The 5 Angles of the Ball Screen

With the NBA and college seasons done and a break in my studies, I'm starting to go through all the notes I've collected over the past year. I went through one today I thought was worth talking about, Ganon Baker calls it "the 5 angles of the ball screen" (side, middle, flat, horns, baseline step-up):

1. Side – This is the most popular in college, Europe, NBA and WNBA.
Make sure the screen is not too close to the sideline. Your looks are the
screener to roll/pop, the guard for a jumper or floater, the weak side duckin,
or weak shooter. Defensively, the side PNR is the best to trap on because you can use the sideline as another trapper,


2. Middle – This is most popular with high school because of the spacing of
the court and allows the dribbler to go straight at the rim. Screener’s feet are pointed at either side line.


3. Flat – Same set as a high/middle ball screen but the screener’s feet are
facing half court. The screener can pop either way. The Florida spread PNR offense is predicated on the flat screen,


4. Horns – The flat and horns set you see a lot in the pros like in the WNBA and NBA, the 1-2-2 set in particular. A lot of teams will go high-low off this set as well.


5. Baseline step-up – You are seeing this more and more on all levels. Make
sure the screener stays away from the sideline. This is a great screen to use against teams that like to help a lot, you can suck in the defense this way then dump off or kick out, or go to the opposite corner for a 3-pointer,


For more perimeter player development info, take a look at Ganon Baker on Drills for Developing the Wing Player.