Good read on Gentry's Offense and It's Origins

quote:

---

The decline of the traditional big man began because of this. In a motion offense where the goal is to get the guard moving towards the hoop, having a 7-footer camping out underneath it is a detriment, even if that 7-footer is on the same team. Not only is his defender there with him, next to the rim, but he himself becomes an obstacle for his teammate just because he's there and taking up space. Teams began realizing that sending a guard around a screen only to have him run headlong into his own teammate was impeding the guard's ability to attack the basket, and breaking apart the floor spacing and flow needed to execute the pick-and-roll. The big not involved in the roll needed to not be in the paint when the roll happened.

---

quote:

---

The basic principle in generating an open shot is getting one or more defenders out of position. That means you have to get the defense to move.

It should be no surprise that play type efficiency is 'proportional', for lack of a better term, to how much they move the defense. Pick-and-roll forces the defense into motion. The basket cut happens most often when the defense has already been moved out of position, and beaten.

Conversely, post ups and isolations require very little movement to defend. They give the defense time to set itself - so the play starts with a defender already in the way - and if that defender does get beat, the help defense is also already set up in position only a couple steps away. A set defense is called a set defense for a reason: it's ready. The defense is in position. And it's easy for defenders to stay in position when all they have to do is stand there, or run 10 feet to one point, then run back again.

---