3.6: Off-Ball Screens II: Named Off-Ball Actions

Chapter 3: Offense

Elevator, Hammer, Floppy, Loop and Wedge: the named actions built from the six screen shapes, each taken apart into its parts, plus the names heard that have no entry yet.

New terms introduced (5): Elevator screen, Floppy, Hammer, Loop, Wedge. Diagrams: 5.

Lecture 3.5 was a parts list. This lecture is what teams build from it. A named off-ball action is two or three of those screens run in a sequence, for a particular player, with a particular pass at the end, and the name is shorthand a team uses so that five players can start it with one word. The names below are the ones heard most often on a broadcast, and each is taken apart here into the screens it is made of, so that a reader who has the parts can recognize any combination, named or not.

Section 1 is the elevator, two screens that close. Section 2 is the hammer, a back screen on the weak side of a drive. Section 3 is floppy, a shooter’s choice of sides. Section 4 is the loop, a stagger run along the baseline. Section 5 is the wedge, an off-ball screen that becomes a ball screen. Section 6 names the actions heard for which this site has a description but not yet an entry.

1 Elevator: two screens that close

The elevator screen is two screeners standing side by side with a gap between them. The shooter runs through the gap, and the moment he is through the two screeners step together and close it, so the defender chasing him runs into two bodies with no way round, as in Figure 1 and Figure 2. It is also called elevator doors. It is the only screen in the sport that is set after the cutter has passed it, and it is legal only if both screeners are stationary when the defender arrives, which is why the timing of the step is everything.

The ball is with a guard on the right wing, his defender inside him. Two bigs stand on the free-throw line with a gap between them, each with his defender below him, and the words doors and open flank the pair just above the free-throw line, doors to the left of the left big and open to the right of the right big. The shooter starts at the left block, and a cut arrow runs from him up through the middle of the gap toward the top of the key. His defender stands behind him on the baseline side. A fifth attacker stands in the right corner with his defender.
Figure 1: Elevator, first frame. Two bigs stand at the free-throw line with a gap between them. The shooter runs up from the block through the gap; his defender is behind him.
The two bigs stand together on the free-throw line, shoulder to shoulder, with one screen bar under them. A teal arrow from near the left block shows the shooter's defender coming up the lane, and he stands just below the bar, between the two bigs' defenders. The label doors close sits just above the two bigs. The shooter stands alone at the top of the key, labeled catch and shoot, and a dashed pass arrow runs to him from the guard on the right wing. A fifth attacker stays in the right corner with his defender.
Figure 2: Elevator, second frame. The two bigs step together the moment the shooter is through. His defender meets two screeners shoulder to shoulder, and the shooter catches at the top for a shot.
Setup
Two screeners at the free-throw line or the elbows, a body’s width apart, facing the baseline. The shooter under the rim or on a block. The ball on a wing with a passer who can see the top of the key.
Trigger
The shooter runs at the gap. His defender, behind him, follows.
Read
The shooter goes through and the screeners close. If the defender is caught, the shooter catches and shoots at the top. If the defender anticipates and goes round the outside of one screener, the shooter curls the other way, toward the side the defender did not choose. If the defense switches, one screener’s defender jumps out to the shooter and that screener slips to the rim behind him.
Payoff
A shooter at the top of the key with his defender stopped dead by two screens at once.
Beaten by
The defender refusing to follow through the gap and going round the outside before the doors close, conceding a step on the catch; or switching one screener’s defender onto the shooter as he comes through. Lecture 4.5.
Action 1: Elevator: two screens, one gap, closed behind the cutter.

2 Hammer: the back screen on the weak side of a drive

The hammer joins a drive to a screen on the other side of the floor. The ball-handler drives baseline on one side. The weak-side shooter’s defender does what every help defender is taught to do and sinks toward the paint to stop the drive. As he sinks, a big back-screens him, and the shooter drifts down to the weak-side corner. The driver throws the pass along the baseline, under the rim, to the corner, as in Figure 3 and Figure 4. The hammer punishes the help rule itself: the defender who helped is screened for having helped.

