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Message: [QUOTE="Coach Orange, post: 1278914, member: 2260"] Good article. I have been saying all season that our mediocre execution of fundamentals is a major reason for our struggles this season. To be fair, some of our players are still at the developmental stage of these fundamental skills. They then have to work through proficiency to mastery. One point about this article's specific point, though: it isn't just the screeners in our offense that have been sloppy; the cutters have been, too. It doesn't really matter if you look at ball screens or off-the-ball screens, our players often don't execute proper fundamentals. For example, as I was watching Cooney the other night as he tried to use the pin-down screens, it was clear that he would find more separation if he actually came off the screens "shoulder to shoulder" with the screener rather than "banana cutting" off of them. This is not the screener's fault--the cutter must use the screen properly. Jeff Van Gundy says that only bad defensive teams allow players to literally cut shoulder to shoulder, but I think Cooney could still use the screen much more effectively by closing the distance between himself and the screener, even if he isn't literally shoulder to shoulder. Additionally, our players often don't bump screens properly when defenders cheat up the lane. This plays right into the defense's hands, either by denying the cutter as an option, or stalling the ball in the hands of a closely guarded player on the catch. Finally, when using ball screens, the player with the ball should take at least two dribbles (again, shoulder to shoulder) to create space for passes or shots. I've noticed several times that G, Cooney, and K Jo don't always do this. A few of those times have resulted in turnovers as the ball handler tried to force a pass to a post player in a crowded lane. At the very least, not taking two clearing dribbles has resulted in wasted activity in these moments as the players did not allow the action to create the space needed to unclog things. Don Meyer said that reading screens is a lot like reading a book: cutters have to take their time and comprehend the information so they can properly utilize them. In his opinion, it was always best for players to be slower when using screens than quicker. Unfortunately, there are times when our cutters don't do this, and this is not just a "this season" issue. [/QUOTE]

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