“Swing Offense”
Term: Swing Offense
Definition: An interchangeable 4-out continuity offense that rotates between a UCLA screen and a slice/pin screen-the-screener action
Synonyms: Badger
See Also: UCLA screen, Shuffle (offense), Shuffle/Slice (screen), Screen-the-Screener, Flex
How It Works: The Swing Offense uses 4-out alignment, with a player at each wing and one at each slot, including the point guard. It begins with a UCLA screen for the point guard, which means the post player starts at the low block on the strong side, while the two players on the weakside screen each other or exchange to distract their defenders from help responsibilities.
If the UCLA screen presents no scoring opportunities, the ball is swung to the opposite side, and then the point guard (1) sets a slice screen for 2 and then cuts off 5’s down screen. 2 cuts all the way through the paint and establishes post position in the low block on the ball side. If he doesn’t receive a pass, he then sets the UCLA screen and pops out.
From there, the pattern repeats itself: UCLA screen, ball reversal, slice/pin StS, followed by another UCLA screen, ball reversal, and slice/pin StS
Why It Works: Much like Princeton and Shuffle, the Swing Offense obviates the need for traditionally sized post players. Because every player eventually fills every spot and duty in the offense, the lack of size is less detrimental. In fact, the Swing Offense attempts to turn a negative into a positive: Because each role is interchangeable, the opponent’s defenders are often asked to defend outside their typical roles, such as a point guard defending the low post and a center defending on the perimeter.
Bo Ryan, who invented the offense while an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin, took the two backscreens — UCLA and Slice — that he felt were hard to defend without fouling. Instead of having his center try to score on the opponent’s center, Ryan preferred to let his guards post up their counterparts.
Like all continuity offenses, the Swing Offense can be predictable, but it also lends itself to several variations that punishes defenses who try to guess what will come next. For example, instead of receiving the slice backscreen, the player on the weakside wing (4) can set a down screen, which, combined with the down screen that slot player (2) was planning to set anyway, becomes a stagger screen.
The player on the weakside wing (2 in the diagram below) also has the option of rejecting the slice screen (from 4) and cutting off the down screen (from 3):
Like Princeton and Triangle, Swing is rarely copied in its entirety, but its best actions show up in vastly different offenses. The slice/pin screen-the-screener combination, including the option to reject the backscreen and cut off the down screen, is used by many NBA teams:
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