Additional Spurs Plays

In today's post, we will look at some other plays that the Spurs run.

Counters

In today's post we will revisit Strong, Weak and Loop to see some of the counters the Spurs use when defenses get used to their regular actions.

Pick and Roll

In today's post, we will look at some of the various pick and roll sets that the Spurs use.

Pick and Roll within the Offense

In today's post, we will look at how the Spurs incorporate pick and rolls within the flow of their offense.

Loop

In today's post we will look at the play called "Loop."

Weak

In today's post we will look at the next action of the offense called "Weak."

Weak begins when the ball handler passes ahead to the strong-side wing. This pass keys several actions:



1.  Ball handler Patrick Mills passes ahead to strong-side wing Manu Ginobili.
- Once this pass is made, the ball handler cuts across to the weak-side of the floor (hence the term "Weak") and the strong-side wing looks for the pass.  Here, Ginobili perfectly threads the needle and hits Mills in stride for an easy layup.

Strong

In this post, we will look at the play called "Strong"

Each number represents a pass.

1. Richard Jefferson passes ahead to Tony Parker:
- Parker pushes the ball ahead as the "ball handler."
- Kawhi Leonard fills the "strong-side wing"
- while Jefferson moves to the "weak-side wing"
- DeJuan Blair fills the "post" position
- Tim Duncan fills the "trailer"

Basics of the Spurs Motion Offense

Starting in 1997, the San Antonio Spurs own the highest winning percentage of any team out of the four major North American professional sports.  The Spurs, anchored by Tim Duncan, forged an identity as one of the best defensive teams of their era on the way to four NBA Championships. Since their last championship in 2007, the NBA has changed to a quicker perimeter oriented league.  The Spurs can no longer count on an aging Duncan or their once heralded defense.  To adjust to the new rules, Gregg Popovich has turned the keys of his offense over to his perimeter players.  Now coaching the offense with the best Offenseive Rating in the NBA, Popovich has shown he isn't just a defensive guru, but an all around basketball genius.

The Spurs run an equal opportunity motion style offense.  Players are asked to fill certain positions on the floor and run through a sequence of options based on where offensive players are positioned in the early offense and what the defense gives.

The Spurs are setup in a 4 out 1 in alignment:

The players are asked to fill positions on the floor based on whether they are a big or perimeter player:
- Two interchangeable bigs: Post (usually the first big down the floor who fills the post) and Trailer (who spots up at the top of the three point arc).
- Three interchangeable perimeter players: a strong-side wing, a weak-side wing (who fill the strong-side and weak-side corners) and a ball handler that fills the wing.
- Depending on the versatility of a player, they can even be asked to fill all five positions