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Changing Gears In The Spurs Pick-and-Roll

I've talked before about the difference between physical tools and the ability to "make a play," and have done so specifically in the context of reading the pick-and-roll. The Spurs, despite having a somewhat clunky offensive game by their standards, still put on a master class in pick-and-roll execution. By comparison, despite their victory, the Wizards young guards clearly have things still to learn. In this post, I'll look at what the Spurs guards do well, and in the next, I'll tackle where the young Wizards guards sometimes fail (though not the Professor Andre Miller as if there's one guy who knows how to win without speed...)

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Conceptually, the problems John Wall and Bradley Beal have in pick-and-roll execution come down to one word: pace. Being fast and quick is great, but against high level NBA defense simply going as fast as possible at all times has limited utility.  What is more effective is being unexpectedly quick. In a straight line race or even a quickness measuring shuttle run, Wall probably edges out Tony Parker at this point in his career. 

(UPDATE 4/22/14 - for comparison, I looked at Wall and Beal's "one speed" attack here)

But Parker has the nous to vary the speed at which he comes off the screen in a pick-and-roll, which does several important things.  First it gives his big man, whether Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter or Boris Diaw, time to set a solid screen before rolling.

For example, in this simple looking PnR, Parker's patience allows him to let the play develop by not trying to turn the corner as fast as possible:

Breaking it down further, Parker allows Duncan to set a solid screen and then become a threat. He could simply try to blow by the help man, Brandan Wright, as quickly as possible:

But this would essentially leave Duncan trailing the play and not really a threat to do anything besides shoot a 17 footer. Which is ok, but for a truly elite offense, you are looking for more than that early in the shot clock.  Instead, Parker knows that Duncan set a solid screen on Devin Harris, so Parker will have the edge to the corner even if he delays for a count or two. Which he does:

Parker has actually veered slightly away from the basket which does two things. First it allows Duncan to be "ahead" of him on his roll to the basket and second it forces Wright to come higher up the floor and choose between containing the Parker drive or recovering to Duncan's roll. Note that Harris is still trailing Parker because of the good screen Duncan set. This allows Parker to now turn the corner:

Wright is forced to or at least chooses to contain Parker, leaving Dirk Nowitzki 1-on-2 with Duncan and Diaw, allowing the drop off to Duncan for the layup.

Similarly, in this gorgeous play, Parker's unhurried style allows for an easy passing angle to Diaw for the roll to the hoop:

Again, Parker could come off the screen at a million miles an hour and attack Nowitzki at the free throw line:

But much like the first example, he delays allowing Diaw to roll and keeping an enormous lane open for Parker to lead Diaw to the basket with the pass:

And, since Parker is taking his time and allowing his big man to set a hefty screen, if no easy passing angle develops, he can still oftentimes turn the corner and get to the rack himself:

Parker reads that Wright is dropping to cover Duncan's roll, and he uses not only his extreme quickness, but his ability to change speeds quickly to get by Harris to the bucket. Note especially his subtle fake like he's going to pitch the ball back to Diaw for the wing three which causes Harris to rise out of his stance just enough for Parker to blow by:

This isn't to say that Parker never looks to attack with speed on the PnR (unlike for example Jrue Holiday who seemingly is always probing and never attacking.) Here, Wright is caught off balance and Parker uses straight up speed to get Duncan a layup:

The common thread is reading the coverage. (See here for an excellent taxonomy of NBA PnR defensive schemes) The goal of running a PnR isn't simply to get the ball-handler or the screener an open shot, but to force the defense to use an extra defender or else give up a score. Thus in schemes involving quick traps or double teams on the ball, the best plan of attack is to move the ball quickly. Here, Manu Ginobili recognizes the trap before it is sprung and quickly passes to the screener making the "short roll" :

Instead of barreling into the trap, Ginobili does just enough to commit Wright to him:

Manu engages Wright but still leaves a large pocket between the trap and the remaining defense, allowing Duncan to catch the ball in the paint with an effective 3-on-2 situation:

By reading the D and taking his time, Ginobili created the space on the floor and the passing angle to allow Duncan to receive the ball in a fantastic spot.

That play shows the importance in attacking doubling schemes to actually make both players assigned to the ball defend the ball. Here's another example, in which Ginobili does not bail out Dallas's ICE coverage, instead making Shawn Marion and Nowitzki cover him:

Manu could settle and ease himself into a makeable  pull up jumper:

Instead, he takes an extra dribble towards the basket to commit both defenders to him:

Giving the rest of the offense a 4-on-3:

Unfortunately, and perhaps representative of the Spurs offense not running completely smoothly, the pass was a touch behind Diaw, allowing the Mavs to recover. But, there are still 17 seconds on the shot clock, plenty of time to run a second or even third action to salvage a decent look from a possession.  Though I'll get more into it tomorrow, compare with John Wall's all-too-common response to facing ICE defense: 

This shot comes with about 14 on the shot clock, plenty of time to get something better. And it's caused by Wall coming off the screen too fast and not giving himself time to survey his options fully, but that's the subject of tomorrow's look at the Wizards' guards' "one speed" approach.

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