What EVERY Elite Playmaker Does: Hunting The Paint

The most valuable players in basketball are the ones who create good opportunities for their teams consistently offensively. As a guard, if you're able to create scoring opportunities for not just yourself, but for your teammates as well, then you'll be an extremely valuable player to have. And the best way to do this is to develop the hunt, the paint mentality. If you're constantly hunting and trying to get yourself into the paint, then you'll be constantly collapsing and putting pressure on the defense. But it's going to create scoring opportunities for not just yourself, but even more so for your teammates as well as lets break it down when it comes to basketball iq, in my opinion, the most important part of that offensively is the knowledge and understanding of how and why to manipulate the defense. And this is why you need to understand the importance of hunting the paint. Any good team defense is set up to protect the basket. It's better to force long jump shots than give up shots close to the basket. So when you drive into the paint, the defense collapses to protect the basket, which is going to open up a whole bunch of opportunities, opportunities for your team to score. I always talk about how important it is to be able to hit those catch and shoot threes, but typically those open threes are caused by somebody hunting the paint first. And not only is this going to create three point opportunities for your team, but it's also going to create wild closeouts which are going to lead to drives for your teammates or pull ups in the mid range. For those of you guys who watched my video last week talking about important shots, you need to be able to hit off the dribble. This is where your overall offensive package really starts to tie itself together. The best offensive players don't always drive with the intention to score themselves. They understand that a lot of times their drive will likely create an opportunity for their teammates to score. And so they drive under control and with a purpose. This doesn't mean that you don't attack hard and look to score yourself. It just means that you understand that defenses are built to take away the drive and protect the paint. So when you drive into the paint, a lot of times it's going to free up other opportunities for those around you. And aside from just kicks to the perimeter, a lot of times when defenders get really locked in on you driving to the basket, it's going to create cutting lanes for your teammates to get layups as well. But we do need to go over a major mistake that a lot of players make when they try and get paint touches and create for their teammates, and that's being out of control or being impatient. Sometimes driving and throwing this jump pass off of one foot can work for you, but other times it can lead to you getting caught in the air and having to force a pass that isn't there. So the best thing you can do when you don't have an immediate pass that's wide open is come to a jump stop and be patient. Because more than likely the defense has collapsed already. And it's just about you finding that open teammate for the easy shot. Foreign McKinley Wright is one of the best point guards in the country when it comes to being under control, being patient in finding that open teammate. And this is why basketball IQ is so important right here. If you know that the defense has collapsed on you, then you know that it means that somebody in the court is open. So if you're patient, in control, and you really take time to come to that jump stop and survey your options, you're going to be able to deliver a pass to somebody who's probably going to have an open shot or a driving opportunity. And we can see the opposite of that in this clip here. As Marcus Carr drives, the entire defense collapses on him. If he would have come to a jump stop right here instead of immediately trying to force a pass, he would have had way more options. He would have been able to pivot and likely hit his teammate out on the top wing. He also could have likely gotten the big man to jump with a pump fake and either drawn a foul or hit that little dump off to his big man below. Or he may have even had one of the low side guys been able to pop out to the wing for a catch and shoot three there. But instead this play results in a turnover. The same thing happens to Russ in this clip. He's got other options, but because he gets himself up in the air, he gets stuck and has to throw this pass, which results in a turnover. So what are the best situations for you to look to? Hunt the paint. For the most part, this could be something that could happen at any point out of many different situations in the game. But usually the best opportunities you're going to get to get paint touches are going to be either using ball screens or attacking a closeout against a defender who's wildly closing out at you. Here we see that pick and roll collapse the defense and give McKinley right options to pass to, and he hits a wide open teammate for three. And this pick and roll collapses the weak side defense and creates this wide open driving lane for number 21. And with these two clips here we see the quick catch and point five decision to attack, which allows for the paint touch and then an open look for their teammates. Now, of course, anytime you get in the paint, the first option is to score if it's available to you. But start approaching the game looking to hunt the paint and see how much more effective an offensive player you become. If you guys enjoyed the video, make sure you like and subscribe. And if you're new, make sure you click the top link in my description below to get my free Elite perimeter score workout. Talk to you guys soon. Peace, Sam.