investing time every single day into learning, staying curious, and try to differentiate myself as a coach.
Dan 49:46
Pat, let’s hop into this recap. That was a ton of fun, as these all are, but that hit on a lot of things for you and I that, close to home as far as just interesting topics for one of our teams or just things that keep coming our way from a tactical standpoint from across the world, and then having someone just being able to go so deep, not just on the knowledge of these things, but having run them and tried them and tweaked them.
Pat 50:13
Yeah.
Dan 50:13
It makes for, like, ultimately unbelievable podcast conversations. So Coach Galvani today was awesome.
Pat 50:19
Yeah. Like you said, right up our alley in terms of the stuff really are into and dig and like looking into ourselves, so it’s fun.
Then when we get a coach like Coach Galvani today that can move from the theory of why we like it into the practical, the learnings, the teachings as they’ve trialed and errored it, and, and start gleaning information, like getting into the nuance, the weeds of, like, really why these coverages, these strategies are so effective.
Dan 50:46
Absolutely. Well, let’s hop into our takeaways, and for the first one I’ll throw it back to you.
Pat 50:50
I’ll start with our first big bucket on the hedge and plug, the coverage we’ve studied extensively. And I’ll move through the first part, a couple of quick highlights that I thought he spoke really well on, like some key distinctions he made in terms of how the pickup point influences the plug. He talked about if they can pick up higher and really get outside the three-point line or force the screening action above the three-point line, then the plug looks more like an under and a bump. But as the ball is then getting closer to the three-point line, on the three-point line, that’s where we’ll see, I think, well, I wouldn’t say more traditional, but chasing over and kind of sitting on that roller, and he mentioned to, like, the FIBA line, depending on your comfortability level, whether it’s the free throw line to plug that short roll before releasing off back into the ball. Love that distinction.
Something that, you know, as we, myself have tried to marry also to the tagging up. If you do it well, now you’re getting higher pickup points. That is something to really factor in because if you chase over on such a high pickup point, it really maybe becomes hard to plug so much space and where it’s more beneficiary to get that under when you’ve done a good job of putting up a high pickup point, forcing the screen out high. So I think that’s a key one. I like talking about how long to hedge and kind of their triggers, too, on the, of course, the pickups, the ball handler, but also we’re starting to see when the ball handler rejects, you know, and we’ll see offenses are finding some success uncalling and rejecting the hedge. So the big’s hedged out when they change directions, you know, and I think that is key because the big stays, the ball handler is able to start finding, like, some passing windows, some passing angles, put that plug guy in a tough spot. So I think that’s also an important decision, like the minute the ball handler changes directions, let’s get out. Let’s start recovering to the big. I like those two distinctions he made, those two details he talked about. But for me, the goal, then I’ll throw it to you, Dan, I won’t get too much longer here, was when we started talking about the fence. And something we’ve been looking at with Valencia, I think they did a great job with that fence guy and just jumping on pickups, not only between the plug, but the fence, the use of hands. And he said with the sole purpose or the intent of really trying to take away the corner skips and forcing those X outs, because you are seeing teams getting smart with the stampedes. And for me, that was eye-opening. I couldn’t write it in big enough caps on my sheet of paper about protecting the corner there and jumping on the pickups, and yeah, you’ll see it. I mean, I’m looking forward to diving the film with him, but you see it with Valencia, like the ball handler picks up and you see the plug and that fence guy jump, just trying to influence the pass more towards those release passes, the one pass away rather than a long corner skip.
Pat 53:20
So that was the big standout piece, trying to protect that corner, that corner closeout, that X out with jumps on pickups. Something we’ve also looked at in other coverages in the past, studying just, again, trying to take away maybe the throw behind pass and a drop coverage as well, and just the value of what we’ve all were not taught growing up is to keep our feet, but leaving your feet and the value it can have.
So that was my big takeaway. I’ll throw it back to you, Dan, for your thoughts.
Dan 53:46
I just wanna tack on at the end, the fence thing was really interesting. We did a breakdown of New Mexico under Richard Pitino a couple years ago with, like, Donovan Dent jumping on the pickup in the pick and roll. So he’s guarding the ball, and as soon as that ball’s picked up, they’re jumping. And just the number of steals and deflections they would get just from that on the pickup. This was really cool.
Like, there’s an extension of that now, so you’re having that guy jump and the fence guy jump, so you got two guys jumping. And the theory behind it, it made total sense, and like he mentioned, the number of steals and deflections that they got I thought was really interesting. Two big things in that first bucket for me. One, you talked about the hedge and plug stuff a lot, so I won’t over-talk that. I thought the conversation behind it around the three help defenders and their gap and their stunts and why you try not to X out, I thought that was really, really high level. And then there was some caveats in there about their dead calls, trapping drives, C numbers and go. I thought that was really good.
