How to SPACE the floor with a NON-SHOOTING big

Centers without a three-point shot were definitely born in the wrong era. Profiles like Patrick Ewing or Hakeem Olajuwon don’t seem to have a role anymore in today’s game. Some bigs make an incredible transformation. Example: 2m13 Brooke Lopez who was 0/7 in his first 6 years (!) in the NBA, made 187 threes last season for the Bucks. Other players like Al Jefferson or Andrew Bogut took their low-post game to a different league around the world.

Last weekend, Australia broke the 78 game winning streak of Team USA in a preparation game for the FIBA World Cup. A certain … Andrew Bogut had a key role on the squad of the Aussies. Watching that game, I was amazed by how often Bogut played around the three-point line. Everybody knows he has no shooting range from deep and still he was able to space the floor for the Boomers. Whenever Australia had troubes against the pressure defense of USA, Bogut stepped out to the three-point line  upon which they would start a modern version (around 3pt line instead of high-post) of a well-known and classic SPLIT-THE-POST-ACTION. In the video below, I highlight the supreme qualities of Bogut in passing and protecting the ball in these hand-off situations. I show you how he turned these pressure situations into pure 2on1 decision making, no matter whether the big in defense would sag off or not! This was for me the #1 key in the second half why Australia could seal the W over USA. Watch for yourself:

In a ever-evolving sports like basketball, analyzing how elite players make the difference is more effective than to study dusty textbooks. Besides, Bogut wasn’t the only player giving away a free clinic in this game. There was also “Slow-mo” Joe Ingles demonstrating how his nickname plays a clutch role in his elite Pick-and-Role decision making. Keep calm and eyes up are some of the take-aways from this video breakdown below:

With the FIBA World Cup starting off next weekend, I plan to do some more video breakdowns. From time to time, I will keep you posted by e-mail, but you might want to consider giving me a follow on Twitter to be closer on the action!

Any items you prefer to see on my breakdowns? Let me know!

Talk to you soon, 
Pascal.