Every ball screen asks the same question of a defense: who stops the roller? The answer is not always the screener’s own defender. When the ball handler has gone by and the screener’s man is behind, somebody else has to touch the roller or he catches the ball at the rim with nothing in front of him. That touch is called a tag.
What a tag is, and what it is not
A tag is brief. A help defender takes a step or two toward the roller, gets a hand, a body or a foot in his path, and then goes back to his own man. The roller loses half a step, the screener’s defender catches up, and the shot at the rim is contested.
It is not a switch, and it is not a full rotation. The defender who tags is still responsible for his own man and has to get back to him. If he stays, the defense is now a man short somewhere and the next pass is a shot. The glossary has the short definition under tag the roller; this page is about the coaching.
Who tags
Pick one defender and make it a rule. Three common choices:
- The low man. The weak-side defender closest to the rim. He is already near the roll and in the paint. This is the most common choice. See low man.
- The nail defender. The defender guarding the player at the free-throw line area steps down to tag. It costs less when the offense has no shooter at the nail. See nail help.
- The weak-side big. If the roller is a guard or the screener is a small, the weak-side big takes him.
Whoever you choose, every defender on the floor needs to know it, because everyone else rotates behind the tagger. A tag that sometimes comes from the low man and sometimes from the nail is how you give up open threes without anyone being obviously wrong.
The footwork
The mistakes in tagging are almost all footwork mistakes.
- Start from a stance that sees both. The tagger stands in a stunt-ready position, one eye on his man and one on the ball. If he is watching only his man, he tags late.
- Go on the handler’s second dribble. He moves when the ball handler uses the screen, not when the roller already has the ball.
- Step into the roller’s path, not at the ball. The goal is to be in the way, so he has to run around you. Chasing the ball means arriving behind him.
- Take space, not contact. A tag that charges the roller invites a foul. Stand in the way, arms wide, and let him run into you.
- Leave after one beat. The tagger counts one beat and then sprints back toward his man. If the screener’s defender has caught the roller, leave sooner.
Practice the return as much as the tag. The recovery takes longer than the step and decides whether the tag was worth it.
Rules that stop open threes
The danger of a tag is the player left behind, so a few rules keep the cost small.
- Tag only if the ball is going to the rim. If the handler stops and pulls up, nobody tags. The tag is an answer to a drive.
- The next defender covers. When the low man tags, the nearest teammate shifts to cover the open man’s lane, so a pass to the corner meets a closeout, not an open look. When the pass does come, the X-out rotation is the usual way to sort out who takes whom. See x-out.
- Never tag a shooter’s defender when a non-shooter is open. Choose the tagger by who he is guarding. A defender guarding the other team’s best shooter should not be your first tagger.
- Talk. The tagger calls “tag” so the defender behind him knows to rotate. Silent rotations break.
Add a closeout drill to the practice in which you teach tags, because the tag always ends with one.
Beating a tag, and why you should know how
Even if you only coach defense, you will see these counters, and your players should recognise them.
- Shake behind it. The tagger’s man lifts to a spot behind the ball and receives a kick-out. The diagram above is built around this read.
- Throw the pocket pass early. The roller gets the ball before the tag arrives. Read about it in our guide to the pocket pass.
- Screen the tagger. Spain pick and roll puts a back screen on the help defender, which is why it is hard to tag. See Spain pick and roll.
- Two rollers. Double drag sends two bigs into the action, and the tag helps one while the other is open.
Defenses answer these by switching the tag to a different defender, by rotating earlier, or by showing a different coverage on the ball. If the offense is beating your tag, the fix is usually in the rotation, not the tag.
Tagging against different coverages
The tag changes with the ball-screen coverage.
- Drop coverage. The big sits back, so the tag is the second line. This is where it matters most. See drop coverage.
- Hedge or show. The big recovers late, so the low man tags earlier and holds longer.
- Ice. The ball is forced to the sideline. The weak side may not tag at all because the roller has less room.
- Switch. No tag, because the screener’s man is now on the handler.
Our guide to pick-and-roll coverages shows the rest.
A practice plan for the tag
Fifteen minutes, three stages.
Shell with a coach as the roller. Four defenders, four offensive players, a ball screen, and the coach calls the roller’s path. The tagger practises the step and the return with no pressure.
Add the shooter. A shooter stands in the corner or at the wing. The tag has to be small enough that the closeout still gets there. Score it: a contested layup is fine, an open three is a loss.
Live four-on-four. Offense runs a ball screen and has to score off the roll. Defense gets a point for a stop and a point for every tag that is followed by a successful recovery.
Review a few possessions on video or on a diagram afterwards and ask the tagger where his feet were at the moment of the pass.
Where SlongeHoops fits
We make SlongeHoops, so judge this yourself. You can draw a ball screen and a tag as a sequence, step through it at quarter speed, and show your defenders where the rotation should end up. The simulated defense (in beta) has drop, hedge, ice, switch and blitz coverages, and on a hedge it sends a weak-side defender to tag a dangerous roll, so you can watch where that tag leaves the corner. It is a rule-based picture of how a coverage is meant to work, not a prediction of your opponent. Use the diagram to teach, and use practice to make it real.
שאלות
What does it mean to tag the roller?
A help defender steps toward the player rolling to the basket, makes contact or gets in his path for a moment, and then recovers to his own man. The tag slows the roll so the screener's defender can catch up.
Who should tag the roller?
Usually the low man, the weak-side defender closest to the paint, though some teams assign it to the nail defender or to the weak-side big. Whoever it is, the rule must be the same on every possession.
What is the biggest risk of tagging?
Leaving a shooter. A tag that stays too long, or comes from the wrong defender, gives up a pass to the corner or wing for an open three.
How do offenses beat a tag?
By making the tagger pay for leaving: a shooter in the corner or lifted behind the screen, a roller who passes out of the roll, or a second roller so the tag helps nobody.