“Double Drag”

Published in

The Basketball Action Dictionary

9 min readApr 8, 2021

Term: Double Drag

Definition: a two-person staggered ballscreen set in semi-transition (staggered = the picks are set one after the other à la the down screens in Motion Strong, not side-by-side/simultaneously like the screens in Elevator)

Synonyms: 77, 99, 55, Double (High) Ball Screen, pick pick, Double

See Also:

Spain Veer (a double drag variation in which a fourth teammate sets a backscreen for the first picker as he rolls to the hoop, à la Spain PnR, and then he receives a down/veer screen from the second picker)
Pistol
Nash (a double drag on the wing with no offensive player in the near corner, often seen in Pistol)

Origin of the Name: Traditionally, drag refers to a ballscreen set in transition or semi-transition. Double drag has come to mean any two-person ballscreen, whether or not in transition, although some may consider that definition to be a bastardization of drag.

Teams often use a specific number (e.g., 5, 7, or 9) to refer to a single ballscreen, and then double that number (55, 77, 99) to denote a double ballscreen.

According to Doug Brotherton, Drag and Double Drag are often signaled by a single or a double clap:

How It Works: In the diagram above, 4 and 5 set double ballscreens for 1 at the top of the key.

Typically, one picker rolls, and the other pops. Which picker rolls and which one pops is sometimes decided by order (e.g., the first picker always rolls), and sometimes decided by personnel (e.g., the better shooter always pops).

Why It Works: Simplistically, double drag forces the on-ball defender to deal with two screens instead of one. If he goes under, he’s forced to go under both screeners (and perhaps both screeners’ defenders if they don’t let him through). If he goes over, he’s at risk of getting caught by the first or the second screen, ruining his rearview pursuit.

If the first ballscreen creates an advantage, the would-be second screener can slip to the hoop (a similar concept applies to Chicago action, in which the big doesn’t pause to screen the guard’s defender if he is still recovering from the initial down screen):

If the defense switches the first screen, a big—such as Dāvis Bertāns below—is out of his skillset by guarding the pick-and-roll ballhandler for the second screen:

And if the defense switches the second screen, the double drag can be followed by a twist, or another ballscreen in the opposite direction of the first (John Collins scores here off a 45 cut):

Double drag exploits the fact that there is only one possible tagger on each side. In this diagram, 2’s defender would be the “tagger,” the man responsible for bumping/tagging 5 on his roll to the rim, but since he’s the only weakside defender, 2 is left open if he lifts to the wing:

When there are two defenders on the weakside of a pick-and-roll, such as 2’s and 4’s defenders in the diagram below of an ace ballscreen, there are two possible taggers. Therefore 2’s defender can tag 5 on his roll, while 4’s defender can split the difference between 2 and 4, zoning off that side of the court:

Offenses often try to run a pick-and-roll so that there’s only a single tagger, which can occur in double drag or in a spread deuce ballscreen. No matter which direction the ballhandler goes, double drag, in its most common form, creates a single-side tag situation for the defense.

The offense can combine double drag with veer by having either one or both pickers then set a down screen for their teammate in the weakside corner. In this first clip, the Utah Jazz, forced to play both Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert, neither of whom can stretch the floor, create space nonetheless by having Favors set a veer for Jordan Clarkson while Gobert rolls to the rim:

Or the offense can run a double drag stagger veer, in which both pickers set a two-person down/veer screen for their teammate in the weakside corner:

The 77 stagger veer can then become gaggle or wheel/circle action by having those two pickers then set another stagger screen, this time for their teammate in the other corner (the Raptors pair this with Miami, sometimes known as Orlando or Pistol, in which there’s a wing DHO to the player about to receive the ballscreen):

Or the first picker can fake setting a veer screen for his teammate on the weakside and instead receive an exit screen in the strongside corner, as Karl-Anthony Towns does in this 77 stagger veer slip exit:

An increasingly common variation is the Spain Veer, in which the player in either the weakside or the strongside corner comes to set a backscreen for the first picker, and then he receives a down/veer screen from the second picker. This example below, posted on Twitter by the Spain PnR aficionado Nekias Duncan, shows the Boston Celtics scoring from the two main opportunities provided by the Spain Veer—an alley-oop to Jaylen Brown (the first picker) or a veer screen for Kemba Walker (who previously set the backscreen for Brown):

Typically, the backscreener (Kemba Walker in the example above) comes from the weakside corner. This is ideal for the Spain lob (if the backscreener came from the strongside corner, the weakside corner’s defender is in position to contest the alley-oop). However, the Atlanta Hawks have started using the player in the strongside corner to set the backscreen for Danilo Gallinari, which creates more room in the strongside low block for Gallo to post up a mismatch if the defense switches:

A much simpler variation of the double drag is ricky action, in which the two pickers set the ballscreens, and then the second picker screens for the first picker to come back toward the ballhandler, ideally for a catch-and-shoot 3:

Of course, the offense can fake a Spain Veer and run Ricky instead (watch how Gallinari’s defender retreats in anticipation of the backscreen, putting him out of position for the subsequent ricky screen):

Or the offense can play with the alignment, putting both perimeter players on the same side of the court and running the double drag either toward or away from them. In an empty wing double ballscreen, for example, there is no tagger in the near corner and two perimeter players on the far side:

This is a common play out of Pistol/21 series, known as 21 Nash (or 21 Double) and traditionally triggered by the ballhandler passing to the 2-guard on the wing and then following his pass to set the first of two ballscreens. The Utah Jazz have incorporated it into their motion offense:

(The last clip can also be considered a wedge roll, mentioned on the page for ram.)

The Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks like to set up an empty side 77/Nash by sending a guard on an Iverson cut, after which the two screeners follow him to the wing to set a double drag. Like 21 Nash/Pistol, this variation is very difficult for the defense to ice:

Or the offense can run 77 in the opposite direction, toward the sideline instead of toward the middle of the court, although it’s a bit more crowded and easier to tag (uncoincidentally, these are also examples of veer action):