Slip Screen
Set the screen — then don't. Cut to the rim.
The slip screen is the counter every coach installs against teams that aggressively defend ball screens. Against a hedge or trap, the screener’s defender jumps out toward the ball-handler — leaving the screener with no one between them and the rim. Slipping the screen (cutting to the basket instead of setting the pick) turns the defense’s aggression into a layup.
Teaching the slip requires teaching the read: the screener has to see the hedger’s foot move toward the ball-handler before slipping. Slipping too early gives the defense time to recover; slipping too late lets the hedger reset. The timing window is narrow.
Modern NBA defenses respond to slipping by ‘tagging’ — the weak-side defender drops to deny the slip pass. This forces the offense to make a secondary read: either find the tagger’s man (now open for a kick-out three) or wait for the tagger to recover. Slipping is rarely an isolated action — it’s the second move in a multi-read chain.
Key principles
- Screener approaches the ball-handler as if setting a normal screen
- Before making contact, the screener cuts hard to the rim
- Defender who jumped out to hedge is now behind the action — open layup
- Counter to aggressive ball-screen defense (hedge, trap, blitz)