Billy Donovan Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly University of Florida) 2014 Coaching U (Indianapolis, Indiana) Topic: “A Motion Pick & Roll Series”

-George Raveling spoke to the 2013 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship Team that Donovan coached. “95% of Americans never get a chance to represent their country,” Raveling said, “The 5% do it on two venues: the military and the Olympics.”

-George Raveling bought every member of Donovan’s coaching staff three books to read on their trip to Prague, Czech Republic.

-In coaching, you’re only going to be as good as who you surround yourself with and who you really associate with.

-Growth Mindset: Do everything you can to learn from the coaches you admire/respect. The majority of coaches will go out of their way to help another coach.

-If there’s one thing you need to do as a coach when you start to think about your style of play on the offensive end of the floor is... • As the ball crosses halfcourt and transition is over… o How do you want to play? o What do you want to do? o Do your players understand what to do?

-I give a lot of freedom as a coach. I don’t control every single play. I would like there to be some spontaneity, some creativity. I would like there to be a part of offense that’s difficult to scout because it’s not necessarily scripted. In order to do that, however, you need to teach guys how to play and what they need to be doing inside the framework of your offense.

-When we cross halfcourt, transition is over with, we’re going to “flow” in offense. We’re going to play. I don’t want to be a coach whose point guard is looking at him every time for a play-call. I want to flow in and out of concepts.

-The more shooting you have on the court, the more spacing you have. You can space your guys all the way out, but if your 2-man can’t shoot, it doesn’t make a difference where you put them because the well-coached teams won’t guard him.

-The best defensive teams are the teams that can go from having two guys on the ball (baseline drive, pick & roll, low post trap) and can scramble back and get matched up.

-Everything we do offensively has to do with the things that I think are most difficult to do on defense. • Fast break: transition defense is hard • Put two guys on the ball: rotating out of this is hard

-Angle of ball screen: angled screen. Our bigs are sprinting up to screen the backside of the guard defender to force him to go over the top of the pick (it’s almost like a back screen). We want to take away teams running under pick & rolls.

-We’d like the top of the floor to be open for us to be able to get down the lane and create penetration (why our weakside players hug the sideline while a side pick & roll is occurring).

-Despite the success of NBA bigs with the Amare roll (just turning and sprinting to the rim after screening), Donovan still teaches his bigs to open up to the ball. Never wants his big guys losing vision of the ball.

-We have a ton of concepts we play out of and a lot of times what governs what which concept we flow into depends on two things… • How well does our 4-man shoot? • How well does our 5-man shoot?

-Our 4 and 5 end up working off each other a lot. In a “flowing situation,” our 4’s and 5’s have to do a lot of reads.

Transition:

-Out of the net and up the floor as fast as possible. Miss or make, we’re fast- breaking. We are pushing the ball. Roles -4-man takes it out every time. Some people like the fact of having the nearest guy inbound it. I want a designated inbounder so that guy has a job, a role, a responsibility every time that ball goes through the net. -Wings: 2-man runs right, 3-man runs left (at least down to the first lane marker above the block). -5-man runs to the center of the rim.

-4-Second Rule: In practice, no matter the drill, the ball must cross halfcourt in four seconds or it’s a turnover. We want to train our guys, condition our guys, to run every single time.

-We want the middle of the floor open so our point guard has the opportunity to put the ball down on the floor to make plays.

-On an advance pass, the 1-man cuts through opposite (can happen on either side of the floor). Any time in transition that we have a “Double Side” (two guards on one side), our spots will be corner (where 1 is in the diagram) and 3 lifting up to “hold the sideline” so as teams get to the midline, we’ll potentially be able to get some shots.

-As ball comes back to the top (to 4 in the diagram above), we’ll look at 5 for a duck-in (5’s transition post-up opportunities are the strong side block post-up off the advance pass and the paint duck-in off the reversal to the trailer) . If he doesn’t have 5, he looks to reverse the ball to 3. If 3 is denied, he back cuts and 1 fills up (3 will fill back to the same side corner).

-On 4’s pass to 3, 5 sprints out to set a ball screen. From here, 4 can do one of three things • Follow 5 for a double ball screen • Space out to the wing (spread pick & roll) • Dive to the weakside short corner

-Spread pick & roll option: 4 has spaced away to “hug the sideline” as 3 drives off the ball screen. On his catch, he passes it to 2 and has three options: ball screen, slip, shallow cut.

