Hoops Picture Pages: Pick and Roll Problems

If they're going to make that kind of two-man game a staple of their offense, two things need to happen. 

1. Use of the screens have got to get better. Burke can't allow himself to be consistently forced away from the basket. It limits his option to one play, moving the ball to the weak-side wing where the defense hasn't been significantly stressed. He's got to go harder off the screen and look to split the hedge, which not only opens a path to the bucket for him, but will force TH's guy to help, opening TH for a 3. Morgan, as you point out, is also slipping the screen a bit too regularly (an artifact of playing with Morris last year who could spot the slip better). They've got to work more on regularly causing contact, which will open the opportunity for Burke to split the double if teams hedge.

2. The three players not involved in the play have to be aware of the parts of the defense that are stressed by the P & R. Smot, in that play, misses the chance to take advantage of Iowa's defense being slightly out of position as they responded to the P & R, with Morgan in good post position (if he gets the ball in his left hand there, he should be able to drop step and go up for a high percentage shot). Instead, he waits too long, Morgan loses his position, and the ball cycles back to the top. 

Good write up Ace; funny thing is that I posted virtually the same thing over on the Scout subscription site about half an hour ago prior to seeing your post (great minds and all that). 

Pick and pop, re-setting the screen opposite and weakside screens aren't bad ideas, but there's a couple of other simple adjustments that can be made within the context of the original set itself:

- Once it's apparent that the opponent is going to hedge, swing the ball immediately to the weakside backcourt player (Novak in your example).  If Morgan rolls hard to the rim, there will be two defensive players to guard three offensive players on the weak side.  Novak can then drive, shoot it, or if they close hard on him, pass to either Morgan or the weakside baseline player (Smotrycz).

- Have Morgan slip the screen i.e. fake the pick and roll and head for the front of the rim; this requires a trickier entry pass from the elbow area, but can be effective against a hedge. This would be a good play to run with Hardaway as he has more height if a lob pass is required.

You can bet this will be an emphasis with the coaching staff over the next few practices.

A good counter to a hard hedge like that is to immediately turn it back to the left.  As Needs mentions above, the first step is obviously executing the screen properly.  They need to truly rub shoulders going past.  That being said, Burke should get Basabe to commit and then immediately cross over and pass it to Hardaway on the wing.  If Morgan is rolling hard, suddenly there is a single defender who has to choose between Morgan's roll and an open three for Hardaway.  Kind of a basic concept, but if someone overplays you consistently, you have to make them pay by taking advantage of the opening they give you.

in a game like this just have the kid play the entire game. He had a lot more spring in his step and started to get the other guys around him to move around more

sorry for the double post

...Ace. This is the kind of basketball work that is most useful.

This is the area of the game where we miss D-Mo the most. Darius Morris had the size and ability to make the passes in the pick and roll game that Trey just cannot do. Has nothing to do with Trey's ability, but everything to do with his size leading to less court vision. Darius Morris may not have been the scorer that Trey is, but his vision and pick and roll ability made every player on Michigan better. I'm sure Tim Hardaway misses getting all of those open looks he got last year, and Jordan Morgan certainly does not have the same offensive impact as last year. J-Mo and D-Mo had the pick and roll game down pat last year. It is clear that either we will need to get better at the pick and roll game or we will have to emphasize another area to improve offensively.

 but is Jordan Morgan going to get any better? Seems like his hands are still too soft and he can't catch cleanly.

As already stated, Burke can either set up his man and cross over to the left (turning down the screen).. 

or Morgan can come and set another  screen at a different angle for Burke to get to his left ( this is possible b/c Basabe would be too far out of position to hedge a 're-screen' second attempt.

Or because Iowa was sinking their weakside help defender (Hardaway's man) to help on the rolling Morgan.... Michigan can run a set play to have Hardaway cut to the basket for a lob (his defender would be unaware of Timmay's movement as his back is turned).

But the main room for improvement is on Burke.  He has to stay tighter to the screen and not allow the guy to go over it.  (You have to punish a guy going over the screen or it'll never work)

I couldn't agree more with the above article on the problems with the pick and roll.

However, my biggest concern has just been an overall lack of effort and sloppy play by Michigan these last two games.  It was obvious to me that Iowa was getting all of the 50/50 balls.  And the pick & roll is a prime example of the sloppy play.  It's like the team is just going through the motions, but not really setting picks or cutting hard to the hoop.

We really need an energy guy to come off the bench to get the team hustling.  I'm talking about guys like - Zach Gibson and C.J. Lee who weren't the greatest of athletes but brought the energy/effort.  Currently we don't have that spark, but hopefully that will change as future teams get deeper with talent.  I think Coach K (Duke) did the right thing the other night.  His team wasn't hustling, so he brought in a completely new 5 so that his starters could sit on the bench and see what effort looks like.

On the first screen in the above play, Morgan rolls to the basket early—he never comes into contact with Marble, nor does he affect the path Marble must take to stay on Burke, eliminating the potential for a switch or even a delay in getting out to Burke.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think as soon as Morgan sees that they are going to double Burke, he is supposed to abandon setting the screen (ie-not make contact on the screen) and "slip the screen", heading straight to the basket. The only problem is that Burke, instead of getting the ball to Morgan immediately (over the top or through a crease), he retreats, letting help rotate over by the time he would be able to get Morgan the ball.

On a true pick and roll, the point is that the screener rolls and seals off the defender on his back side. The guy is still being defended, only the defender is behind him as he rolls to the basket. Notice that Morgan never actually rolls, because there is no defender to seal.