Make the Extra Pass! | Breaking Down Film with Elijah Bryant (Efes vs Hapoel)

What's up guys, welcome back to another Player's Corner. Again, this is not for fans, this is for students, and today we're going to be watching Ephesus versus Apoel. Obviously I played in Ephesus, so mixed feelings, but great to learn from and be a student of the game. So let's jump in. So with Ephesus, um, this year with their new coach, they've been icing ball screens. So what that means is keeping Kit on one side. That's an NBA thing usually, but there's many options you can do on ice. This isn't some secret. You can flip the screen, you can pass it and play second side, you can snake it. It all depends what the defense gives you. So they run an Iverson screen, and usually this is a setup. This is just like we talk about personnel and knowing stuff. This is like a setup for something else. So side to high. So obviously it was to attack, uh, Vasa. See, there's 6 guys over here and 1 guy in the corner. Collin can't help strong side because we know that's a cardinal sin. Especially on Shug. As soon as Dio sees the action right here, he should jump to right here because Kai Jones isn't a shooter. So he should have blocked this, but if he blocks that, then Ish has to rebound, or I have to be in rebound, because as soon as he goes to block and the guy— if he blocks or misses, then Kai Jones is going to be at the rim, literally. So you see here, they're putting a lot of pressure on Vassa, and it's like we talked about before, the pressure isn't necessarily to steal the ball. Maybe they'll steal it, but it's to tire him out knowing he's gonna have the ball a lot the whole game. Gotta be ready to shoot because my defender Shane, he can help because I'm so far out. I gotta be like right here. I'll give myself a 2 out of 10 on preparing the screen. So another thing I would say on the, on the ball screens is being able to have patience. That's one thing that I've gotten better at over the years is having patience. I think that comes with experience. I'm not in a rush as much. So right here, old me would have just throwing it right now. What shame would have got? But also, I need to look here. See this pass puts him in a bind because now as he rolls and he lifts, then he has to make a decision. Is he going to stay with him or is he going to take here? So right here, KYP, knowing your personnel. Bryant is an elite driver, wants to get downhill, right? They run a ghost screen, which we talked about before in the last video. He goes left. I gotta be better. This is a foul. Regardless, I can't reach in to show my hands. Is that an offensive foul? Because technically they say you have a cylinder like this, but he jumps forward, so I, I stop. Or am I in his cylinder? I could see both ways. I could see it being called both ways. It's just so hard guarding when you close out to a shooter if they jump forward, because how is that their cylinder? We gotta get Dio the ball here. We have to, no questions asked. Dio has to get the ball here. I gotta first start corner but then flash. Dio has to get the ball here. This is a bucket or foul. Instead, we get a bad shot. They're out in transition. So one thing I've learned, and that I always say, I'm not going to be a coach. I don't want to be a coach. Like, I want to spend time with my family. Like, being a coach is not easy. Overseas, college, high school— maybe high school. I think I'll do high school. But right here, the ball moves faster than dribbling. So boom, here, 1, 2, kick here, 1, 2, kick here, you know what I mean? Erjan gets the ball. Come on, Erjo, I know you're not taking me to the rim. Shout out to Erjan, he had a crazy Euro basket. He had a crazy first quarter actually here too. The rebound, bro. So here we switch, late shot clock, typical rule of every team. Maybe I could pressure him a little bit more. But I'm knowing what he's going to late shot clock. He's not gonna try to back me down because I'm gonna stand him up. Ball's moving, boss. Downhill demon. Hey, right hand bandit, boy. So it's what Shane's doing here is he sees Dio's late and he speed boost. So boom, he's late, he knows they're hedging, speed boost. Could have been a foul. Communication. Here we switch, but when you switch, rule of thumb is you always want to switch under so you don't get sealed. Switch, boss has to go under. When you don't, then this happens. And then this is actually my fault on the box out, so I have to help the helper. Help the helper. So he goes to contest, I have to go box out here because the dude jumps off a trampoline down there. There's gonna be mistakes in the game, there's gonna be mess-ups, but you have to help the helper put out the fires. So here I need to get rid of it more. I mean, okay, I make a good play, but