Breaking Down Paris' Offense | Film Study w/ Elijah Bryant

In this film study, we're going to do a little bit different. We're just not going to watch my minutes, we're going to watch some curated clips exactly from the game. So here we go. So right in the beginning, as you know, with Paris, super fast-paced team, wants a lot of possessions, subs a lot, plays a lot of energy, hedges every ball screen. So if you see super aggressive on the ball 2 on the ball right here. So my job is to usually get rid of it, but see how I pull back? So the job of the big when he hedges is to make me do that. That's literally textbook perfect. And the best person I've ever seen do that in EuroLeague, Bryan Dunston. So most teams, I screen in because they're going to switch late shot clock, but they keep hedging, keep hedging, and we end up getting a positive out of it. But still, so now it's here on Bosa, hedge. See, it's making us do stuff that we don't necessarily want to do in terms of a regular game plan. Can you do it? Can I do it? Yes. So right here, they hedge late shot clock. I see, okay, what I have to be better at here, especially on the main offensive player of the other team, knowing he has a bunch of bandwidth load for offense, not as focused on defense. So here, being a smaller guard, once I get below the free throw line, there's no reason for me to go off one foot. That gives him an advantage, and on top of that, it's just open in the corner. Amad, why are you helping strong side? Cardinal sin. You're not gonna let me score? That's crazy. Amad's one of my old teammates in FS. We had a lot of battles. Okay, right here, this is a miscommunication. So running back and defense— no, no, no. Cardinal sin by me. First fire to put out is the basket. So there's no reason I should be pointing because Chris has ball, Fossa has him up. I should be sprinting to the paint here. Basket, ball, man. Rule of thumb in transition on defense: basket, ball, man. So I don't take basket, I point, switch. He throws a no-look Who was he looking at though? Hedge Chris, re-screen, hedge again. Chris does a great job of dragging it out on the hedge, creating more distance to create more uncertainty for the defenders. So right now you can see Hippie's kind of like, uh, do I come, do I not come?

But the fact that Chris hesitates gives time for Hiffy to get back in front.