The ball-handler on the right wing dribbles down the right side to the baseline, past his defender on the inside, and the label baseline drive sits just above the baseline, below the end of the dribble. On the left, the shooter stands on the left wing. A teal arrow from his defender runs in toward the paint, labeled helper sinks, and a short cut arrow from the shooter starts down the left sideline. A big stands at the left block and another just outside the right side of the lane, each with his defender inside him toward the basket, and a guard is at the top of the key with his defender.
Figure 3: Hammer, first frame. The ball-handler drives baseline on the right. On the left, the shooter’s defender sinks toward the paint to help, and the shooter starts to drift.
The driver has reached the right baseline with the ball, his defender above him. On the left, the shooter's defender has sunk toward the paint. The big has cut up from the left block, shown by his arrow, and stands below and to the left of that defender, with his screen bar between them. The label back screen sits just below the big. The shooter starts outside the arc, low on the left side, and drifts straight down the sideline to the left corner, labeled drift. A dashed pass arrow runs from the driver along the baseline, under the rim, to the corner, labeled baseline pass. The other big stays just outside the right side of the lane, the left big's defender stays in the lane, and a guard is at the top of the key, each with his defender.
Figure 4: Hammer, second frame. The big back-screens the sinking defender; the shooter drifts to the left corner. The driver throws the baseline pass to the corner for an open three.
Setup
The ball on one wing with a driver. On the other side, a shooter on the wing and a big on the block or in the dunker spot. The strong-side corner empty or filled by a non-shooter who lifts.
Trigger
The driver turns the corner toward the baseline, and the weak-side wing defender takes his first step toward the paint.
Read
The big steps up behind the sinking defender and screens him; the shooter drifts to the corner. The driver reads as he reaches the baseline: shooter open in the corner, the baseline pass; defender fighting through the screen to the corner, the big is now alone under the rim for a drop-off; rim protector coming to the driver, the layup or the drop-off.
Payoff
A corner three on the weak side, thrown to a shooter whose defender was screened while helping.
Beaten by
The weak-side defender helping with his eyes and not his feet, staying home on the shooter and leaving the drive to the rim protector; or the X-out rotation in which the big’s defender takes the corner and the wing defender takes the big. Lecture 4.4.
Action 2: Hammer: the help defender is screened for helping, and the pass goes under the rim to the corner.

3 Floppy: the shooter picks a side

Floppy gives a shooter a choice. He starts under the rim. On one side of him is a single pin-down; on the other is a stagger. He reads his defender and runs off whichever side is open, as in Figure 5. The defender, who has to guard both sides at once, cannot be right about both, and the passer at the top waits for the read and delivers to whichever wing the shooter chose.

The ball is with the guard at the top of the key, his defender below him. The shooter stands in the lane just in front of the rim, with the rim and backboard showing below him and the label he chooses just above him, in the fork between his two cuts. His defender stands beside him to his left, on the baseline side. Two cut arrows leave the shooter, one up to the right wing and one up to the left wing. On the right, a single screener stands inside the right lane line, just above that path, with his screen bar beside him, on the side the shooter comes from, square to the path and stopping just short of it, labeled single just to his right. On the left, two screeners stand in a line just above that path, the first inside the lane and the second just outside the left lane line, each with his screen bar beside him in the same way, on the side the shooter comes from, labeled stagger just above the outer one. Each screener's defender stands above him, toward the ball. A dashed pass arrow runs from the top to each wing.
Figure 5: Floppy. The shooter starts under the rim. A single pin-down waits on one side and a stagger on the other. He reads his defender and runs one way; the pass from the top follows his choice.
Setup
The shooter under the rim, his defender behind him. A single screener on one side of the lane, a step above the block, facing the baseline; two screeners in a line from the other side of the lane toward that wing. The ball at the top.
Trigger
The shooter’s first step. His defender shades one way to deny that side.
Read
The shooter goes the other way. Off the single screen, the four reads of lecture 3.5: curl, fade, straight, back cut. Off the stagger, the same reads at each screen, with the second screener able to slip if his defender jumps out. The passer at the top reads which side the shooter chose and which read he made, and throws to that spot.
Payoff
A shooter catching on the wing of his choosing with his defender behind at least one screen.
Beaten by
The defender going under everything and meeting the shooter at the wing, conceding the curl to take away the catch-and-shoot; or a defense that switches every screen so whichever side he picks, a fresh defender is waiting. Lecture 4.5.
Action 3: Floppy: one shooter, two sides, and a defender who has to guess.

4 Loop: a stagger along the baseline

The loop is a triple stagger run along the baseline. The cutter starts on one wing, runs down to the baseline, under the rim off three screens set along the lane, and up to the other wing for the catch, as in Figure 6. It is the longest cut in this chapter, and its length is the point: three screeners in a row along a path the defender has to run in full, with the ball waiting at the top for the catch at the far end.

