A broken nose threatened to derail a match-up inside the Lakers-Pacers tilt that pitted two of the league’s better young post players against each other. Roy Hibbert was not only able to shake off an errant elbow and win his individual battle against Andrew Bynum, he also helped propel his team to a big road victory. He did so by putting an emphasis on one of the most basic things for a big man: post positioning.

One of fundamental aspects missing in today’s game is the ability for players (of any position) to work hard to get good spots on the floor (For post-up opportunities, that usually means getting at least one foot in the paint on a post catch). Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t always derived from laziness. In fact, most times it’s because players are so used to be so much taller/stronger/more athletic than their competition, that they haven’t yet realized the value of getting prime real estate. Hibbert (and Bynum) are both exceptions that rule.In last night’s contest, Hibbert had a nice contrast of showing the good things that happen with great positioning versus the mistakes that can be made without it.

His first basket of the night was fundamentally perfect from an effort, execution and technique standpoint. About halfway through the second quarter, the Pacers run a quick set seemingly designed to get Paul George and David West engaged in a pick and pop in the middle of the floor. Hibbert starts off on the weakside of the floor as George begins to drive left off the screen.

Knowing that West is popping toward the foul line, Hibbert realize he has an opportunity to duck-in for a quick post up as George clears the hedge. His timing is perfect as he circles around Bynum (whose defensive effort is less than ideal), sits on his legs with both hands high inside the restricted arc. Hibbert receives the ball from George and finishes with a nice no-dribble, right hand jump hook (the ability to shoot so deep without having to use a dribble shows what great work he did to get positioning).
Here is the clip:

The following video has three possessions in which Hibbert again gets great position deep on the block or in the paint. Each catch has at least one foot in (or right near) the lane. Not coincidentally, all three attempts are makes.

As I mentioned before, Hibbert wasn’t flawless on the night. His two turnovers could both be attributed to poor location upon receiving the ball. On each catch that precedes a turnover, Hibbert is pushed more toward the 12-15 foot range than the 7-10 foot range we saw before. The first play you’ll see results in a travel, due to the awkward nature of Hibbert trying to get to one of his counters from so far out. The second is an errant pass possibly caused by Hibbert anticipating an angle out of his post up he wasn’t used to. Check it out:

With Danny Granger struggling to start the year (and not really being a go-to option to begin with), the Pacers could use Hibbert’s post presence to carry them through any offensive lulls. As long as he continues to work for deep post positioning, Hibbert will continue to factor heavily into Indiana’s offensive success.

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To start the fourth quarter, Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic turned the basketball over on two straight possessions.  Both of these turnovers were due to three second violations on Dwight Howard.  While the turnovers are chalked up to Howard, these three second violations were more the fault of his teammates than his fault.  Both times Howard had deep post position and his teammates didn’t pass him the basketball:

The Magic’s first possession is a set play to try and get Dwight Howard the ball in the post after a dive.  Howard sets a ball screen and then dives to the paint, looking to get strong post position.  This happens as Arenas kicks the basketball out to Ryan Anderson.  Howard is in the paint right under the basket, but Anderson doesn’t even look at Howard to make the entry pass.  The ball finally gets entered into Howard, but it is one pass too late, and by the time he gets the ball in the paint the whistle blows for three seconds.

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In the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks made it a point to run, both after misses and makes.  Doing so forced mismatches for Chicago, and on one play it resulted in Luol Deng trying to cover Al Horford.  Deng responded by trying to front the post, but the Hawks were able to beat that using a nice high-low option:

It takes a little while to get to it, but the Hawks finally notice the mismatch (Deng covering Horford) and get the ball to the wing.  Once Hinrich gets the basketball, Horford takes Deng to the post.

Noticing that the Hawks are trying to post him up, Deng tries to fron the post going from the baseline vs. going from the middle.  Zaza Pachulia notices this and flashes to the basketball at the high post.

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There aren’t many bigs you can go to late in the game, but as Avery Johnson showed in the past, Brook Lopez of the New Jersey Nets is one of them.  Most of the time it is because the big is a poor free throw shooter, however Johnson has ran final plays for Lopez late in games because Lopez is a strong FT shooter (over 80% career from the line).  Combine that with his post moves, Lopez is a pretty attractive option, especially on nights where the true #1 option (Deron Williams) isn’t around.

So with the Nets trailing the Los Angeles Clippers by one point with 12.4 seconds left, coach Johnson went to Lopez again.  And while the play Johnson drew up was great, Lopez’s move was even better:

As the ball goes to the trigger-man, Lopez sets a screen for Travis Outlaw, who uses it to flash to the ball side corner.

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Against the Warriors the Suns had an advantage in an area they don’t usually have one.  They had a size advantage on their opponent.  The Suns wanted to try and take advantage of guys like Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis in the post.  The Warriors countered by trying to front the post.  This is a strategy that smaller defenders try to use when bigger guys try to post them up.  The problem with fronting the post is that it only works when the pass comes from the corner.  If an offense quickly moves the ball from the corner to the top of the key/wing the defense gets exposed.  The Suns’ were able to expose the Warriors fronting defense last night:

The ball goes to Jared Dudley in the corner and he looks to get the ball to Josh Childress as he tries to post up Monta Ellis.  Ellis counters this by working around him on the top side and fronting him.

The purpose of the front is to try and force a lob pass over the defender’s head.  The reason why the Warriors are giving this up is because the pass is lobbed over, it allows the man on the weakside to come over and either get the steal or effectively double Childress when he makes the catch.

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The FIBA World Championships started on Saturday, and one of the major themes from the first day of games was the importance of post position for offensive players.  There were two performances that illustrated this point very well.  They were Ante Tomic’s game against the United States and Yi’s game against Greece.

Good Position Before The Catch

Getting good position in the post before the catch makes everything easier for the player posting his man up.  Getting closer to the basket before even getting the ball, limits the amount of moves a post player needs to make.  Also, it allows for an easier attempt because the post player is closer to the basket.

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Here, Ante Tomic (#11 from Croatia) is allowed to set up on the block before he gets the pass, and with Tomic being 7’2″ (According To DraftExpress) that position is all he really needs.  After making the catch, Tomic only needs two dribbles to set himself for the turnaround jumper.  Push Tomic another five feet out, and that is a tough shot.  But at his size and position on the court, he is able to get off an easy shot.

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