ATTACK Athletics Training Profile
DWYANE WADE
ATTACKING PICK & ROLL
This is Mike Procopio ATTACK Athletics Director of basketball Operations. I want to announce ATTACK Athletics' new program called Train like a Pro. Not everybody has the opportunity to train with ATTACK Athletics and maximize their potential. For the likes of Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, Devin Harris, Andre Iguodala, they receive special training that many players around the world don't get to take part in. We want to bring some of the skills that we teach our player's to you.
Today we are going to feature Dwyane Wade's ability to attack pick and roll. We will break it down in instruction and then give you a link to view D Wade's pick and rolls to learn for yourself visually.
1.) Set Up The Pick and Roll - Setting up your defender is the most important part in initiating pick and roll. You must position your defender to hit your screener to be able to have an advantage. We always tell our guards to have their heads up and see the floor. You must be able to communicate visually with your screener to initiate proper screen and roll. For side screen and roll, you should take your man up the sideline about 2 feet in bounds to give yourself space, drive the ball down as fast as you can making your defender play on his heels and back pedal getting out of his defensive stance. You want to take him down just slightly below the elbow. You want to make sure you keep your dribble, protect the ball, and have plenty of space between you and your screener. For high screen and roll you want to use the elbow as your point of reference. You never want to drift too much further than the elbow because your defender can push up on you defensively and never allow you to use your screener. Make sure you keep your dribble and have space to create angles on your pick and roll.
2) Efficient Use of Your Screener- After you have gotten to your spot it is time to signal to your screener when to come over and set the screen. The reason we need to first start off with a lot of space between you and the screener is to open up the court just in case you can take your defender to the basket as well as create opportunities for your screener to basket cut on his way to setting up the screen. Again, being able to communicate with him is key. As your screener comes you need to stay patient for him to get both feet set on the screen before you attack the defender. You don't want to start early and have your big man get called for an illegal screen. Fouls like this 20 feet from the basket usually are the difference between winning and losing. It is very important to keep your starters on the floor and you must be patient and wait for him to set the screen. When he is set take your man below the screen, which at this point he should be there and attack pick and roll meaning go as hard as you can and drive your man into the screen. You should be as low as you can get to make yourself as hard to guard as possible. As you are driving your man into the screen you should always have your head up to see what is going on, on the floor, action on the weak side, players cutting, a mismatch, etc. It is always important to to see the floor and what is going on.
3.) Read Your Defender as Well as Your Screener's Defender- Reading your defender is another big key to pick and roll basketball. The way you attempt to score on pick and roll has a lot to do on how you are being guarded. You always want to get to your kill spot which is the elbow. In my opinion that is where you want to be and is where you can be most operational in the half court. Here are the different situations and what you should do.
A) Your Defender Fights Through the Screen and is On Your Hip- You want to drive the ball hard to the elbow and pull up for a jumper. If your defender is behind you because of a good screen then drive into the lane and make a play. Driving the ball as hard as possible is key in P&R situations because you want to get your defender on his heels and backing up to make it easier for you to raise up for a jumper.
B) Your Defender Goes Under The Screen- Your screener can be a big weapon for you. Sometimes your defender does not want to fight through screens and decides to go under the screen. This is key for them if you are an inconsistent shooter or a very good penetrator. If you watched Orlando during the playoffs their offense had a lot to do with dribble penetration. Teams that want to limit this usually plays under the screen to keep the guard out of the lane creating help or double team situations. If this happens square up behind the screener and shoot the basketball. Make it like you are coming off of a screen and you catch the ball on your inside foot and square to shoot. It is the same idea, but you have the ball in your hands and dribbling just take a dribble square up on your inside foot with your shoulder squared and shoot the basketball.
C) Your Defender Fights Through The Screen and Your Screener's man Hedges at You.- Again it is very important that you attack pick and roll. This will make it harder for you to be guarded as well as it forces your screener's defender to step out and help. If you are attacking the pick and roll as fast as you can you should be able to beat the big man to the spot increasing the chances of him fouling you because of the fact he is still moving his feet. This is almost as good as a score if you can draw a foul because forcing him to commit one or two cheap fouls away from the basket, again will force your opponent to go to the bench and get a post presence out of the game. If the big hedges and your defender fights through you want to look for your big man rolling/popping to his spot, if you cant get it to him keep extending the defense forcing the big that hedged to stretch out and lose his man making your opponent rotate and help. You could have a dump off to your teammate, but at very least you forced their defense to move. You can have a penetrate kick, a elbow pullup, or a number of options off this coverage.
D) Your Man Pushes Up and The Big Covering Your Screener Hard Blitzes(Doubleteams) You- This is getting to become a very popular coverage. Again it is important to see this coming before you get to it, that is why it is very important to have your head up and seeing the floor. If you cant beat the big to the spot and you feel as though you will hit the double team, look for the dump off to your big. Usually that may not be open because the double is there early, look to take one dribble off of the screen and back up straight back to create room and once your force the big to come at you attack his outside leg and penetrate. Remember you are the guard you should be able to attack a big man and get around him. If you have an early pass to the weak side then you could use that as well. Remember keeping your dribble is the key to this, have your head up and look for your teammates. Do not panic.
E) Your Man Gets Taken Out By The Screen And The Big Defending The Screener Plays Off Behind The Screener-When You take your man out on the screen adn you see a big waiting for you, the one thing you want to do is get the big moving in any direction. Either coming at you forwards, or moving the big side to side. More times than not the big man waiting for you will be slow footed and not used to guarding mobile guards that can dribble. You want to either get into your kill spot and shoot the ball, get into the lane and make a play for someone else, or attack the big and change directions and try to finish. It is very important again to attack pick and roll and drive the ball hard to make things happen. Moving the defense is very important.
F) You Take Your Man Out And Force a Switch- Your eyes should light up on this one. You want to force a big slow post player to try to move his feet and guard you. Again, you want to beat him to the spot as he rotates and hedges out to you to either draw a foul or get him on your hip. If you see him beating you to the spot back him up straight back until he comes forward or if he stands still this will create space between him and you enabling you to go straight at him with some steam behind you enabling you to have an easier time getting separation between you and the defender.
D Wade is one of the best Pick & Roll scorers in the NBA. Obviously his athletic ability makes him very hard to defend. But his ability to see the floor, make shots, get to the basket, and change speeds is very important to his talent. To make yourself a better player off of the pick and roll you must practice these situations. It is very easy to do with friends or just bye yourself. Two on two basketball is a very good teaching game. It teaches you how to read defenses that you will face. I think besides working on your game alone that playing two on two can help you on fundamentals that will help you become a better two man game player.
Thank You for your time. To check out video on D Wade's Pick and Rolls click on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v00mS0eIAOQ&feature=channel_page
