Written by Rick Torbett on January 9, 2009 – 2:37 PM
Q: What happens in the offense when there is a skip pass that does not fall into a Pin & Skip category? What does the passer do after throwing the skip pass?
A: The rule is the same for a skip pass with or without a pin screen; there is no rule. Only when feeding the post or passing one spot away on the perimeter is the passer required to cut. It’s needed in these cases to satisfy the coordination of the offense. But a cut is not needed following a skip pass. The player might remain where they are and continue to stretch the defense and/or wait on a return skip pass or (against a zone as an example) after the skip pass, the passer might see an opening in the zone and follow the pass by flashing into the open area. There’s nothing wrong with this. It will not mess up the offense. So the rule for the skip passer becomes a higher level read because the passer must actually THINK and READ the SITUATION rather than simply reading the ballhandler and reacting with one prescribed movement. If I had to make a steadfast rule, I would say STAY, stretch the defense, and be ready to read what the player with the ball is doing.
I would consider having a player who was skipped–the one closest to the player receiving the ball–cutting, which would allow a normal rotation to occur and to provide a passing opportunity to the recipient of the skip pass.
What Bill suggests is exactly what we have done (the skipped player cuts) and it works well. Think about this–the defender of the player who was skipped is likely going to be playing towards the first passer in deny or at least in the gap. If the player who is skipped anticipates the skip pass well and cuts before his defender jumps to the ball, he comes wide open on his cut. We’ve actually practiced that as a “sub-layer” of pass and cut.
John, is the player who was skipped most often doing a back cut? It would seem like his (or her) defender would move to the recipient of the pass, so that the back cut would be wide open.
Whether the skipped player who cuts makes a back cut or a front cut depends on how quickly he reacts to the skip pass. Most of the time, it does end up being a back cut because the skip pass just isn’t anticipated and/or reacted to very quickly. Next year, we’re hoping to get to a level of R&R that the cut of the skipped player becomes a front cut for an easy score.