Zoom and Handoffs play
Zoom: Reject and Keep
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 11 steps
About this play
What the zoom does when the defense takes the handoff away, and the reason I trust it against a team that has scouted it: three counters from one picture, each a counter to a different denial. First, when the receiver's defender top-locks him, standing on the high side between him and the pin-down, the receiver back-cuts to the rim for the pass from the post (Coach's Clipboard's corner back-cut, Coach Hoops' zoom reject). Second, when the receiver is denied and the back-cut is covered, the screener who just set the pin-down skips his lift, comes back toward the post, and takes the handoff himself, so the zoom becomes a two-man game between the screener and the post (Coach's Clipboard's screener DHO). Third, when the receiver's defender jumps the handoff, the post fakes the handoff and keeps it, driving the empty lane (Basketball For Coaches' keep). Why the counters are the play: a defense that guards the zoom has to overplay somebody, and each overplay is a cut behind it. The read is the receiver's defender: high side means back-cut, denial means the screener takes it, jumping the handoff means keep. Common mistakes: the receiver fighting through a top-lock instead of cutting behind it, the screener standing after his screen instead of turning to the ball, and the post handing off into a defender who has already jumped it. The three denials come from Coach's Clipboard, Coach Hoops' zoom reject, and Basketball For Coaches' DHO primer, with Championship Productions' handoff-reads clip tying them together; look them up if you want to see each one live.
