Learning how to come off screens and get an open shot is a very important part of the game of basketball. It requires the player to read not only where their defender is going but where the help defender is as well. In this video, the player is running through a series of drills that are designed to get her an open jump shot while curling off a screen. The type of curl she uses all depends on where the defense will be.
In the first drill, she is running a tight curl coming off shoulder to hip with the screener. She sees that her defender is trailing and that the screener’s defender is not “showing” to help out. In this video she actually pulls up for a short jumper. However, in a game, she would want to curl as tight as possible to her screener so that her defender cannot get through, catch in the paint, take one dribble and finish with a layup on the opposite side of the rim.
In the second drill, her defender is trailing again however, this time the screener’s defender is showing. She once again gets low, shoulder to hip, as she curls off the screener, but this time she catches and shoots a jumper at the elbow.
In the third drill, her defender is trailing, and the screener’s defender is once showing. This time, as she curls low around the screener, she runs through the catch takes one dribble for a pull-up jumper in the middle of the paint. In this situation, she must read the defense and continue past it with the dribble and be sure not to slow down on the catch.
Finally, in the fourth drill, her defender is trailing and there is help from the screener’s defender once again. This time as she comes low off the screen and sees the defender closing out on the shot, she rips the ball back through (in the direction the defender is coming from) and takes one dribble for a pull-up jumper. In this case, she is using the defender’s momentum against her in order to get an open shot.
In the final two drills where the dribble is added, she is using the dribble to create space for herself thereby making it easier to get her shot off.
The curl series can be used in a variety of ways at differents spot on the floor. These are highly effective drills that will help a player learn how to read the defense and get themself an open shot coming off screens on the catch and with a dribble.