Decent pass, not bad. But here, with the player that's bigger than me, boom, stop. He won't be able to stop as fast. Or right here, two-foot stop, or lob to D.O., or bounce pass to D.O. looking up, bounce pass. But the pass to Vassa is not bad. It's a decent shot. Cash app. So see how they just, they play random wild AAU basketball, like to say, like just they have rules, but it's just kind of like their chaos, like Paris chaos, what they create. So all that, and now we're crossing the half-court at 16, so everything sped up. So right here, great shot, great shot. I love it. Front foot heavy. Good shot. And even I went to the ref after this, if you notice, because right here Amat touches me on it, right here. Foul. So he lets it go because I have the advantage. I shoot it, I miss. You know me, why don't you call the foul? And he says, yes, I know. As a player, can't argue that to a ref. Ref's gonna make mistakes. That's life. We all make mistakes. Just like players miss shots. So great take by Chris. So right now we have 3 ball handlers in. So hey, Randy Moss, that was like a setup. I mossed it. Should have passed it to Chris. Drove on Derek. So on this slow step, or this Euro step, I— especially because it's a bigger defender, it has— it can't be boom boom to the rim. It has to be boom boom away from the rim because he's going this way. So noted. Derek, give me that. See this random trap? There's no— there's no— this is random. And I think they do this because like, obviously they have talent on their team, but they're not the most talented. But doing this gives them an edge in terms of making up for not having the most talented team. Good pass, great pass. Look at all the eyes drawn. He stops 2 feet below the free throw line, no-look kick out to the corner. Great shot, I like it. Pump fake, slide by, good shot. Hey, that's one thing I got better at this year. They really emphasize here taking charges and It's a skill that I can get better at, and I think in order to gain skill as a player, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say— and be humble enough to say, yes, I'm not good at this, I can get better at it. So knowing the psychology of a player right here, he wants to score, to stay in front of him, get the charge. So they're getting across half court at 22 seconds. We got across at 16 seconds. That's an 8-second difference. Another thing I want to point out here, just for like guards and footwork and, um, deception of the game. So Hiffey's right-left footwork, look what it does to Collin and D.L. Look how they react, which makes a second late, which makes me pull in a little bit just from his right-left, like he's going to shoot. Instead of coming off, just going straight at the pass, he came out right, left, and then still passed, but it messed us up on the backside. Prepare the screen. Good job preparing the screen. Late switch. Good help, D.O. We're out. So right here I already know they're in bonus, so they can't be too handsy. And look how they help strong side. Look, strong side, strong side. Cardinal sin, don't do that. Collins, stay corner. Dip pass, shot ready. Talk about that before, being shot ready in the FS Players, uh, corner. I wasn't shot ready on some shots. This is a rule of thumb that you should probably know as a— so right here, calling good screen, boom. Maybe he can get back here in front, maybe not. Mott can do a better job right here. Of being right here because Amot's spacing is making it easier for the defense. I can't help strong side. D.O. does a great read. He thinks he's beat. As soon as he thinks he's beat, jump switch, meaning D.O. go to contest, Collin box out. Because once the big contests, then he's out of position for rebounding. So Collin does a good job of pushing him on the rim. And we get the rebound. That's not in your bag. Bad pass by me. Two things, two things here. Bad pass by me. I gotta lead him more. But playing angles, which Jalen Brunson is really good at playing angles, random, by the way. I like Jalen Brunson a lot. So is Shay. But Right here, when I pass it out, as a guard, you want to see where you want to throw it. But as a big, before you leave, bump the guy so he goes backwards, and then you're going out. That would have made a difference here. Boom. Now grab it. Either way, it's on me. Bad pass. So see that? I tried to make a better read here because boom, now I'm attacking. Look at the strong side help. Look at this, look at this. So maybe a guy needs to cut from the 45 to get more spacing. And one. As a big guarding, flipping the screen, from my opinion, as they flip the screen, you need to tell the guard to keep it on that side. So what I mean when I say that, watch here. Stop. So he's coming up on Collins' right side. So Dio's expecting the D in his defensive coverage on the right side, but as soon as he flips, Dio's late. So what does Dio do? Takes one step to the other side, which makes him off balance. So now they correct it by jump switching. Dio takes the ball, Collin takes the big. Uh, I like this and I don't like this. I, I thought it was smarter in the game. I, I learned this from Jrue Holiday a lot, and they do in the NBA a lot, but I feel like the spacing was good enough where like I would rather myself on Justin Robinson than D.O. So I tried to— he brought the ball close enough to me, I switched, and D.O. got to the corner. Probably not the smartest because this guy's a shooter, but it worked out in our favor. Deo just has to be patient here. Ball's coming to him. I had the mismatch, but let's give it to Deo. Especially, I'm playing the psychology of the team. The team fouls a lot, so the more fouls we can get on them is going to help us in the long run. So Can I take this guy off the dribble right here? Yes. But Dio's going to get a foul or layup here. What's a higher percentage shot? Guy's holding him. Great flash by Mott so Derek can't help. So since they hedging, everyone's on a string, right? So since they hedge for so long, it's pulling someone else on the string. I don't know if you guys seen that clip. We'll insert it here. There's a device where all the players are connected on a, like, a bungee string. So one player moves and it pulls them this way, and that's kind of what defense is. You're all on a string. So when this big goes out, Derek has to be pulled this way to make sure when D.O. rolls. But what does that do? So see how, see how he's staying longer, which makes Derek stay longer. Well, Mont's wide open. So in an ideal world, Vasa passes here, Mott shoots it, or he passes to Dio, or he plays second side with whoever's over here. See what I'm saying? The advantage is created right now. Mott's open. Saw him late, but see what I'm saying? Like, great shot, Mott. Fish is on ball, he gets screened super high, they switch it. Watch what Mott does after he gets rid of the ball. He denies it. So I know personnel, and also I'm playing like the travel here, knowing number 7 likes to shoot very deep threes. Is technically, if you rip right, has to travel, right? Or am I tripping? And we should— we got lucky. We should have switched the last one. Good rebound, good track-down rebound by Bossa. Good pass, good pass. Can't foul, we're in bonus. Barely missed that one. So in this situation right here, just for you guys to understand thought process as a defender You're putting out a fire right now. There's a fire, there's a fire, you're trying to put it out. What is the least percentage shot someone would make? So right here, I know I have 2. I'm just playing to buy time. I know someone's running back, so pass goes here, I take it. If the pass goes here, I'm gonna go right here to deflect the pass, knowing there's someone running right here to get him. I'm just trying to buy time. Barely missed it. This mother— oh, thank you, good rebound. Okay, so here they're up by 3, no fouls to give— I mean, plenty of fouls to give. You notice they won't switch, they don't want to play at that disadvantage. They'd rather hedge the whole shot clock. Tough shot. The shot is fine, but the ball is in one side of the court. The whole time. That's why I say— and as an offense, you want to get it to second sack, third sack, because that's when the defense breaks down late in the shot clock. I'm open, Chris is open, Dio's open. If he has that in his bag, pretty well. Good shot though. Look how fast they're out crossing the half court at 21 seconds. Good pass. Good. We talked about before in another Player's Corner, the ball moves faster than the person dribbling it. Pass it up. Good shot. I like this shot. I like this shot, but I gotta— so I gotta— they're collapsing. I gotta maybe take one more dribble or pull up right here. But I think it's a good shot. Corner 3, in and out. I'll live with it. So great job by Dio knowing they're slipping. And what does that mean when they slip? I mean, knowing they're hedging is they're hedging out, so they're anticipating, they're hard hedging. They want to make impact the ball. Right? So knowing that, watch how close and watch his angle of his feet already. He's going to look, he's behind him, so he slips out, doesn't set the screen. And I passed it early and Dalton can do a better job of having his hands high because that pass would be harder. Good read, good shot.

