A complex basketball offense can be a thing of beauty. Watch the Golden State Warriors or the Miami Heat (when fully healthy) and the whirling medley of cuts, screens, handoffs, and variations can be bewitching. Pulling off that sort of Jackson Pollack-esque court art requires chemistry, discipline, and experience, luxuries not afforded every coach all the time. Heck, even Steve Kerr has had to simplify the offense at times.
Simplicity isn’t synonymous with repetition though. Establish a strong base and most players at the NBA level can be trusted to gradually work in tweaks and options. The Warriors have sprung Steph Curry open for a 3 time and again using their familiar split-action: a player on the wing enters the ball into the post and then pivots into a screen for Curry. Smart screeners recognize when their man is overplaying the screen (CANNOT LET STEPH GET FREE!) and can slip the screen for an open lane to the basket. Watch second-year player Jonathan Kuminga do just that:
That action came out of a timeout, with Coach Kerr setting Kuminga up out of a familiar set.
Inexperience is one reason to simplify an offense. Lack of court reps and chemistry is another, something the 2022-23 Brooklyn Dumpster Fire Nets are all too familiar with. In Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Jacque Vaughn has two players capable of generating efficient offense; per NBA Advanced Stats, both are in the top ten for points generated out of isolation possessions. Coach Vaughn also has the Nets run the same basic sets repeatedly, allowing the Nets to establish familiarity and establish rhythm. With that rhythm, the Nets have explored various options out of the same basic set up.
Take the fourth quarter of a recent victory over the Portland Trailblazers. The Nets ran Chicago action on three straight non-transition possessions. As a reminder, Chicago action involves a pin down screen leading into a dribble handoff (DHO), with two players typically stationed on the weak side. By involving three players and allowing for multiple wrinkles out of an essentially simple set up, it can be a good early-offense set that involves a team’s best players without much pre-set action.
On the first possession, Royce O’Neale sets the pin down for Seth Curry, leading into a DHO with Ben Simmons. Although the Nets get a three out of the play, it arguably bogs down a bit after the Blazers successfully switch the first screen and shoot the gap on the second.
That is valuable information on the Blazers’ defensive coverage: they switch the pin down. Irving has a clear view of that from the weak side corner.
The next play down, the Nets run Chicago again, this time with O’Neale and Curry in the weak side and Irving setting the pin down for Durant. As they say, the best way to beat a switch is with a slip; Basketball Kanye slips the screen, catching Justise Winslow off guard and drawing the foul.
Two other tweaks from the previous trip to note there: first, Simmons does not roll to the dunker spot this time, keeping his man Jusuf Nurkic outside the paint. Second, O’Neale and Curry engage in a little decoy theater on the weak side, occupying the help defenders. Once he is caught behind the slip, Winslow has no option other than to foul.
The next time down, the Nets seem to be setting up for Chicago again, with Curry this time setting the pin down for O’Neale and KD screening for Irving on the weak side. Watch Josh Hart’s body positioning, ready for Curry to either change direction or slip the screen. Instead, O’Neale sets a pin in screen for Curry flaring out to the corner and putting Anfernee Simons on skates.
Simple does not have to mean mundane.