When David West sets a screen for Chris Paul, it is almost guaranteed that David West will pop instead of roll. So far this year, West has been the roll man on pick and rolls 126 times (14.8% of his total possessions used), and 96 (76.2%) out of those 126 screen and rolls resulted in a pick and pop. This isn’t a bad thing for the Horents because with West’s shooting ability, he sure has been effective popping out, posting a 1.14 points per possession when he pops on 57.1% shooting.
You can understand why this is so hard to defend. West is a good shooter, and when paired with the driving ability of Chris Paul, teams tend to overhedge on the screens, opening up David West for the open jumper:
Here, Chris Paul uses the West screen, and DaJuan Blair (West’s man) sinks into the middle of the paint to prevent Paul from driving. This leaves West open for the kick-out pass, Paul makes the pass and West hits the jumper.
The success that West has on pick and pops is pretty remarkable considering the fact that David West doesn’t set very good screens, completely whiffing and making no contact on screens more often than not. This all comes down to the threat of Chis Paul. Whether or not West gets a good screen set, teams always seem to hedge them because they don’t want Paul to get into the lane. That’s totally understandable, but it is also playing right into the Hornets hands.
This is why I am suggesting that teams start playing the Hornets’ pick and rolls differently. Forget the hedging, the switching, and the hard shows, just have Chris Paul’s defender fight through the West screen without help or a hedge from the man covering West. I know what you are thinking, “no help or hedge means that Chris Paul would get to the lane easily, so you are just taking away one thing (the pop) while giving up something new (Paul getting to the lane).” I tend to disagree. West screens are so bad that almost every single time, opposing point guards are able to fight through them:
In this clip, Sam Young is defending Chris Paul as Paul works off of a series of screens. West’s screen is the final one of the two (which is something the Hornets do a lot), and West doesn’t make any contact, allowing Young to stick with Paul. This doesn’t keep Marc Gasol from showing real quick, and that gives Paul a passing lane to West. I would much rather have seen Gasol not show and deny West in this situation, letting Young work through the screen one-on-one (which to Young’s credit, he does).
Here, West sets another bad screen, this time turning his body to the side and making himself smaller, and not getting a body on Paul’s man. This allows Tyreke Evans to get under the screen and cut off Paul’s ability to get to the rim. Jason Thompson still gets caught sinking in to the middle of the paint, and that frees up West for the pop. West misses, but that isn’t the point, he was wide open for that jumper.
On this possession, West decides to slip his screen and pop early, catching Andray Blatche in the middle of the lane ready to hedge on the pick and roll. If teams start fighting through screens with no hedge, it also takes away West’s little “slip-pop” where he fades to the opposite elbow when he slips the screen.
Obviously there are concerns if you don’t help/hedge and rely on Chris Paul’s defender to fight through screens, but I think this is the best strategy out there, allowing defenses to take advantage of David West’s poor screening. Now, West isn’t going to whiff on every single screen, so what happens when he does get a piece of Paul’s man when he is trying to fight through the screen (and defenses are playing the no help/hedge strategy)? That is where good communication comes in. If the man gets screened, he needs to call out for help, and then West’s man goes out to help on Paul, keeping him out of the paint.
I just think this is the best way to limit Paul’s ability to get in the lane coming off screens, while not leaving David West open. Because if you hedge or help off of West, there is a good chance that Paul will find him for an open jumper that he can knock down.
