On playmaking

Messina Online

Usually, people perceive playmakers as players who bring the ball and choose combinations.

I believe, a playmaker is a player who understands the game and knows when and where to make a key pass. He doesn't have to bring the ball.

Being a good playmaker is more about being in a position to make a good pass and being able to make it.

A key pass can be the first pass of the offense, but can also be the second or the third pass.

Smodis can be our playmaker when he's on high post. He knows perfectly well whether it's better for the team to shoot, to pass to the left or pass to the right.

The opposite happens when you have a player in a position to make a pass, but instead of passing he starts thinking or doing some other things. That means your offense is broken.

Playmaker is a player who has the ball in his hands and has to make a key pass. Every player needs to be a playmaker sometimes.

For example, Alexei Savrasenko has improved his passing ability a lot. When he's on the court, we often pass the ball to him. Alexei starts dribbling, all defenders come closer and he finds an open shooter on the other side.

The key pass of that action is not from, let's say, Papaloukas to Vanterpool or from Vanterpool to Alexei, but it's from Alexei finding the open shooter on the other side.

There was a very good moment illustrating the above ideas when we played in Treviso. Van Den Spiegel received the ball under the basket and found himself surrounded by several defenders. He analyzed the situation and immediately made a perfect billiard pass to Langdon for a completely open three point shot.

Passing in my opinion is the most important fundamental in basketball, even more than shooting. If you analyze all the winning teams in the Euroleague they have always been made of players who knew not only how to pass the ball but also when and to whom.