Becky Hammon Drive and Dish Offense

The San Antonio Silver Stars took on the winless Atlanta Dream last night in the WNBA, and the result was as expected. The Stars took the game on the road thanks to strong games by the duo of Becky Hammon and Ann Wauters.

It was probably more to do with the poor defense by the Dream than excellent offense by the Silver Stars, but nonetheless, Hammon was able to drive at will last night. She reminds me of a Steve Nash type of a player, can get into the teeth of the defense, then make the right play. Here are a couple of drive and dish plays from the second half,



Drive and Dish:

That's why it's critical that your players are good 1v1 defenders, so that they won't get beat on the perimeter and require your interior defenders to leave their man and stop the penetration. On the flip side, if you have a penetrating guard like Becky, you have use her ability to get into the teeth of the defense, and allow her to make the right play.

The first play was just a wing drive by Becky, she's able to get all the way to the basket, then the easy dish to Ann,


In this second play, it's out of a 1-2-2 set. There is a stagger ball-screen for Becky. Ann rolls to the basket. Becky comes off the second screen and is able to turn the corner and go straight to the basket unimpeded, where she finds an open Ann,


Summary:

I think Becky Hammon is a great player, but I agree with the Team USA picks, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are better. I don't have a problem with Becky going to play for Team Russia, after all, she just wants to play. Russia has seen fit to give her a passport as she's played a number of years for CSKA Moscow. I don't see her less of an American now that she will play for Team Russia, but one things for sure, it's going to be one heck of a match between USA and Russia this summer.

With the popularity of the dribble-drive offense, more videos have been coming out for it. Here is Jerry Petitgoue's new DVD on the Dribble Drive Offense. I like Petitgoue's stuff on the open post for youth players, so I'm sure this one is a good one as well. Don't forget to check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to talk hoops with other coaches.