Pass in, they double.

Good patience, good patience. Yes! Oh, give me that! That was a nice block. Oh, this one, he destroyed my lip. I still got to come out with this one. I still feel the mark on my lips. It goes up that elbow right there. I thought my lip was bust— like busted through, and my tooth. I felt my toe. Oh, it's so funny too because I talk about DL doing this one time in the Players Corner. You're hurt until it's offense. It's like, watch me, watch this. Oh, I'm hurt, I'm hurt. I can't— oh, I'm here, I'm ready.

Really funny.

I gotta be better at spacing the floor here. I gotta be corner to give Vasa more space to operate. To separate and get to his shot. Hey, turn it over at the rim. Turn that joint over at the rim. Ah, this is the charge. Good charge. I gotta be 2-foot stop, hit Chris right here. 2-foot stop, A, B, or Chris, or even call it jump passing. Cardinal sin, can't do that. It's okay, living, you learn. That's why you watch film. That's the thing, is like, I'm not in, we're down by 8. What EGBs are you giving on the bench? Energy-giving behaviors. How are you helping your guys be successful? Boom, 3-ball. Good shot, A.B. How am I helping A.B. out there on the court? Because I see a different perspective, you see what I'm saying? When you're in the game, you think one way, but people in the bench might see something different. So right here is a key for me. Even when I'm not playing, we gotta win. We gotta find a way to win. It's a team game. It's not tennis, it's not golf. So I don't think this game I played super well, I played okay, but how can I help the team win now that I'm on the bench and these are the people we're going with? So here, let me see something. So this is, this is Dio's fault here. KYP, no one personnel. They go to screen. If you help knowing you're guarding a non-shooter, your recovery has to be back to the basket because the only thing you can do is go and dunk it. Watch.

Let's go!

They won this game. It's not an easy thing to do, you know. Tyler come off the bench, sitting 40 minutes. Same thing with Tomer. So it's a skill. I mean, and being a professional is being ready when your name is called. So whatever you have to do on the sideline— I hate when people say, oh, the coach didn't do this, the coach didn't do that. What did you do to prepare yourself to be ready on the court? Because that's all you can control. That's not your bag, Mott. Don't do that. Mott, you do not have that in your bag. Why are you trying to no-look like that? That was nasty. Elijah Bryant almost went out of bounds. Wall up, AB. What does wall up mean? It means Hands up, straight up. Stay in your cylinder, don't go out of it. Wall up like a, like a wall. Barbecue chicken time. What you doing? Good pass. Float me. Hey, rule of thumb, I'll tell you this right now just watching it right here. If I'm this guy and I see him take that step here, Setting up for a charge immediately. That's a charge. Step up.

