An offense without verbal signals: decision-making skills of a ball handler in a pick and roll offense in the basketball champions league

Abstract

Pick and roll is an offense without verbal signals. The present work attempts to investigate the decisions taken by the ball handler in the direction of the motion in different type of pick, re-screen, screener body placement (chest-back), finishing at top-of-key, right, and left side, in four different variations (roll, pop, slip, stretch the trap). The sample consisted of the 16 teams that participated in the 2016-2017 season of the FIBA Basketball Champions League (BCL). Analyses of the ball handler in a total of 2507 pick-and-roll plays were performed in the regular season, play-offs and final four. The software Synergy Sports Systems was used to analyze the data. Classification tree analysis was used to identify which combination of variables better predict effectiveness by the ball handler in a pick-and-roll offense. Results indicated that, when the ball handler choosing to the left direction of motion after a slip pick, pick and pop and stretch the trap at the top of the key and left side of the court achieve better effectiveness comparing to the right side. Finally, it was made apparent that the ball handler affects the offense, which in turn affects the effectiveness of the teams.