Ryan Brown’s Role Screening, Popping, Picking, and Mirroring
By Joe Keegan
PLL Analyst
Jun 16, 2021
The Waterdogs had no trouble creating assisted shots in 2020. A league-high 57.6% of their shots were off-the-catch – a product of playing in space and head coach Andy Copelan drilling off-ball screens and “one more” passes.
What the Waterdogs lacked was someone to cash in those high percentage looks. Enter Ryan Brown.
Brown shot 8-for-15 (53.3%) in Atlanta last weekend. The Waterdogs maximizing Brown’s ambidexterity, moving him all over the field from the righty side to the lefty side.
“I try not to be confined to a space,” Brown said post-game. “In college my offensive coordinator Bobby Benson always said, ‘You’re a lot harder to cover if you use 100% of the field to get open instead of only 50%.’”
By moving Brown around offensive sets, the Waterdogs are forcing his defender to make a slide-or-stay decision. It’s difficult. If you slide, then a weakside defender has to scramble to Brown – who may not be a dodger, but can capitalize against wild approaches.
Connor Kelly drives down the alley and throws back to Ryan Brown.@PLLWaterdogs @connor21kelly @rbrownie04 pic.twitter.com/yJNj4FRSro
— PLL Highlights (@PLLHighlight) June 15, 2021
If you don’t slide, then you’re leaving your short-stick on an island. Chrome LC is the slowest-to-go defense in the league; they want to bully their one-on-ones. Brown’s teammates dodged hard to win those and make Chrome reconsider the calculus behind its scheme.
Michael Kraus dodges down the alley as Ryan Brown picks and slips.@PLLWaterdogs @rbrownie04 pic.twitter.com/zxzhUX9vZP
— PLL Highlights (@PLLHighlight) June 14, 2021
Connor Kelly’s staircase dodging made the Chrome defense second-guess itself. Kelly has always been a better passer than the box score numbers suggest. Teammates only buried 26.7% of his passes during his first three years as a pro. If Brown is on the receiving end of those feeds, that number should bump up – meaning more assists for Kelly.
Connor Kelly hesitates and finds Ryan Brown rolling off the crease.@PLLWaterdogs @connor21kelly @rbrownie04 pic.twitter.com/447iRUtg3l
— PLL Highlights (@PLLHighlight) June 15, 2021
Brown’s interior presence helps everyone on the perimeter. Mikie Schlosser (6G, 1T in Week 2) capitalized against the slow-to-go Chrome and the whatever-they’re-doing-defensively Chaos. Schlosser is accurate on-the-run – he stuck 41.7% of his unassisted shots in 2018. Insane. Alley dodges are typically converted at 17.0%.
Combine Schlosser’s speed with Brown hustling from mirroring for Zach Currier on one side to mirroring for Schlosser on another – and you put a ton of pressure on the defense.
Mikie Schlosser dodges down the alley, plants his feet, and scores.@PLLWaterdogs @MikieSchlosser pic.twitter.com/ajSf5Ip35o
— PLL Highlights (@PLLHighlight) June 15, 2021
Spacing and sharing the ball are the two keys to quality six-on-six offense in the PLL. The Waterdogs had the latter. In Ryan Brown, they’ve found the former. Watching this offense evolve and find the best version of itself throughout the summer – as Michael Sowers reasserts himself into the lineup – is going to be fun.