Boom.

I wonder who leads the league in offensive fouls. I gotta be close. Come here, dude. A.B. A.B.'s first team all jump shot. What do I mean when I say that? Look how high he jumps. You know who also does that? Scottie Wilberkin. Beautiful poetry in motion. Good shot, bad shot, that's how they play. So you can't say— and he works on that shot, so it's a good shot for him. And we have to know that as right here, this is KYP knowing the situation. He doesn't want to pass, so step up here, force someone else to help on the backside, but don't let the leading scorer at the time of EuroLeague shoot an uncontested 3. And To put salt in the wound, fouls to give. Good pass. Take your time. Golly. Good pass. Great pass. Great drive. Great shot. This is a great read because watch. I know if he wants to play iso, so they're right here, they're helping. Catch and go. Good float. And you saw the good float. You miss, you make some, but great shot. This rule is so frustrating because depending on what ref you get, depending on what call you get, you know. So I think there's this universal foul. As soon as he feels the foul, he turns to shoot. No, that's— yikes. I don't know, it's hard being a ref. I don't know what to tell you. Totara does a great job of forcing him right. He gets to a step back. It's a tough shot. Good rebound. Great rebound. Okay, get it to the man. Damn. Whoa, whoa, whoa, how is this even close to being a— no comment. That's a bad call. The guy charged up and drilled him. I can't even comment on this because my teammate— but this is OD. He probably has some of the crazy— this is like the only person he's done this to. I've seen games where he did it to a dude from Maccabi, did it from Washington Jr. from Partizan. It didn't fall, but his separation on his left to right cross is elite. And that, that's young hoopers. That's because he can shoot it so well, or he will shoot. I don't know if he shoots it so well, he will shoot any shot, so you have to stay close to him. Okay, tie. Makeup call. So I've been sitting— this is crazy— I've been sitting for like 30 minutes while they— these guys are bringing the game home. They check me in so we can switch and play defense, whatever. I had to do a whole different, whole new warm-up, basically get my body ready. So right here, what you're doing as a— I'm thinking about KYP, time, and score, and knowing I would rather Justin Robinson catch the ball than Hippy. So I'm gonna deny, deny. Okay, so they get me on him. Right here I'm like, okay, y'all want to attack me after I've been sitting on the bench? Sounds good, I'm about to lock it up. One thing I messed up on here, but late shot clock, he's not going to pass this, is when you switch, you switch under. So I should have spun the other way because technically he could have passed to him right here, but late shot clock late game, game on the line, he's not gonna do that. So right here, what I'm thinking— and Mott knows you can't foul here because we're in bonus— and I'm thinking box out or charge. So you see me looking at the guy who I'm guarding, I'm like, no way you're about to win the game. So I'll start pushing, pushing, pushing, get the rebound. So now you're into the locker room, and let's talk a little bit about Hiffey. I think Hiffey's a very, very talented player and can shoot it really well. Um, in this system, it helps him a lot to play super fast. Now, it's hard to say what he can become, and I'm the first person to tell you that the sky's the limit. So can he play in the NBA? If he thinks it, he can do it. But I'm looking from a perspective of the way his game translates to the NBA. Could he go and do that as Jordan Clarkson on steroids, I would say? And being at his size might be kind of hard. But for Hiffey, what I would want to see in terms of the evolution of this game— can he really play point guard? Can he lead a team? You know, and the question I have for you guys in the comments, I'm always going to answer to this Who's better, Strasel from Monaco or Hifi from Paris? And if you were to start a team, who would you build a team around? Hifi or Strasel? Because Strasel plays in the French national team. Hifi has maybe more to his bag, but maybe Strasel is just fitting a role to play with Monaco. So let me know in the comments. And as always, remember, this is not for fans. This is for students of the game. Faith plus consistency.

Love.