still, I dribble the ball the whole shot clock, which, okay, it's successful, but it's not tennis, not golf. I'm gonna get everyone involved. This is better. I don't think this is a foul. Let me know what you think in the comments. I mean, I'm always open to criticism. So I would just like for Dio to have his stick hand up here. So having his hand up a little bit more, rather not bring Babb, Cornier, bring Shane, bring Ousmane, bring Kai Jones into the ball screen or isolation. Cornier and Babb are really good defenders. We have a mismatch down low, so this is another thing playing like tendencies, personnel. I know Collins at a disadvantage right here. I'm like, one, I know you can only be in the lane for 3 seconds. One, two, knowing who I'm guarding doesn't really want to shoot, closeout player, so This is like putting out a fire situation. Like, we're already at disadvantage. The last resort in this situation is to foul because we have fouls to give. But I'm watching Collin fight, knowing, watching his eyes. As soon as he throws it, get a swipe at the ball. They were getting all this stuff, all the, all the 50/50 balls. They were— they got the first half 100%. Great move. Godly. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. A little bit low pickup, 2-foot stop. I love this type of stuff. A high cross, low pickup for his hand, so if he reaches, he gets the foul. You'll see later in the video, Roland broke my arm basically, and they didn't call a foul. Stop, Rondo fake, come back, good shot. Could have dished it to Kai for a punch. It's the one— yeah, that's the one. It's the one that's still I mean, I didn't— hard— I know I expect this now. Hard hedging at half court's crazy. So the key is, if they're gonna hard hedge like that early, is the guy has to get out early. In this case, it's Vasa. So right now he should be around here. That way I just pick it up, throw it to him, and it's 3-on-2 in the backside. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3 versus 2. I won't even count these two guys. So right here, knowing I'm guarded by a smaller defender— smaller defenders usually are going to want to swipe at the ball, can't contest my shot, so I'm going to keep them away from the ball. I'm not gonna— they're quicker, I'm not gonna bring the ball in front of them, so I'm gonna boom, get them off me. And here he's dead because shoot, non-shoot, I'm in the paint Everyone's looking. Look at all the eyes on me. So that's why coaches always say paint touches, paint touches, paint touches. Because let's say like I don't have anything, I don't want to get into his body and shoot it. Look at everyone, everyone's open. They just shift a little bit. I say shift is, let's say he shifts here, he thinks he's here, so delay. He shifts here, he thinks he's here, delay. So when, as soon as you shift, when you see the back of your defender's head, you gotta shift a little bit because their initial reaction running back to the ball is to run where they thought you were last. That's what I was talking about earlier. Remember how I caught the ball up top from Vasa and I wasn't shot ready? This is a better example of being shot ready. Boom, boom. So he looks like he's gonna shoot, pump fakes a little bit, cause the defender to jump, gets a good shot. Okay, so now just personnel and knowing who you're guarding. Now I'm guarding Jordan Lloyd, who had a crazy Eurobasket too, I think. Congrats. I think it was The 4th leading scorer in EuroBasket. Funny story is I've been playing against Jordan since high school. He went to Milton High School, I went to Mill Creek. They beat us in the Elite Eight. Back then I was barely playing. I'll define a pitcher. So now in terms of KYP, know your personnel, I can't help as much. I'm guarding up. This is a great rule to understand. So Shane's here knowing that we're hedging. Depending on the time, whatever. As a defender, you can't allow him to reject. But regardless, I gotta be a little bit here. So if he goes here, he goes— I go to help. He goes here, he goes here. So now we're about to put out a fire on a fire situation. See, this goes, this goes here. So Chris has to go here. Chris has to see him that he's going— his guy's not going to box him out. So right here, knowing side to high, every second matters. So just, I mean, jumping up and denying a little bit here delays it a little bit. And I go guard to guard. Communication is key here. This is a miscommunication between me and Vasa. Like, it'd be better about guarding the ball because it puts Ty in rotation. I asked to help, Chris has to crack back, and now Jordan has a wide open shot. You see their icing? That's what I'm talking about. They're keeping him forced away from the ball. So that was a good job by Jordan to get back in front. So