⬇️ HALF COURT ELBOW ACTION SERIES ⬇️
In this thread, I break down the Elbow Action Series.
A great series for team’s looking for creative scoring options out of simple actions ‼️
I studied five of the nation's most efficient offenses from last season (according to Ken Pom):
#2
Alabama,
#11
Arizona,
#14
BYU,
#19
Houston, and
#21
Marquette.
All 5 teams excelled offensively in the following areas:
🏀 Early offense execution
🏀 Floor spacing principles
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Elbow Action has been a staple of Arizona’s half court offense for the past few seasons.
The action starts with an elbow rub screen and lifts into a slot ball screen.
The key - is not the action itself - but how it allows Arizona to play with proper spacing.
BYU & Alabama mastered using the wide screen to generate high % 3P opportunities.
This was their primary early offense action with balanced floor spacing & the big trailing the action.
The beauty of Elbow Action is how easy it is to build off of it.
Arizona’s favorite counter was to slip the slot ball screen into a wide screen.
Pelle Larson shows how effective a player who can make reads and take advantage of spacing can be in this action.
This quick hitter from Alabama is a perfect counter to the fade action above.
Bama clears out the weak side corner (similarly to Houston) & motions into fade action.
They then lift the strong side big for an outside ball screen, opening a lane for a slip to the rim.
Alabama's counter tendency was to re-screen into a middle ball screen.
They maintain their spacing throughout the action, creating easy dribble drive and lob chances in the middle of the floor.
In the third clip, South Carolina over helps on the tag, opening up a corner 3.
Here, Houston runs a simple, yet killer counter out of Elbow Action.
After executing the initial rub, they clear out the weak side corner & run L.J. Cryer off a fade from what would usually be the big setting the slot ball screen.
Incredibly hard to guard.
Here, BYU utilizes a pitch back counter following the wide screen.
They naturally flow out of the pitch action back into their balanced floor spacing, allowing the lob to be executed.
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HI-LO’s are another great counter that you can easily implement out of Elbow Action.
In this clip, Oumar Ballo slips out of the slot ball screen - but instead of setting a wide screen - cuts to the rim for a low post seal.
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ZOOM action is another early offense action to utilize when you have balanced floor spacing & a trailing big.
Nobody flowed into this better last year than BYU.
Balancing the floor with a passing big at the top of the key & shooters on both sides leaves back doors wide open.
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Here, Marquette & Alabama show case how they resort to a drag or low ball screen when they have unbalanced spacing.
Notice how the 3 players on the overload side stay wide, leaving open driving lanes for the ball handler.
Creative special from Indiana State that you can run as an ATO out of this series.
Following the rub screen, they beautifully execute Hammer Action to get their career 38% 3P shooter a wide open corner 3.
Marquette builds off of the reject with a deadly "45" cut. The cut is automatically cued by the ball-handler rejecting the ball screen.
Notice, however, how the cutter maintains the spacing by waiting for the perfect moment to initiate his cut.
Floor spacing - especially in early offense scenarios - will not always be perfect.
All of the aforementioned teams have mastered a non-verbal understanding amongst each other of what actions to run into when they overload one side in transition.
Continued thread below ⬇️⬇️⬇️
In this clip, Marquette utilizes Oso Igodhoro to get into ZOOM action with him as the primary ball handler.
Despite the location of the ball, the big (Oso) is still behind the rest of the action with even floor spacing ahead of him, allowing for natural flow into ZOOM action.
In past years, Arizona has initiated the slip into a wide screen with a zipper cut, but ultimately, the action remains the same.
In ‘22-‘23, Courtney Ramey utilized the wide screen almost identically to Pelle Larsson. He curls in the first clip, then plays behind in the second.
A couple of options from Alabama when the guard refuses the wide screen and makes a cut thru.
The second clip is run in the half court, but plays out of the same spacing as the above early offense clips.
The double high ball screen was another routine action for Arizona in the Elbow series.
The guard coming off of the rub executes a “ghost” before the big sets a step-up outside ball screen.
Timing is what makes it appear as a double high ball screen.
Using the trailing big to set the ball screen puts the on-ball defender at a massive disadvantage.
They will automatically be below the screen, giving the ball-handler "play-behind" 3 opportunities.
