One of the biggest things that has changed since I started coaching is post play. The original title of this blog was “Post Play…Not dead, Just different”. The 2 main things that post players do in modern offense is either spot up and provide spacing or be a roll guy on Ballscreens. The post up is usually not as efficient as other shots in terms of points per possession (PPP). However, all post ups are not created equally. Their are still ways to attack from the post that can be efficient. When talking post ups, their are 5 main questions that need to be answered.
Why? When? Who? Where? How?
I really enjoyed watching the Celtics and how they use the post up because I think that they find a good mix of different attacks. What is interesting when looking at their synergy numbers is that they are efficient at .98 PPP for the season but only use it for 4.3% of their offense (3rd in the NBA). Enes Kanter has the most possessions out of the post at 31%. Jayson Tatum has the second post possessions in the post at 26% of the total post ups. After those two, They use the mix of Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, and Gordon Hayward to account for 36% of total post ups.
The Celtics run a some really good concepts that are simple and effective. They are things that any team can run even without a dominant post up player.
Why
Why get the ball in the post? Getting the ball in the post can do a couple of things for the offense. It slows the game down, it can lead to fouls, it is a great way to beat a switch, it keeps the big engaged, and it can be a place to run offense from. When the ball goes into the post, things change for the defense. Just the act of the post touch puts the defense in a vulnerable spot. Brad Stevens is quoted as saying that a post up is a vehicle to play inside-out.
In an article on Celticsblog.com there is a quote from Stevens talking about using Marcus Smart & Evan Turner in the post.
Obviously, Marcus has made shots and Marcus and Evan can both also post so we try and post those guys. It’s kind of an inverted lineup when you think about those guys posting with Jonas (Jerebko) and Kelly (Olynyk) and guys like that really spreading the court for us. And it’s unique but I think it’s finally really starting to find its legs early last week and we’ll see if it continues. I’m intrigued by it.
Brad Stevens
When
When do we want to post up? Early post ups in transition are a good place to start. On the shot, the transition defense is usually anchored by a guard protecting the rim. So it would make sense, that if we can get a post or a big wing down the floor early, he will have a size advantage against that smaller guard.
You will see in the clips how the Celtics hunt out these situations. Sometimes its a real transition situation by the big or a wing running hard to get to the block. Sometimes its just an early straight post up for a positive matchup. Break spacing is a huge part of modern offense, but this can be effective in the right situation.
Who
This is a two part question. Who can you post up and who can you target defensively in a post up. This could be a size mismatch, talent mismatch, or could be used when a defender has foul trouble. I think having guards and wings that can post up is something that is a staple of good offense When you figure that the Celtics guard & forwards account for over 65% of their post ups, you can see this is a big part of what they do. When you have that post advantage, it can be as simple as get the ball up the floor and throw it into the post.
Being able to get multiple guys into the post increases the chances that you will be able to find a poor defender to target in the post. The post up is also a great way to punish a switching defense. When the defense switches it lets the offense pick who they want to post up. This forces the defense to either stop switching or have to adjust how they guard in the post.
I think one of the most impressive parts of the Celtics Post ups is how they attack the switch. They have multiple ways they can attack the switch. However, it seems more conceptual that once they get switch, they work to attack the switch. The 2 main ways they attack the switch are through an early pistol ballscreen, this is usually guard to guard. They will also run split action off an elbow hit (horns or break alignment).
Here are some of the early ballscreen switches where they get punish the switch on a post up.
Here are some of their looks from a high split hitting the elbow.
Where
Where do you want the post up to take place? The difference between catching with two feet in the paint and catching in the wide post is huge. Unless we have a huge strength advantage the wide post catch is not a great play by the numbers. However, a quick paint duck in or seal will give you an opportunity to score quickly against the defense. This is also a way to pick up fouls.
How
How can you get the ball in the post to give the post up a chance to score? This is more based on personnel. The number of things that you could do for this is almost unlimited. I am not going to put in the normal ways like a cross screen or flex screen. Those are great way as well, but I will include those down in the sets part of this blog.
For guards, they could get the ball in the post off a “Barkley”. A Barkley is turning your drive into a post up. It is very effective, because the ball handler gets control through a back down and can finish over a defender that does not want to guard down there.
Another way to get the ball into the post is by a hard cut. These cuts can be a call or just a read by the offense. The Celtics wings are great at finding the right moment to face cut their man and get position.
A great way to get a post into a good post up situation is to use a shake action. On the throwback, the big has a great opportunity to seal and establish deep position.
Sets to get the ball in the post
Here are some of the other sets that they use to get the ball in the post. They didn’t fit in the above categories.
Here is the full edit I did of all the ways the Celtics attack the post.