In their championship days, Spurs opponents could expect a steady diet of Tim Duncan post ups. As the NBA became more perimeter oriented, Gregg Popovich adapted his offense to incorporate the talents of his own perimeter players. This year the keys to the offense have been turned over to Tony Parker, and the Spurs have responded with the highest offensive rating of any team in the regular season. While this years’ Spurs are best known for their relentless pick and roll attack, Popovich has not abandoned the fundamental motion principles that have carried his teams to championships in the past. One of these motion plays is known as “weak,” and the Jazz saw a steady diet of weak in their first game with the Spurs.

The play begins with the ball handler (here Tony Parker) passing ahead to the strong-side wing (Manu Ginobili). This pass keys several actions:

1. After passing ahead, the ball handler cuts across the lane. The strong-side wing looks to hit the ball handler as he cuts through:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo_AA0JojWk&w=420&h=315]

Here, the crafty Ginobili perfectly times the pass and hits Parker in stride for the layup.

2. If the ball handler can’t be hit, the strong-side wing passes up top to the trailing big man. The trailer then swings the ball to the ball handler, who cut through to the weak-side of the floor.

3. As the ball is swung, the weak-side wing goes to set a cross screen for the other big in the post:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVOdngSe6rE&w=420&h=315]

As the ball is swung to Tony Parker, Ginobili (this time at the weak-side wing) sets a screen for Duncan in the post. Al Jefferson cheats over the top of Ginobili’s screen, leaving Duncan wide open to catch the lob from Parker.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5BBqowKAHo&w=420&h=315]

We see the pass ahead and cut through the lane, keying weak. This time the cross screen is for Boris Diaw, who is able to seal his defender on the opposite block. Boris quickly feels his defender on his right shoulder, then unleashes a baseline spin for the easy reverse layup.

The post man can also come off the cross screen to set a ball screen:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEfTMcyBElQ&w=420&h=315]

After the cross screen, Duncan chooses to set a screen for Parker. Parker waits for Duncan then quickly step fakes his defender into the screen. Parker then crosses over away from the screen past the help of Al Jefferson. To prevent an easy basket, Paul Millsap is forced to help from the weak-side corner, leaving Kawhi Leonard wide open for three.

In all these clips, we see the fourth action of weak, a screen-the-screener action.

4. After swinging the ball back to the ball handler, the trailer comes down to set a screen for the weak-side wing, who just set the cross screen for the post.

In this next clip, we will see the Spurs run a counter of this action that still leads to a screen-the-screener for the ball handler instead of the weak-side wing:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbCEF8khzJs&w=420&h=315]

We see Parker pass ahead to Gary Neal and cut across the lane. Instead of cutting all the way to the weak-side wing, he doubles back to set the cross screen. Meanwhile, the weak-side wing (this time Stephen Jackson) pops out to receive the swing pass from the trailer. After swinging the ball, the trailer (this time Matt Bonner) screens-the-screener allowing Parker to come up to the top of the key and receive the ball.

In the last clip, we will see another counter from the weak action:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiO3virdIho&w=420&h=315]

Parker passes ahead to Danny Green and cuts across. We see the weak-side wing Stephen Jackson move down, but he sets a back pick for Parker instead of screening for Boris Diaw in the post. Parker comes off the back pick towards a waiting Boris Diaw, who is ready to set another screen. Paul Millsap is so concerned with denying Parker that he leaves Diaw a direct line to the basket. Diaw cuts back door and Duncan finds him for an easy layup.

With weak, the Spurs have an equal opportunity play that can naturally flow from screens, to off the ball movement, to post ups, to pick and roll. Players have no fixed positions and Popovich gives them free reign to read the defense and react accordingly. The ability to execute a variety of options with varying personnel, combined with the Spurs great patience and unselfishness, ensures the offense can generate high percentage shots: both in the past – when Duncan was the anchor on the block, to today – with Parker speeding around the court.

Joon Kim is the author of NBA Breakdown, and its subsidiaries, Spurs Motion Offense and The Triangle Offense — a tree of sites dedicated to basketball fundamentals.  You can follow Joon on Twitter: @JoonKim00.

The Spurs found themselves on the losing end of their game against the Bulls last night, but good ole’ Pop still flashed the same creative excellence that makes him one of the best in the league. Looking to get his reserve unit in rhythm out of a dead-ball situation, Popovich called for a unique set featuring his two bigs (Matt Bonner and Tiago Splitter) to engage in a clever staggered ball screen with reserve guard Gary Neal.

The play starts off with some false action out of a 1-4 High/Horns alignment (key point being both Bonner and Splitter start at the elbows). TJ Ford starts off by hitting Splitter popping outside the arc near the right slot. As Ford cuts through, Splitter reverses to Neal then slides down toward the mid-post. Bonner, patiently waiting at the right elbow, then comes and sprints into a ball screen for Neal. With Neal’s defender, Loul Deng, being of similar size, Taj Gibson (marking Bonner) is given free reign to switch to Neal as he comes off the screen.

Had this been a straight up pick and pop between Bonner and Neal, switching the screen would have easily thrawted it thanks to Gibson’s ability to guard smaller, quicker players on the perimeter. However, with Splitter coming to set another screen, the Bulls find themselves in a bit of jam. Gibson, due to perhaps a combination of inexperience guarding the ball handler in screening situations and lack of preparation, drops low to avoid the second screen. His decision is going to force Asik (defending Splitter) to be responsible for showing hard, above the screen, in order to prevent a jumpshot for the sweet-shooting Neal.

Miscommunication now plays a part as both Asik and Gibson attempt to contest any Neal jumper. Both of them being above Splitter allows him to cleanly roll to the basket.