Defenses will eventually get accustomed to the action & pick up on the "ghost" cut as an initiator for the drag / low ball screen.
When they do, the ball-handler can look to keep and make a quick attack downhill.
Racing into this action will force the overload side defenders to have to make a QUICK decision.
Do they tag the role? Stunt on the drive? Or stay home on the shooter?
These 5 teams finished the season with a combined record of 134-47 (.740).
All 5 made the NCAA Tournament, with 4 of the 5 reaching the Sweet 16.
Simple wins.
In all of the above early offense clips, the big is trailing into the action.
But what if the big is ahead of the action?
Arizona dominated the efficiency landscape by utilizing early offense post seals and above the foul line spacing to create high % looks for Oumar Ballo.
This is a direct counter to the clip above.
Cryer gets into fire action and comes back off the wide screen himself.
They don’t score off the set, but get a key switch that Cryer ultimately takes advantage of.
Great job of re-spacing after failing to score at first.
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A great win for the Gaels.
A brutal loss for the Atlantic 10.
Here, Marquette & Alabama show how they don't strictly play out of drag / low ball screens when they run into overload spacing.
Their guards have the ability to be creative and play 2-MAN GAME out of the same spacing they use for what would typically be a ball screen.
Resorting to a drag or low ball screen when you have unbalanced floor spacing plays perfectly for guards who can effectively attack out of rejects.
The nature of the spacing will put the overload side defenders in a position where they're late to help.
Here, we see another great special from Indiana State that plays perfectly out of the elbow series.
Defender gets pulled further down the paint helping on the back screen, and is ultimately late chasing
#3
off the dribble hand off.
Marquette will occasionally get into their early offense spacing a little differently.
They motion from balanced spacing into unbalanced spacing by "ghosting" the extra ball-side man thru.
The action still resorts back to the same drag / low ball screen.
Notice in both of these clips how this "ghost" action allows you to run your ball screen further below the foul line.
This makes it easier to exploit help principles and attack the opposite side corner.
If you're like Marquette, and have a big that can attack well off the bounce, you can utilize the "ghost" action to create clear out opportunities.
This is essentially the same 2-MAN GAME that Marquette and Alabama flowed into earlier out of their unbalanced spacing.
It's harder to find creative actions that lead to a lot of options when the big is ahead.
But this "twist" (outside) ball screen action does a great job of pulling the defending big out of the paint and allowing the ball-handler to reject back into an open middle driving lane.
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Houston is elite at running early offense drag ball screens out of "dunker" spacing.
This type of unbalanced floor spacing pulls a player from the overload side off the perimeter & into the dunker spot.
It gives passing options to teams who play with two non shooting bigs.
@DSamangy
Feel like an awesome next step to this (at any level) would be taking players that you have access to over the off-season and tracking their workout data to see how overtime different off-season development plans translate to in season performance.
This is a direct counter to the clip above.
Cryer gets into fire action and comes back off the wide screen himself.
They don't score out of the set, but get a key switch that Cryer ultimately takes advantage of.
Great job of re-spacing after failing to score at first.
This quick hitter from Alabama is a perfect counter to the fade action above.
Alabama clears out the weak side corner (similarly to Houston) & motions into fade action.
They then lift the strong side big for an outside ball screen, opening up an uncontested slip to the rim.
The double high ball screen was another routine action for Arizona in the Elbow series.
The guard coming off of the rub executes a "ghost" before the big sets a step-up outside ball screen.
Timing is what makes it appear as a double high ball screen.
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HI-LO's are another great counter that you can easily implement out of Elbow Action.
In this clip, Oumar Ballo slips out of the slot ball screen - but instead of setting a wide screen - cuts to the rim for a low post seal.
In past years, Arizona has initiated the slip into a wide screen with a zipper cut, but ultimately, the action remains the same.
In '22-'23, Courtney Ramey utilized the wide screen almost identically to Pelle Larsson. He curls the first clip, then plays behind in the second.
Here, Houston runs a simple, yet lethal counter out of basic Elbow Action.
After executing the initial rub, they clear out the weak side corner & run L.J. Cryer off a fade from what would usually be the big setting the slot ball screen.
Incredibly hard to guard.