So you’re a team that’s playing, quote-unquote, “in the gaps” and on ball pressure, but you’re not up denying lanes. But we’ve seen that and we’ve heard a lot where some of these teams generate so many more or their steals are so high because they’re in the gap, they’re ready to pounce on someone spinning back or dribbling away with their numbers that the steal opportunities are so great for a gap team that, you know, you always think, “Well, steals are gonna come from ball pressure and denial,” but the gap teams can also benefit because of their positioning. And I thought, like, he spoke well on why their positioning leads to hopefully extra steal opportunities on that backside. So I thought that was just a really good conversation, and then there was some peel switching in there and-
Pat 55:24
Yeah
Dan 55:25
… when to go, when not to go with the reads. I think he made a good point about watching handball, bringing that in. I always love when someone brings another sport in, so that was really great.
And then I actually liked at the end with the hedge and plug stuff, I think I asked him, like, when you would not do it.
Pat 55:38
Yeah.
Dan 55:39
And I think that’s what I like about the podcast and some of the film stuff and things that we get to do is, okay, you sit and you talk about how you do it and all these considerations, and I think those are great, but then, I mean, I think the ultimate coaching decisions come down to the trade-offs of when do you pull it off? When do you keep doubling down?
What are the tweaks? Why would you tweak? And I thought he gave some really good stuff kind of the end there of, one, “Hey, we’re not gonna pull it off, because we believe in it.” But then two, he tells a nice story of, hey, when your team stops believing or maybe not stops believing, but doesn’t feel like this is the best way to win this particular game, the things that are built into the system that can help cover for that. So he went through the black, white, and gray and why they went to, like, the gray in that game, and they’re just kind of short showing and going over versus doing the full hedge and plug behind, how that helped them with a player in Killian Hayes. I think he mentioned that was kind of had solved the first layer of the defense. So I thought that was subtly really good stuff at the end there.
Pat 56:34
Yeah. Tremendous value in that part of the conversation ’cause we’ve talked about it too, just when teams have a say, as we know, and so they start to figure out, they start to get comfortable and maybe just have a little dial down with going to a gray defense or just some sort of different communication.
So now it’s not a hedge and plug, but now you’re giving them a short show or maybe even a drop coverage if the big’s late. But having that communication piece installed, maybe you don’t have to always emergency switch something, but you can communicate at least to the guard that he needs to chase over, and the point guard is now saying something a little bit different, and I think that’s another aspect we really like in this coverage is within it being your base, you can still give them a couple different looks, a couple different curve balls when needed.
Dan 57:14
Yeah. He made a great point at the very, very beginning as to, like, why he did this and liked this in the first place, and that was because he said the G League is a scoring guard’s league.
Pat 57:22
Yeah.
Dan 57:22
And it just made it harder on a scoring guard to figure out how to navigate an interesting pick and roll coverage, and I thought if someone’s thinking about doing the hedge and plug, what are the guards you’re gonna play against, and what are their strengths, and are they ones that wanna try to score, or are they trying to move it? That consideration I thought was good too.
Pat 57:38
All right, Dan, I know we can probably talk on this coverage ad nauseam, but we’ll stop here, and I’ll throw it to you for the second takeaway.
Dan 57:46
Both start subsists. I’m having kind of a hard time- … choosing here, and I’m sure we’ll blend the two, but I’m gonna go to the guard to guard screening, and as you’ve seen the rise of it, the teaching points and the theory and all that behind it I thought was great. So I’m gonna go there.
He started the KYP, know the personnel. He subbed the pace and sat the hips of the defender, which I know he talked about is truly important. What I liked was the conversation around the pace and then creating separation was a good teaching point. These things work better and are far more effective if you’ve got separation coming into that guard to guard screen, and we got into a little bit later about, like, what happens when you’re getting steered and what are some counters and things you can get to. But probably the biggest defensive thing that someone can do when you’re guard to guard screening all the time is if you can get physical and steer and ride up that screener, you can muck up a lot of the advantages that the offense is trying to create. And so I thought the points around creating that separation were really good. And then lastly, the KYP, which we got to, I think that’s a growing skill. As we’re seeing this more, I think it’s, like, something that players as they’re coming up and doing more of these guard to guard, it’s an added layer of, I don’t know if you call it a skill or just an IQ of who is guarding me.
Pat 59:07
Mm-hmm.
Dan 59:07
And has my coach deemed them, we had Charles Klask on, a rusty defender or someone they won’t want to put in the action? And how does this person who’s guarding me affect what I’m gonna do in this guard to guard screen?
And the quicker and more comfortable players get to know who’s guarding me and what can I do to cause havoc with this person, I think is like a next layer of, I guess, player development, let’s say.
Pat 59:31
I think, yeah, the onus falls on us, but I think that’s then what makes, to your point, if you can get them to understand the KYP, the scout, the context, whatever of this action, of any action, it, I think, allows them to sit in the action a little bit longer, play with it, tweak it, you know, because they know what the objective is, and then that’s when I think the efficiency, the success emerges.
Dan 59:50
Pat, if I could just add a quick point because a lot of times when you’re growing up, I think in basketball, players learn how to play through, let’s say, a mismatch or an advantage or a KYP situation. I think a lot of times in two specific scenarios.
One is like a switch on a post.
Pat 01:00:05
Mm-hmm.
Dan 01:00:06
You kind of see it growing up. There’s a switch. There’s a big down low, and there’s a small guard, and it’s like, okay, players learn that earlier.
