Double stagger pindowns and forcing the switch

1. On recent episodes of the DNVR Nuggets podcast, I’ve talked about the impact Nikola Jokic can have on Donovan Mitchell’s pull-up three-point shooting by providing the facade of defense when he plays higher up the court on ball screens. Below is a great example of that. Jokic isn’t really contesting this shot, but it at least gives Mitchell a slightly more difficult shot than if Jokic was playing a few steps deeper in PnR coverage.

2. One of the things Torrey Craig does a lot that drives me nuts is help too far off of a shooter to get into help side. In the clip below, watch how far over he rotates and how slowly he closes out at Mike Conley.

3. One of the main reasons the double stagger pindown is so effective is because it creates a lot of switches.

4. But the Nuggets must be more attuned to how to take advantage of those switches when they happen.

5. Like this.

6. Here is another example of beating a switch, albeit one you wouldn’t expect.

7. The Nuggets didn’t run a whole lot of double stagger screens this season, especially with Jerami Grant playing the small forward position. Because of that, he is still a bit slow to make some of the on-the-fly reads when Murray short-cuts the screen like in the example below.

8. Every time I rewatch a game I see something from Jokic that I missed the first time. What a pass!

8.