Q: In the 4 OUT set, if the ball is driven North/South from the wing and the post is on the weak side where will the post slide?

A: Pretend the ball is on the right wing and the post is on the left side of the lane. If the right wing drives to the goal around his man, but does it going right, then it’s a baseline drive and the post slides up to the FT line elbow. (I suspect that’s not the case you were asking about.)

If the right wing drives to the goal going left, then he’s entering the lane ABOVE the post. Therefore, the post slides down to the short corner. But that’s just the basic post slide. The advanced post slide is to take a step down toward the short corner (during the first dribble of the wing player) and then cut behind the goal to the right side of the lane. This is a small circle movement by the post player. If the wing’s penetration has been stopped and the wing was not able to pass, then the post will continue this cut until he lands in the safety valve position behind the wing. It doesn’t have to be on the 3 pt line - just anywhere behind the penetrator in order to bail him out of trouble.

The same type of thing happens when the wing drives middle in a 3 OUT 2 IN formation. Both posts step down and then both circle to their left (the right wing drove LEFT). The ball-side post lands in the safety valve position. The weak-side post takes ball-side post’s position to rebound.

I used to teach Layer 4 and Layer 10 as one layer, but it was too much for youth players so I split it into basic and advanced post slides. If you have more advanced players, you can teach it all at once if you like. It’s another reason to train everyone on the perimeter. Even the post players should learn circle movement.