As Splitter dives hard toward the rim, CJ Watson is forced to scramble over from the weakside in a vain attempt stop the roll.

The result is an assist for Neal on a rather easy finish for Splitter. Here is the play in real time:

For the past two offseasons, we have been looking at players coming to the NBA after playing at least as season overseas. With the lockout, we are going to have plenty of time on our hands.  With that being said, I plan on doing scouting reports for each of the 30 first round picks from this past draft.

Past Editions: Kyrie Irving (#1) | Derrick Williams (#2) | Tristan Thompson (#4) | Jonas Valanciunas (#5) | Jan Vesely (#6)| Bismack Biyombo (#7) | Brandon Knight (#8) | Kemba Walker (#9) | Jimmer Fredette (#10) | Klay Thompson (#11) | Alec Burks (#12) | Markieff Morris (#13) | Marcus Morris (#14)

Out of nowhere, the Spurs made a trade for Kawhi Leonard, a player that they seemed to be very high on.  So high, they were willing to trade back-up point guard, and Gregg Popovich favorite, George Hill to Indiana so they could acquire Leonard.

Strengths

Forcing Turnovers

If I were to pick out Leonard’s biggest strength, it would be his on ball defense.  Maybe the biggest indicator of how good he is defensively is his ability to force turnovers when defending ball handlers, both in isolation situations and in the pick and roll.  When in isolation situations, Leonard forced a turnover 23.8% of the time, holding opponents to 37.5% shootings.  In pick and roll situations where he defended the ball handler, Leonard 23.7% of the time, giving up a PPP of just 0.658 (putting him in the top 35% of all college players).  The first thing that you notice about Leonard on tape is his length.  He has an incredibly long wingspan, 7’3″ according to DraftExpress, and that allows him to do things defensively that some other defenders can’t do:

With that length, he doesn’t have to reach in on dribble penetration, allowing him to stay in front and bother drives by being in the passing lanes (again with his long arms). However, when the offensive player does stick the ball in front of him, his hands are quick enough to go for the steal without drawing contact or committing a foul.

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About midway through the fourth quarter, Grizzlies’ head coach Lionel Hollins was faced with a difficult decision.  Hollins just saw a three point lead turn into a one point deficit after a two straight poor possessions that resulted in turnovers (these results were a direct result of Tony Allen trying to do a little too much on the offensive end):

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Lost in the Spurs’ overtime win and the defensive error from Shane Battier is the fact that the Grizzlies defense is still playing well against San Antonio’s pick and roll/kick out game.  In the middle of the overtime period, we saw another great play from Memphis’ defense:

With possession of the basketball and a two point lead, the Spurs were looking to milk a little clock, allowing 10 seconds to burn off of the shot clock before they get into their offense.  After flattening out, Antonio McDyess comes up and sets a screen for Tony Parker.

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After all of the great plays in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, there was still basketball to be played.  In overtime, the Spurs found themselves up by two points with 39.3 seconds left.  Needing a stop, the Spurs were able to do something that they couldn’t do all series up until then, keep the ball out of Zach Randolph’s hands:

The play starts with Mike Conley cutting off of Zach Randolph to make himself available for the inbounds pass from Shane Battier.

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We have looked at the play before it, and the play after it, and now we are going to take a look at the play that resulted in one of the craziest shots of the season.  With the Spurs trailing the Grizzlies by three points with 9.4 seconds left, they had one timeout left and the basketball on the side.  Deciding it was time to go for the three point shot, Gregg Popovich drew up a play to try and get a look from behind the three point line.  The result was mayhem:

The inbounds pass to Ginobili gets deflected, and after a few more deflections, the basketball ends up back in his hands.  Ginobili tries to get behind the three point line, but is unable to and gets off one of the longest twos you can take, knocking it down and putting his team down one point.

It was a crazy play, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the Spurs were trying to run, because it did look familiar.  If you were reading this site over a year ago, you might have recognized it from a Spurs-Cavs game last March:

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After extending the game as long as possible, by going for two, fouling, and taking timeouts, the Spurs had to finally make their move and go for the three point shot with 1.7 seconds left and no more timeouts.  The Grizzlies knew that the Spurs had to go for a three here, and they had the upper hand.  Unfortunately, a poor decision by one of the best defenders in the NBA resulted in an open three point shot that got knocked down:

The play starts with George Hill sprinting to the corner.  Almost simultaneously Antonio McDyess goes from the top of the key to set a screen for Tim Duncan on the elbow.

This first screen set by San Antonio shows you Memphis’ strategy to playing screens late, and they are switching everything.  Darrell Arthur picks up McDyess and Shane Battier picks up Tim Duncan.

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Coming out of a timeout, the Spurs found themselves trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by three points with 13.8 seconds left in the game.  With two timeouts still in his pocket (and the fact that the Grizzlies have been so good defending the three point line), Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich decided to go for the quick two, choosing to take the two points and extend the game by fouling.  To get those two points, Popovich was able to use Memphis’ denial of the three point line against them:

The play starts with Matt Bonner setting a downscreen for Tim Duncanwho flashes to the top of the key to receive the basketball.

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Watching the San Antonio Spurs play on the offensive end this series, it is obvious that the Spurs have gotten away from what has made them successful over the course of the regular season.  While most of it has to do with the Grizzlies’ fantastic defense, I just get the nagging feeling that the Spurs have consciously been getting away from what they have done best.  With the Spurs trailing the Grizzlies by five points with 4:00 left in the third quarter, we saw a perfect example of this:

After creating a turnover, the San Antonio Spurs were able to get out in transition with Parker bringing the ball down the court and Richard Jefferson running down the sideline.

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