for me, they were icing and hedging. For Chris, they're icing and then drop this guy's back. So Chris should come off cage, go top screen, get downhill, or pull up 3. He needs to keep the cage. But Jordan does a great job of getting back in front. So that saved us a little bit, just getting deflection on the ball, because we're at a disadvantage on the backside. Chris is matched up against Erjan. So Vasa did a good job of deflecting the ball to save us. Or we could have used a foul there, but we saved a foul. So here, what we say, always reject and set up your screen, prepare your screen. So here, get in front. Keep your advantage. Now if Erjan was a little bit closer, boom, toma. So they're in Spanish action, pick and roll, back screen. In this possession we switched. So if you notice here, this is good communication, being that I'm the bigger body, but I'd rather have AB on roll-ins or me. So they switch, he's rolling down, Shane's coming out, me and AB communicate to switch. So you notice here we're at a disadvantage mismatch. Ty does a good job keeping pressure on the ball, making him uncomfortable. So Summer's here, look at the pass. So great closeout by AB. We're all matched up again. Tough shot, get caught in the weak, but boxing out. Talk about floater, like I don't know if we talk about here before, but this is the correct way to shoot a floater. Watch. I learned this 2 summers ago. You don't want to— that's a shot. You want to— Josh Trae Young, watch how he— that's a floater. Not this. This isn't a floater. That's a floater. Stop throwing the rim. Barcelona game, the first 2 steps in transition. This is a great example of what to do. Let's watch Tomer. Watch his first two steps. It's over. Next play, we're— oh shoot, one, two. Such an elite shot. You know, I always talk about footwork, and I love watching the footwork. So watch AB's footwork here. Left, right, right foot behind, which means he's either going to land in the split stance or a leg kick. Leg kick. Split stance. Shout out my trainer, Ace Athletics, Adam. He has made me become super obsessed with this stuff. For the reason he's orienting that way, that right foot behind, it's faster to shoot it that way. But when he lands, in order to get his right elbow to the rim to be straight, he has to turn. This type of stuff they don't teach, like, in shooting. They just teach, like, form shot. I don't even teach index down. You know, one-hand form shooting, good base, this type of stuff you can master at a young age and rep out will help you a lot. So here, can't really go under because he'll shoot it, but back screen by clearing out the bottom of the eye. D.O. does a great job of sniffing this out, knowing Kai Jones isn't a shooter. D.O. sniffs it out, but if Shane doesn't throw it and Kai comes straight to a ball screen and he's trying to hedge Shane Super late, so Shane will have a shot. So this is a great ATF. This is my fault, communication. Okay, so I get hit, boom, immediately we should switch, but I'm late. So Vasa, KYP, knowing personnel, what, what can he do? What's 100% shot? What's a 50% shot? Let's say he shoots 50% from 3. If he comes right here and he skips the pass, I'm living with him shooting that versus him dunking. See what I'm saying? Does that make sense? You're kind of like playing percentages very quickly. Who am I guarding? You know, that's why I have to know who you're guarding at all times. Get off of it. Second side. Again, like we talked about, keeping the ball away from smaller guards, making sure they can't reach. So if I were done the crossover here in front, get right back to the basket, back him down. Pocket pass here. Theo gets out. So on this pocket pass, this is— I'm gonna teach you guys a trick. This is on a trick. You want to throw it— if you're in a bind, you want to throw it at the big's foot. You want it to bounce right next to his foot. So I think I gotta recognize this better and then demand the ball here. Boom, they're in bonus. I have Shane on me, great player, but he's smaller than me. Give me the ball in the post. I need the ball in the post right here. Not to necessarily score, but I'm already at an advantage. And the goal on offense is to create an advantage and then play out of that advantage. And the goal on defense is to not give advantages and take advantages away. He knows the ball screen's coming. See, Kornet looks, jumps to it. As soon as his feet are in the air— when his feet are like this, he can't do anything. He can't change. His hands out too. Maybe if his hands were out like this and not like this, then he'd be fine. Yo, Collin's energy is crazy, man. Watch, watch. Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, jump. Ah, I love Collin, bro. So here, still a little bit of a miscommunication, I would say, even though we don't get punished on it. Is knowing I'm guarding, I go under, he hedges. Great switch here, guard to guard. So now you know, 6 seconds. He's 6 seconds here, see, 6 seconds here, and he can look over here at the other shot clock to see. He's not going to turn his head to look at this shot clock over here. This was the worst travel I've seen in a while. 1, 2, 3, 4. There's no advantage created. Prepare the screen better. This is the one I was talking about earlier. That was a foul, 1,000%, but it's hard for the ref to see. So just to give you guys Some rule of advice, because I've been burnt on this before. But what you're looking at is you're trying to watch this guy's head to see if he's paying attention. This guy stays deep corner. So for me, I have my pistols up, I'm pointing and having the guy in front of me so they can't make that pass. But when you do that, you have to make sure he doesn't face cut you. Good shot. This is the one I talked about that I messed up in Maccabi. So here Great chase. Got to chase over the top of the shooter. He's late. Either Dio has to switch or Chris has to come out. Everything is data to be learned from and understand. I'm watching this now just for knowing when we play Efes again. In this situation, this is an easy charge for Chris because watch what Papadopoulos does after he kicks the ball. He points up. He tells him he wants the ball up. So we'll play them again in that situation. My subconscious would know, "Oh, Papadopoulos is rolling. He's not gonna get a bounce pass. Be there and wall up or be ready to take a charge." So it's not just about learning from this game. It's, I'm gonna play this team again. So it's like a borderline you're trying to find between be strong and flop because you don't get rewarded for being strong. You get punished. This is so satisfying for me. It's so much progress. 2 years ago, I was not comfortable taking that shot. Now I'm comfortable. I'm about to start cashing that joint. Travel. How'd they miss this travel? Watch Elijah Bryant's feet. So why do I go immediately to, to get Chris to screen? Willard-Bryant being a better defender than, uh, Smiths or Konye, I'm gonna get him off immediately. So I'm not gonna go screen. I want to set the screen, get the switch. Show your hands, show your hands, show your hands. Good defense. Show your hands. Good take. So how he veered into him, as you could say, to eliminate the shot blocker. It's right here, right foot, and then left foot steps towards him. See, right foot was here, he steps over here to get into his body and then veer away. This is the one. Okay, bing, bing, bing. Back his top foot. I love this shot, I love this shot. It's progress. We're not worried about what's— in order to progress, you're gonna have to take risks, have faith, and meet the consequences. So you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to take the shot, and you're gonna miss it. The success is taking the shot and then learning from it. I didn't shoot mid-range 2 years ago, but it's something I wanted to work on. Boom, attack top foot, he steps back, shot, feet, split stance, leg kick. Lando won. Got him to turn his hips more. Progression for me. Welcome to the locker room where we break down stuff that happened in the game that would be talked about in the locker room. So as I asked you during the player's corner, I asked you, should we foul, should we not foul? Obviously when it's 4 team fouls, you're not going to foul because when you foul, you send him to the free throw line. But this is something you have to know each and every single moment you get in the game because it's a split second, it's a transition, guys running full speed. Do you foul, do you not foul? Another thing is, is since players are getting so good at this is— and honestly, I think the rules should be taken out that if you get fouled in the backcourt, it's never a 3-point shot. And I think they should take away the take foul. It should be a clear path foul like the NBA, because people would stop doing that. It slows down the game. It's, it's a good strategy, but it slows down the game, right? So some players go to act like they're fouling and pull back, because if I see you going to foul me, I hear you foul, I pick up the ball to shoot it to get the 3 free throws. But This was a good game. Got a win. It's all that matters. And as always, remember, when you're watching this, we're here to grow. We're students. You and I, we're both in the classroom. We're learning. This is not for fans. We're not here to hear, oh, we wish you would have done this. Oh, you lost this bet. Oh, my fantasy. I could care less about that. I'm here to learn and grow with you guys and be a student of the game. And as always, faith plus consistency grows