Stats review: Checking out which screeners make the greatest impacts

Sportradar takes a look at which EuroCup teams and players are feasting most from pick-and-pop and pick-and-roll situations

Besiktas GAIN Istanbul erased a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to score a coveted road victory in perhaps the least probable finish in Round 4 of the BKT EuroCup. In an offensive showcase that saw both teams shoot over 40% from beyond the arc, Besiktas kept the game close by doing the little things until a late offensive explosion, which saw Conor Morgan knock down 4 three-pointers in the final 10 minutes to complete the comeback.

That game saw screeners score 25 points – more than double the average for a game this season – as both teams did a nice job feeding their roll men throughout, considering only around 19% of possessions created out of pick-and-rolls are used by the player setting the pick. This matchup was a particularly good showcase for the value a versatile screener can bring to an offense, as both teams have given opposing defenses a variety of different looks all season.

As the table above shows, ratiopharm ulm and Besiktas rank among the top-five teams this season in roll-man scoring and first and second, respectively, in the number of pick-and-pop threes they attempt per game. While teams like Bahcesehir College Istanbul rely on their big men to suck defenses into the paint, Ulm and Besiktas often look to their screeners to provide spacing. All three of those teams rank in the top-four in overall offensive efficiency this season, as what teams get from their screeners has implications beyond the 1.08 points per possession their possessions result in and the shot selection that gets them there. With nearly 44% of all half-court possessions in the EuroCup being generated through pick-and-rolls, screeners factor into a huge volume of possessions even when they are not scoring the ball.

Conor Morgan showed that value vividly in only 15 minutes of action during Besiktas’s win as his gravity as a shooter commanded defensive attention when he stepped up and set picks, and he knocked down the open jumpers he got popping to the perimeter when it wasn’t there. Not unlike the lob finishers who appear in the top-10 every week when defenses fail to pre-rotate, the ability of a screener to pick and pop, draw fouls off pocket passes, or receive the ball near the foul line and find the open man often represent some of the best looks this season’s best offenses produce in the half-court.

Among individuals, Ulm’s Christian Sengfelder leads the EuroCup with 26 points as a screener, thanks to his league-leading 4 pick-and-pop three-point makes. Trevion Williams of Bahcesehir is currently second, shooting 10-of-11 diving to the rim, where his frame and soft hands make it hard for defenses to close off angles even when he’s not finishing lobs. Kevin Yebo of NINERS Chemnitz, Justin Smith of Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, and Grant Golden round out the top-five individual scorers, with many teams spreading the ball around liberally to multiple frontcourt players in the two-man game.