The two-time EuroLeague champion details how he organizes counter-attacks.
Pablo Laso explains his transition offense
Euroleague Masterminds, presented by Motorola, talks to five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague head coaches about their philosophy and tactics.
The newest mastermind is Pablo Laso of FC Bayern Munich, who won two EuroLeague titles over 11 seasons at the head of the bench for Real Madrid. Laso's teams were known for their fun-to-watch offense, leading the EuroLeague during his tenure in total scoring while averaging a second-best 83.5 points per game.
Laso's offensive philosophy starts from defense and the unique opportunities that come with rebounding the other team's misses. The quicker his own team transitions to offense, the more advantages it has while the opposing defense is not yet organized and set.
"First of all, you need to have the ball, and [to do that] you need to have good defense. Usually, the highest percentage of getting the ball back is out of defensive rebounds. You can also have some steals, but they usually end up as breakaways," Laso says. "So, it's important that you create transition offense after being scored [upon] or after a defensive rebound."
Watch the video to see how Laso sets up his transition offense and then uses screens to either free his best scorers or divert the defense's attention.
Previous episodes of Euroleague Masterminds, presented by Motorola, featured nine-time EuroLeague champion Zeljko Obradovic of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, four-time champion Ettore Messina of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and two-time finalist Ioannis Sfairopoulos of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.