If you're like me, you remember the bell curve from your school days. The idea was this: a few kids got A's, a few kids got F's, and the majority were in the middle. We all hoped to be towards the A end of the curve!

While a bell curve is shaped (shockingly) like a bell, an upside-down bell curve would resemble a "U".

Why is this Relevant? Because I'd suggest that the effectiveness of ball screens can be graphed with an upside-down bell curve.

If you put age on the X-axis (horizontal) and effectiveness on the Y-axis (vertical), it would look something like the image above.

In youth basketball, the ball screen tends to be very effective. You can give the ball to your best player, have someone else set a screen, and let your best player attack the basket. It often works simply because defenses at the youth level struggle to defend ball screens.

(As an aside, just because the ball screen is effective in youth basketball doesn't mean you should do it.)

At the highest levels of the game (major college and the NBA), the ball screen is the primary action teams use to create offense. It's used on almost every possession.

You might note that I said major college. I just was at a Division 3 Men's practice this week. One of the coaches told me that they are moving away from ball screens because they've found that they only have one guy who effectively makes plays off the ball screen.

However, things begin to change when players reach middle school age. For those of us coaching middle school and high school teams, we often learn what it's like to be at the bottom of the curve, where ball screens often fail.

How I Failed My Team Through Ball Screen Offense

In the summer of 2013, I was pretty sure I had a great offense. It was a high ball screen offense that was being run by some college programs, similar to European Ball Screen Continuity.

I had studied them. I knew the offense. I also was following this logic: if the best coaches and teams in the world (the NBA) use this tactic, why shouldn't I?

We spent our summer working on it. I was really excited to see it in action...until I actually saw it in action... woof!

It was rough. We ran our offense as though it was a violation to get the ball inside the 3 point line.

We basically did a dribble weave and pass the ball around the perimeter with a ball screener at the top of the key.

The crazy thing was that we are actually "running the offense correctly." We just weren't generating any scoring threats. We were a whole lot of East & West movement, and very little North & South movement.

The offense was good. Our players were good. But our players were not good within the offense.

The Before & After Problem of Ball Screens

Ultimately, there are two phases to a ball screen: what happens before the player gets to the screen, and what happens after the player comes off the screen. Let's look at both.

Before the Screen

For the ball screen to be effective, the following things must happen:

• The player using the screen must get open to receive a pass.
• If that player already has the ball, they must be able to dribble the ball while being guarded to an appropriate level for the ball screen.
• The player with the ball must be able to protect the ball while waiting for the screeners to arrive and get set.
• The screener must get an appropriate angle to set the screen and be set so as to avoid an offensive foul.
• The player with the ball must come off the screen shoulder to hip so the defender cannot slide through.

That's five things that must go right to even have a chance to score.

After the Screen

What about after the screen?

• The player with the ball must be able to read the coverage (blitz, drop, hedge, switch, etc.) and make the correct play.
• The player with the ball must generate space and speed to create separation from the defense.
• If it's a switch, the two players in the ball screen must be able to exploit a mismatch.

Needless to say, there's a lot going on to make a ball screen successful. Most of the onus falls on the player using the ball screen.

And therein lies the issue. The reason ball screens work at the youth level is because 1 player might be better than the rest. That player doesn't have to read the defense. They just dribble by the bad defender guarding the screener (and ball screens at the youth level often fail to help develop all players on the team equally, instead focusing on keeping the ball in 1 or 2 players hands most of the game).

The reason ball screens work at the NBA level is because those players are freakishly good, can make instantaneous reads, and exploit the defensive coverages weakness.

Those of us in between face different conditions. When I ran our ball screen offense, the issue was that our players' strengths didn't align to creating off ball screens.

If you have 1 player who can do all the things listed above, you are lucky. If you have 2, you can probably take a nap during most of your games and your team will be just fine.

But pretty much none of us have a team full of highly skilled players.. So asking players to use ball screen skills they don't possess is a recipe for disaster.

The Cheat Code for More Efficient Offense - Zoom Action

What if there was something better than ball screens? There is...The Zoom Offense with Nate Steege.

The Zoom is a three-player action involving a down screen followed by a pitch or handoff.

How does it solve the problems we discussed above?

Solving the "Before" Problem

Let's revisit our list from above and look at the solutions Zoom provides:

• Ball screen problem: The player using the screen must get open to receive a pass.
• Zoom Solution: In Zoom, the player taking the handoff (3) is able to come off a screen to help them get open to receive the ball.
• Ball screen problem: If that player already has the ball, they must be able to dribble the ball while being guarded to an appropriate level for the ball screen.
• Zoom Solution: Player 3 doesn't have to dribble at all before they clear the "screener."
• Ball screen problem: The player with the ball must be able to protect the ball while waiting for the screeners to arrive and get set.
• Zoom Solution: Because player 3 doesn't have the ball until the handoff, they don't have to protect it!
• Ball screen problem: The screener must get an appropriate angle to set the screen and be set so as to avoid an offensive foul.
• Zoom Solution: The screener (2) dribbles at X3. That's the only direction they need.
• Ball screen problem: The player with the ball must be able to protect the ball while waiting for the screeners to arrive.
• Zoom Solution: This is easier to do as the screen from 1 creates separation (see below). Additionally, it's easier to get shoulder to hip because 3 doesn't have to maintain a dribble at the same time.

Under every circumstance above, Zoom gets a better grade than the ball screen. What about after the screen?

Solving The "After" Problem

Here were our after the screen challenges.

• Ball screen problem: The player with the ball must be able to read the coverage (blitz, drop, hedge, ice, etc.). This is still true. However, some of these coverages are much harder to execute against the Zoom.
• Blitz/hedge Zoom solution: Blitzing the Zoom is much harder than the ball screen. Whereas at least 1 player (often both) are stationary in the ball screen, both players are on the move in the Zoom. This makes it much harder for the 2 defenders to trap without fouling. Additionally, the threat of the big "keeping" the ball discourages teams from blitzing.

• Icing Zoom solution: A Zoom is almost impossible to ice due to player 3's running start. However, if the defense did get in position to ice, the zoom provides a simple solution. Instead of continuing to come to the ball, the guard would immediately go backdoor. (See below for a pic of how Coach Steege drills this).

• Ball screen problem: The player with the ball must generate space and speed to create separation from the defense.
• Zoom solution: This is no longer a concern because the space and speed is created before the player ever receives the ball. This generates the advantage they keep after they get the ball.
• Ball screen problem: If it's a switch, the 2 players in the ball screen must be able to exploit a mismatch. Switching has become really common. Unless you have size or a dynamic guard, it is hard to take advantage of a switch.
• Zoom solution: The good news is the Zoom is harder to switch. The fact that both players are moving quickly in one direction means the defenders would have to stop and change directions and stay in front of a player already sprinting in that direction. Not easy to do... especially when you keep changing up the pattern to make switching unpredictable (see below for how this is drilled).


Make Having An "A+" Season Easier With The Zoom

So much of coaching is figuring out how to solve problems. The ball screen is great... for elite (and novice) players.

The rest of us are left looking for a way to generate the upside of the ball screen without suffering through the downsides.

Look no more! Use The Zoom Offense With Nate Steege and watch your team bust the curve all season!




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