Zoom and Handoffs play
Zoom: Transition Entry and the Screener Slip
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 14 steps
About this play
The zoom as a transition entry, for the possession where the break produces nothing and the ball is still alive, drawn from half court: the trailing big gets the ball from the point at the slot, and the moment he catches, the wing on that side drops to pin down for the corner. The corner comes off the pin-down already running, meets the big's dribble at the wing, and takes the handoff with his defender a step behind; the big rolls and the screener fills the slot the big left. Nothing about it is side-specific, so whichever side the ball comes up is the side it runs on. Why zoom out of transition: the defense is matching up on the run, and a pin-down into a handoff asks two sprinting defenders to pass off a cutter they have not found yet. The reads are the zoom's: trail means attack, under means the three, a dropped big means the pocket pass, a tag means the kick to the lifter. The counter is for the defense that jumps the pin-down early, the screener's defender cheating toward the corner to help on the receiver: the screener shows the pin-down for a step, then cuts straight down the lane behind the cheating defender and the big hits him for the layup, Coach's Clipboard's screener slip; if the defense covers it, the big keeps his dribble, crosses the floor, and the weak-side wing and corner run the same zoom on their side. Common mistakes: the wings stopping short of the corners, the screener setting the pin-down before the big has the ball, and the receiver jogging into the handoff. This entry comes from Coach's Clipboard's zoom-from-transition page, and Hoop Vision's film on why zoom has taken over basketball will take you deeper for the decoys around it.