-If the ball gets thrown across, 5 is ducking into his man and sealing across. Duck in immediately on that guy who is helpside. When you are the top guard on a reversal pass on a “double side,” you are never receiving a pick & roll. The only thing you’re thinking is shot or post feed.

-If 5 isn’t open and I don’t have a shot, he is throwing the ball down the corner (1) and cuts. That pass to 1 signals 5 that his post-up opportunity is over and he now needs to sprint out to set a screen.

-From the spot on the double side where the guard passes the ball to the corner and cuts through, we can flow into a number of different options

Duck-in for 4 Love this because most as x4 is college teams want to x- Not shown, but you can also cut the helpside on switch this with their 4 guard through and lift the opposite the 1/5 P&R and 5. Really tough cover big. On the big’s catch, the top for x4 to absorb 5’s roll guard cuts through to the opposite and then closeout to the corner and the corner guard lifts up 3-point line. for a ball screen

-Are these calls? No. The players are reading and flowing from one concept to the next. I might call an entry that gets us into a formation that I think will be good versus the way the defense is guarding us.

“Single side” options (created by weakside big sprinting up the lane line):

-You should be tinkering with your system every year to find spots in your stuff to take advantage of what your personnel does well.

-We’re creating constant movement, constant motion. The ball is constantly moving and we’re giving our guys a few things to play out of.

-Anytime a big dribbles across the court, we are looking for a backdoor and a double ball screen (see diagram to the right).

-We can set a step-up on a “single side.” If the 4-man sets, he pops. If the 5- man sets, he rolls (4 sprinting to the top of the key in a roll/replace action).

-If we think a team is really tagging hard versus a corner-filled side ball screen), we will have the screener roll into a down screen on that “tag man.” We also try to make sure this “shake guy” gets really lifted. He doesn’t wait, he sprints right up and tries to get really high on that side. -If the big is reversing the ball to a guard and sprinting into a pick & roll, he should take 2-3 steps toward the basket to get in line with the defender to set up the angle of his ball screen. Instead of running in a straight line into the ball screen, come down to the elbow and sprint into a ball screen.

-Versus a team that blitzes: I like screening for the ball screener (to break up them not being able to sit on it) or have the screener set a back screen before the ball screen (having to cover the back screen makes the hedge late). Slip screens are also great versus teams that blitz.

-Versus ball screen switching: • Post the mismatch on the backside of a pick & roll. • Once they’ve switched a big onto a guard, ran a ball screen for that guard (causing x4 and x5 to negotiate a 1/5 pick & roll). • Throwback to the “shake” who tries to feed the big rolling into a post-up against the mismatch. • You can’t switch a slip. You can’t switch a shallow cut. • If we’re going to come over and set the ball screen on that single side every time, it becomes a lot easier to switch. Mix up your “single side” stuff (mixing in a shallow cut, mix in a slip will help your when you set a ball screen because it will slow down the defense’s switches).

-Doesn’t love ball screens late in the clock because of the tendency for the defense to switch this. Would rather attack the other team’s weakest defender in a 1-4 flat.

-Versus off-ball switching: screener screens his own man.

-You can only teach ball screening so much against chairs. You need that live element (5-on-5, 3-on-3, 2-on-2).

-What do you do if you have a shooter that isn’t a ball screen player? Keep him on a “double side” (2 guards on the same side) by constantly having him as the top guard. In this spot, he will be passing the ball down to the corner and cutting through as that other guard in the corner spot comes off a ball screen. As this shooter cuts through, have him replace with the other guard on that side (so he assumes that top spot on the “double side” again). -Cutting off post feeds: dive the big to the weakside short corner. Guard who fed the post cuts through. Post player needs space. We don’t want anyone on the side of the floor with our big.

Attacking teams that “ICE” pick & rolls

-Throwing the ball to the big at the elbow (rather than him ball screening) is a great way to combat this.

-Take one dribble at the defensive big. The guard’s dribble “bounces” the screener out to the 3-point line. As the big (4 in the diagram) catches, his man runs up to guard him. From here, 4 can throw it back to the guard (1 in the diagram) and sprint into a ball screen (tough for x4 to get back into his “ICE” position).

-The guard (1 in the diagram) takes one dribble at the defensive big. The guard’s dribble “bounces” the screener (4) out to the 3-point line. 4 takes a dribble across the court and throws it ahead to 2 and sprints into a ball screen. The other big (5) sprints out to follow into a double ball screen (4 slips the first).