The same ball screen, with one change at the end. Instead of diving to the rim, the screener opens up and steps back behind the three-point line. The handler drives off the screen, and if help comes, the ball goes back out to a screener who is already set.
Why coaches use it
It needs one thing the roll does not: a screener who can shoot. If you have him, the pop punishes the two coverages teams fall back on most.
Against drop, the big is retreating toward the rim by design, so the pop is open before he can turn around. Against a defender going under the screen, the same thing happens one beat earlier. Both coverages are built to take away the rim, and the pop simply ignores the rim.
It also keeps the lane clean. A roller pulls one or two defenders into the paint; a popper drags his man out of it. For a team whose best scorer drives, the pop is the spacing decision as much as it is a shot.
How it is guarded
The screener’s defender has to make a choice he does not want to make. If he steps out with the pop, the rim is open for the drive. If he protects the rim, the shot is open.
- Hedge or hard hedge buys a beat but leaves the popper alone until somebody rotates.
- Switch is the cleanest answer and the reason teams switch pick-and-pop more readily than pick-and-roll.
- A stunt from the nail at the popper, then a hard closeout, is the compromise most teams settle on.
Scout it the other way too: if your opponent’s big never pops, you can drop against him all night.