3 Qualities That ELITE Ball Screen Players Have

Being able to use ball screens is one of the most important skills for guards to have. Players who can effectively use ball screens are going to be able to create advantages for them and their teammates very, very often. And there's certain characteristics of players who are great at using ball screens that you can implement into your own game so you can become a more effective player with the ball in your hands. In this video, we'll go through three specifically that you need to have down if you want to come as effective as possible. Let's get into it. The first area we'll cover is the ability to change your pace. All that this means that you don't go one speed the entire time. A very common mistake that I see with players, especially younger players who are using ball screens is that they're always going as fast as they can coming off of every screen. And there may be some times where you should go as fast as you can off of a screen, but if you do that every single time becomes much easier for the defense to guard you because they know what's happening. And also it takes away some of the options that you have if you just are a little bit more patient or you slow yourself down. Varying your pace in general is a great skill to have, but it becomes especially important when using ball screens. We can take a look right here. Up power of changing your pace. Tony Carr comes off of this ball screen and instead of maintaining that same speed, he slows himself down, which causes that drop defender to come to a standstill. Once that happens, Tony Karr explodes at 100% by him for an easy layup. In general, if you don't have something right away, a lot of times slowing yourself down and being patient for just a second or two can provide another opportunity to open up for you. And not only does this create more opportunities for you to score as the ball handler, but it also opens up opportunities for the role to score as well as for driving kicks to open up. Luka demonstrates the power of playing with pace at a very high level in this clip here. The Mavericks guard this screen with a soft hedge coverage trying to prevent Luka from getting downhill and towards the basket. So this hedge defender stays until he's sure that Luka's guy is back to guard him. Luka recognizes this and realize that if he slows himself down long enough for Chris Haps to start rolling to the basket, he's essentially going to draw a double team and leave Chris wide open for a layup on the roll. And that's all made possible because Luka slowed himself down and allowed the play to develop into something. The next key area is the ability to be unpredictable coming off of ball screens. What this means that you truly need to have a grasp of what you're trying to accomplish with that screen, how you can gain an advantage and what the defender is expecting you to do so you can catch them off guard in this clip. Cassius Winston sees that defense is playing ice coverage. It basically just means that they're going to try and not let him use his ball screen. So the defender jumps a little bit early to try and play that ice coverage. So Catris Winston rejects the screen, which gives him an open lane to get to the basket. It's very important, especially for younger players, to understand that you don't want to be robotic and you don't want to just do the same thing every single time if there are better options available. Now that Winston has shown that he can burn the defense if they try and play this ice coverage early next time, he may have the opportunity to actually use that screen and then create another advantage for him or for his teammates. The third area that elite pick and roll ball handlers have is the ability to shoot the basketball coming off of a ball screen. As is the case with every other aspect of offense, if you're able to shoot the basketball and that defender knows that he's going to have to play you differently coming off of the screen, that's where more things start to open up for you. That'll lead defenses to have to go over scre, which will give you more options coming off of those screens. That might lead into soft hedges or hard hedges, which will bring that extra defender onto you, which will open up your teammates. Like I mentioned before, a ball screen is used to create an advantage for the offense. And when that defense has to account for your ability to shoot the basketball as well, it means that it's going to be even easier for you to create an advantage for your team. We target these three areas and even more inside the perimeter score system, where you're going to work on using drag screens, playing its hard hedges, soft soft hedges, ice coverage, blitz coverage, and ultimately building the skills you need if you want to become an unpredictable player using ball screens and somebody who can create an advantage for your offense whenever you want to. As many of you guys are starting to approach the offseason now, it's perfect time to get started. So go ahead and click the top link in the description below and I'll see you guys in there. If you guys enjoyed this video. Make sure you drop a like and subscribe. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace.