Ryan Schultz's "Shallow", with the ball screen that Breakthrough and Teach Hoops both put at the center of a modern zone attack: the point drives at his own wing so the top guard on that side has to come with him, the wing empties out and replaces him at the top, and the ball goes right back; the short-corner post on the far side times his run so that he arrives on the other top guard's hip with a ball screen the instant the catch is made. Why screen the ball against a zone: a zone does not have two defenders assigned to the ball screen, so a defender has to leave his area to stop the ball, and the area he leaves is open. The reads after the screen are a short ladder, top to bottom: no one steps up, 2 shoots it; X5 comes up to the ball, 4 is standing at the rim behind him; X4 pinches in to help, 3 is alone in the corner. The counter is for the zone that sends the middle up early to meet the roller: 5 short-rolls into the lane and seals the guard behind him while 4 runs the baseline to the short corner behind the lifted middle, and the ball goes to whichever of them the forward does not take. Common mistakes: setting the screen before the catch, the ball handler driving past the screen instead of using it, and the baseline posts standing on the blocks where the forwards can see them. I picked this up from Ryan Schultz's go-to zone plays on Breakthrough Basketball and Steve Forbes's ball screen continuity clinic, and Teach Hoops makes the same case for screening the ball; give all three a look.
