Film Room: Favorite Sets From The Early Season
A breakdown of my favorite sets from the Warriors, Purdue, Pistons, Bulls & the Wizards.
In the early NBA & NCAA season, I have seen a ton of sets that have caught my eye and wanted to break down some clever actions that I have really enjoyed. It can be tough finding great new actions but surprisingly the Washington Wizards have been on the top of my list to study - ATO breakdown coming later this week!
If you have any suggestions for any plays or sets you find and want to see broken down - let me know! Full video breakdown of all sets:
Golden State Warriors | Horns Twist Short
The Golden State Warriors have been using this “Short” action ever since Kerr took over, but tweaking it to use it for Payton II has been so much fun. The idea of this is simple - get two players on the ball guarding Steph and get the ball to Draymond or Iguadola and let them make a simple read for a dunk or 3.
Another variation on this action is to disguise it with a “Ram” or downscreen into the same action.
The Warriors initially used this action with McGee rolling and having Klay Thompson spacing the floor with a zipper screen as an entry - watch for this setup later in the season ATO.
In 2017, the Wizards used this
Chicago Bulls | Chin Empty Lob
I broke down the Chicago Bulls 5-Out offense, but one of their favorite sets in the early season has been their “Chin” set or a backscreen into a ballscreen. A great counter they ran for Lavine to get a dunk ATO was to empty out one side of the floor and have him come off the backscreen.
Washington Wizards | Touch Side Strong
I mentioned the Wizards and how awesome their ATO sets have been, one of my favorites is to run a 2-man game on one side and have a stagger on the opposite side. It is tough action to guard and opens up the roll, point guard scores and scores off the stagger.
Detroit Pistons | Winner Spin Hammer
It is no secret that Brad Stevens is one of my favorite coaches to study of all time, and his Winner set might be the best set I have seen used at the end of games in the NBA.
In the first game of the season the Pistons ran a perfect counter out of it using the main action as decoy then spinning baseline for a hammer 3.
Purdue Boilermakers | Angle Swing Shallow
Purdue is one of my favorite teams to study and this ATO opening set was beautiful from Painter against UNC. They take advantage of sagging off bigs in the ballscreen and then running clever shallow action at the same time making this set a nightmare to defend.
Thank you for checking out this breakdown, if you have any suggestions for specific sets - let me know!
Coach Pyper