Weakside Pick and Roll Action

The most common play run in the NBA is the pick and roll.  It's simple, fast, and more often than not efficient.  Most pick and rolls feature a high screen, ball handler, and three spotted up shooters.  Ever so often however, the more inventive coaches will run some sort of off the ball and/or weakside action in addition to the standard PNR.  The NBA breakdown site, Hoopchalk, recently wrote about this.  Gregg Popovich is one of the most common users of weakside action during the pick and roll.  Here's a really simple, but effective example.

Tiago Splitter sets a screen for Tony Parker on the wing in what looks like a standard screen and roll.

Tony Parker gets into the lane, never good for a defense.  This is when the weakside action commences.  Tim Duncan sets a back screen for Kawhi Leonard in the corner.  Wait what?  Were you waiting for some complicated flex action to be diagrammed?  Nope, that's it.  Just a simple little back screen in Leonard in the corner.

Parker swings an easy pass to Leonard who splashes the three.  Look how much space there is between MWP and Leonard.  Again, all that it took was a simple back screen.  The shot is so open for two reasons: one, most teams aren't ready for this kind of play and two, all the players on the floor are focused on the pick and roll.  You have to wonder why more coaches don't use kind of thing considering how simple it is. 

Pick and Roll Rotations

In a post from yesterday on an interesting Nets lineup, I mentioned how effective the pick and roll would be. Quote: Williams could dish to a rolling Lopez who would have two options:  either finish strong, or pass to the strong side corner where a Net would be wide open for three because of the rotation to cover Lopez.   To illustrate further what that means, I have marked up a similar play.

 This play starts of with a Manu Ginobli/Tiago Splitter pick and roll.  Notice Kawhi Leonard in the strong side corner.

Splitter sets a good screen and starts on his roll.  Ginobli, who now has two men on him, fires a beautiful bounce pass to Splitter.  Now that Splitter has the ball with nobody on him in the lane, Kevin Durant has to rotate over.  This leaves Leonard wide open.

With Kevin Durant now in front of him, Splitter stops on a dime (how many times will you here that!) and dishes to the open Leonard.

Leonard splashes the three despite a great recovery from the long Kevin Durant.

The main point I want to get across is how the roll man can force a rotation from the corner and dish for a three.  And if the rotation comes late?  That, my friends, will usually be a posterization.