Pat 01:00:13
Yeah.
Dan 01:00:14
Or the same thing with the ball in your hand on the perimeter where you got a big guard and a jet guard and everyone kind of gets that. But now it’s like, well, understanding there’s a mismatch or something, I can use that as a screener to my advantage to bring it to the action and add some confusion, I think, is in the modern-ish game.
That’s a new way for like, “Hey, do you recognize who’s guarding you? Do you recognize how you can create advantage from this situation that this person guarding you is giving us potentially?”
Pat 01:00:42
Yeah. I agree, and I think that’s why your follow-up question too then on, like, the coordination piece ’cause now you’re bringing the- mismatch, let’s say, the bird, the rusty defender into the action. And so it then also becomes like the order of operations, you know, is who’s waiting on who? Is it a, you know, just kind of like two ships passing in the night?
Is it wait for the screen to set, don’t reject? I think that becomes then like the next layer so you are actually getting the benefit of bringing the bad defender in and not just creating more confusion for your offense, that they just have to wait till everything clears out and then you’re just back to a one-on-one situation.
Dan 01:01:18
I’ll give a quick miss of mine, not from coach of course, but if we just kept going down different rabbit holes would have been interesting to explore. And this is where some of the teams in Spain, I think, do this at the highest levels.
Pat 01:01:28
Mm-hmm.
Dan 01:01:29
Once you’ve identified the mismatch or the rusty defender or whatever you want to call it, the spacing, the cutting, the movement around that is so pivotal to be able to like double down on that advantage you’ve got now with those defenders. So like the slide cuts and the burns. I think that’s like what the great teams do and they do it like they coordinate that really quickly.
So there’s a coordination to get the mismatch on the ball, bring the rusty defender to it, and then there’s a coordination behind it to make it so that there’s double gaps and there’s clear drop-offs for dunks and corner threes and whatever. Anyway, like I said, not a miss from coach, but just we can’t cover every inch of basketball today, I don’t think.
Pat 01:02:06
We’re gonna try though.
Dan 01:02:07
Yeah. Speaking of that, any other places from your standpoint that maybe we could have gone deeper on or would have been interesting to explore had we had more time?
Pat 01:02:14
You know, I tried to go as deep as I could on the pitch and chase and that start-sub sit and took a way off course when talking about pace and shot selection.
Dan 01:02:22
Yeah, it was good. You guys went for a bit.
Pat 01:02:24
Yeah, yeah. We just told you to grab a coffee, sit this one out.
Just something I’m trying to teach better, try to get that second side more effective. So yeah, needed to kind of call an audible, call a clear out for myself.
Dan 01:02:36
Let’s get all space away.
Pat 01:02:38
Yeah, appreciated his thoughts there, but as always, I could have just dived into all of the, the further nuances and try to get to even like what the shots they’re fighting for on that second side before like, or you should just, all right, it’s not there. Let’s get back to the middle third and that step up within that offense.
But yeah, not a miss ’cause I did pursue that thread a little bit, but would have loved to have continued on that ’cause I’m really just kind of fascinated with trying to get better myself teaching that offense.
Dan 01:03:04
Yeah. And then I’ll just quickly end with the other start-sub sit with the pace stuff.
I thought we had a really fun conversation there, and I liked that he threw it all out and put the shot selection at the front of it. And so true why if you’re really searching for the best shot every time, it might not come in the first four to seven seconds, and it might take longer and how that has the cascading effects for how fast you play. But I think he also just had great thoughts throughout that part of the conversation with just, yeah, like we’ve heard, not playing fast is great in theory, but it doesn’t work for every team-
Pat 01:03:36
No
Dan 01:03:36
… every season, and everybody has their own pace they gotta find to be the most efficient.
Pat 01:03:41
I’ll finish with this, just the one quote I like from that part and the kind of eternal is your defense feel your offense? Does your offense feel your defense?
I mean, a lot of it is your identity and kind of what you’ve instilled. But yeah, he said he just found with poor shot selection or too quick of shots that several players weren’t feeling part of the offense, not getting a touch in too many possessions, and that directly influenced their defensive effort.
Dan 01:04:04
That’s true for G League, college, pickup. I mean, how many times you play in a pickup game and Jump Shot Jimmy keeps taking tough jumpers and you’re like, “Well, I’m not gonna go defend anymore.”
Pat 01:04:12
I don’t recall myself after like the third straight possession not even at least touching it saying like, “I’m just gonna go defend my ass off.”
Dan 01:04:19
Yeah.
Pat 01:04:19
Maybe I can get a steal and touch the ball.
Dan 01:04:22
I’m hoping we lose so I can sub that guy and get a new guy in.
Pat 01:04:27
I’m over this.
Dan 01:04:28
Yeah. All right. Well, once again, we thank Coach Galvani for coming on. Thank you everybody for listening, and we will see you next time.
Pat 01:04:41
Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Please make sure to visit slappingglass.com for more information on the free newsletter, Slapping Glass Plus, and much more. Have a great week coaching, and we’ll see you next time on Slapping Glass.