Analysis: Pick and roll offense
Pick and roll play has driven much of what most teams have done on the offensive end over the last 10 years and that trend appears to be continuing in the ABA League.
(Photo: Synergy Sports Technology)
The ABA League season is well underway and though teams are still adjusting their tactics, it appears that pick and roll play is dominating the action on the floor now more than ever.
Digging Deeper
The table above shows the percentage of each team’s total possessions that they created via pick and rolls since 2010. The color coding shows the rise of pick and roll play over that period. The top marks in the 2010 and 2011 season would have ranked second to last this year. Most ABA League teams have embraced ball screens as a major part of their offense. Cibona Zagreb and Koper Primorska are currently the only outliers creating 32% and 30% of their possessions respectively. The rest of the league creates an average of 42% with pick and rolls.
This season may not have any teams breaking records for pick and roll usage since FMP went all-in back in 2018, but the ABA League has never seen so many ball screen-heavy offenses in a single season. Mornar Bar currently leads the league with 48% of their possessions coming from ball screens with Crvena Zvezda mts leading all teams in pick and roll efficiency as they generate 1.13 points per possession — well ahead of the league average of 0.95 points per possession.
Interestingly, all other half court possessions in the ABA League are converted for 0.89 points per possession — ball screens are not only the biggest piece of what teams do offensively, but for many, it is also their most efficient option.
Insights and Statistics Provided by Synergy Sports Technology
