905 playbook: The ‘Horns’ of the offence

The offence professional basketball teams run has become increasingly complex. Over time they have come to use more actions, both choreographed and improvised, than ever before.  

Players must learn plays inside out and execute the correct reads automatically. Like anything, it gets easier with repetition. The more familiar players are with each other and the sets themselves, the more likely they are to succeed. Learn a teammate’s tendencies and practice the machinations of a play enough, and eventually it all becomes muscle memory. The idea is that players learn to make the right read without even having to think. 

That’s why this aspect of the game can be difficult to nail down when a team gets a new coach and an almost entirely new set of players, as the Raptors 905 did this season (minus Myles Burnes and Kevin Obanor, both of whom were waived in December).  

During this year’s 16-game Tip-Off Tournament and Showcase portion of the schedule there weren’t a whole lot of set plays, and when they were run, they were often clunky. Players made reads a step slow and the flow of the offence would often stagnate without an advantage being created. Eugene Omoruyi and Kennedy Chandler led the team in scoring largely off of drives, isolations, and transition. 

The 905 have had a mercurial season, as is the nature of the G League, and the offence has been no exception, fluctuating a great deal month to month. The most sustained success has coincided with both the availability of the organization’s two-way and assignment eligible players and the stretches with the most roster stability. The intentional overlap between the parent club and the G League affiliate’s playbooks certainly helps players get on the same page in that regard. It was also beneficial for the players to spend a good amount of time playing together – getting into a rhythm – both in general and when it comes to running sets.  

This is part one of a series where we will take a look at some of the 905’s most effective and frequently used plays. Let’s start simple, with sets run out of one of the most commonly seen alignments both generally and with the 905, Horns. 

The 905 use this setup to initiate a variety of set plays with the goals of creating post touches, advantages through mismatches and motion, and open shots. There is also one interesting twist incorporating elements from a couple of plays that the Toronto Raptors run.  

First, we see the 905 get into horns with Eugene Omoruyi handling the ball. Omoruyi enters to Frank Kaminsky in the elbow-extended area and then curls around a flare screen from Evan Gilyard. The five-foot-10 guard does an admirable job planting the screen effectively, resulting in the Cleveland Charge switching the action. Omoruyi does a great job getting the seal and gaining deep post position on a much smaller player in Darius Brown. Charge wing Elijah Hughes hesitates to help off of Tyreke Key – a solid shooter – in the weak side corner, and Omoruyi easily takes advantage of the mismatch with a jump hook. Nice and tidy work to put one of your better scorers in an advantageous position.  

Next, we have a variation where the Raptors use a common function of Horns – Horns Out. Here one of the “Horns” sets a cross screen to open up the other on the perimeter. The 905 then use the Horns Out action to filter into a double drag or “77”.  

Ulrich Chomche sets the initial screen for AJ Lawson. Chomche and Kennedy Chandler then set up as the screeners in 77. While the action is defended well, it is effective at getting the defence in motion, as weak side help starts to rotate to take away Chomche on the roll. Lawson makes an astute skip pass to Key in the corner and the 905 keep the advantage alive from there. Key attacks the closeout with a pass to Chomche and a cut. At this point Quincy Guerrier’s check has become the low man and shifted over in help, so Key finds Guerrier who then successfully attacks his closeout for a clear path to the rim. He blows the layup, but the defence had resigned themselves to defeat at this point and Chomche cleans up the putback.  

Ok now for an interesting play that draws from two plays that the NBA Raptors run quite often and that our own Samson Folk has both spoken and written about frequently: Spain Leak and Horns Chin Punch. The 905 also run these plays, and run them quite often, but they also added in a little wrinkle to the Chin variation that is an amalgam of both: Horns Chin Leak.  

First, we have the standard Spain Leak: a Spain pick n’ roll – also called Stack – where the player setting the back screen for the roller leaks out to the 3-point line. This functions similarly to the Chin variation, where the downhill threat of both the ball handler and roller cause the defence to load up to attempt to stop an easy bucket at the rim. This can often generate an open 3 for the back screener, as it does in the first play for Omoruyi. Alternatively, if the defence plays the shooter, it can open up the lane.

In Horns Chin Leak, the “Chin” screener, in this case Gilyard, also leaks out to the perimeter. The danger of Guerrier getting a clean look diving to the rim either off the switch or space provided by the Chin screen causes both defenders to hang with him momentarily, leaving Gilyard open for the 3. His defender does an admirable job recovering for the close out, but Gilyard pumps and drives, drawing Kaminsky’s man in help, before finding the big man for an open triple. It also helps that the corners are filled with two good shooters – Rhoden and Lawson – making their defenders resistant to help off of them.  

Up next we’ll break down some of the sets the 905 ran for the two-ways and assignment eligible guys during their dominant January stretch with the team, including initiating offence with zoom actions out of the corners and some interesting screen-the-screener stuff to open up shooters like Jamison Battle.  

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