1 has the ball at the top, with x1 below him. The shooter, 2, starts on the right wing with his defender. Three screeners stand along the baseline, 5 just outside the right block, 4 just right of the rim and 3 just left of it, each with a short bar on his right side, the side the shooter comes from. Their defenders stand above them. The label three baseline screens sits just above the three screeners, over the rim, below the defenders. The shooter runs down from the right wing to the baseline, then along the baseline below all three screeners and under the rim, passing just under the end of each bar, and up to the left wing, where the dashed pass from the top meets him at the label catch. His defender, x2, is still on the right wing, three bodies behind.
Figure 6: Loop. Three screeners along the baseline side of the lane. The cutter runs from one wing down under the rim off all three and up to the other wing; his defender is three bodies behind.
Setup
The cutter on one wing. Three screeners along the baseline: one at each block and one under the rim, each facing the direction the cutter comes from. The ball at the top.
Trigger
The cutter runs to the baseline.
Read
The cutter runs off all three unless the defender does something that opens an earlier read: a defender going over the top of the first screen lets him curl into the lane; a defender going under lets him fade back to the wing he came from. Off the third screen he comes up to the far wing, and the passer delivers.
Payoff
A catch on the far wing with the defender trailing three screens.
Beaten by
The defender cutting across the lane under the screens to meet the cutter at the far wing, conceding the curl on the first screen; or a switch at any of the three. Lecture 4.5.
Action 4: Loop: three screens along the baseline, wing to wing.

5 Wedge: the off-ball screen that becomes a ball screen

The wedge is where the two kinds of screen meet. A guard sets an off-ball screen for the big, who cuts up to the top; as the big arrives he turns and sets a ball screen for the handler, as in Figure 7. The big’s defender has been screened once and is now late to a second screen, which is the same idea as the ram of lecture 3.4 with the first screen coming from a different direction: the ram pins the big down from above, the wedge screens him from the side.

Half court. The ball-handler, 1, has the ball at the right slot with his defender, x1, below him. The big, 5, starts low on the left side of the lane with his defender, x5, above and outside him on the left lane line. A guard, 3, stands above 5 inside the lane and screens x5, drawn as a bar between them, labeled screen for the big just outside the lane beside it. 5 cuts diagonally up the lane, past that screen, and arrives on x1's left, where a second bar between them is the ball screen, labeled then the ball screen just below it. 1 dribbles left over the top of it toward the middle. x5 is still behind the first screen, so he is late to the second. 3's defender, x3, is on the left wing, and 4 and 2 are in the corners, each with a defender.
Figure 7: Wedge. A guard screens the big’s defender; the big cuts up to the top and turns straight into a ball screen for the handler. His defender is late to the second screen.
Setup
The handler above the arc with the ball. The big on the block. A guard beside the big, ready to screen his defender.
Trigger
The guard’s screen lands on the big’s defender.
Read
The big cuts to the top and screens the ball. The handler comes off it. The reads are the pick-and-roll’s, with the big’s defender a step late: late to the level, the handler is downhill; sprinting to recover, the roller is behind him; switched at the first screen, a guard is guarding the ball screen and the big has a mismatch when he rolls.
Payoff
A pick-and-roll whose screener arrives with his defender screened.
Beaten by
Switching the first screen so the ball screen is guarded by whoever is nearest, or the big’s defender going under the first screen and beating the big to the top. Lecture 4.3 and lecture 4.5.
Action 5: Wedge: an off-ball screen for the big, then the big’s screen for the ball.

6 Names heard for which there is no entry yet

The following named off-ball actions are described by one publisher only. Under this site’s rule they have a description here and no card until a second independent source names them. The diff that decided this is data/sources/glossary_diff_2026-09-21.md.

  • Gaggle. A stagger in which the first screener, after screening, cuts to the opposite corner; the shooter runs through the screens and pops out for the shot. One glossary calls the screens split screens.
  • Baseline stagger. A single or double stagger set along the baseline for a shooter who fills the corner rather than coming up to the wing.
  • Picket fence. Three screeners in a line along the baseline, and a shooter who runs through all three, which is a loop with the screens set closer together.
  • Screen your own. Against a switching defense, a player screens his own defender so that defender cannot switch onto the cutter going by.
  • Fade. Turning down a screen and cutting away from it, which lecture 3.5 taught as one of the four reads rather than as an action of its own.
  • Hook. A cutter curls off a pin-down, and the screener who set it turns around and sets a ball screen. It joins an off-ball screen to a ball screen the way the wedge of Section 5 does, with the roles swapped: the wedge’s ball screen is set by the player who came off the first screen, and here it is set by the player who set that first screen.
  • Moon. A cutter starts in the middle of the floor and runs off a stagger out to the wing. The screens are the stagger of lecture 3.5, and what the name adds is the path, from the middle of the floor out to the wing rather than wing to wing.
  • Tops. A down screen at the top of the key, then the ball reversed to the other side, then a back screen for the cutter. It is three pieces in order rather than one action, and all three of them come from lecture 3.5.

The idea to carry into lecture 3.7 is that not every off-ball movement is a screen. The next lecture is about cuts, seals and handoffs: what a player without the ball does to get open when nobody screens for him.