By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
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 in total scoring during his tenure while averaging a second-best 83.5 points per game.
His offensive philosophy starts with defense and the unique opportunities that come with rebounding the opposing 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 must have good defense. Usually, the highest percentage of getting the ball back is from 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.”
Laso then proceeds to explain in detail how he likes his players to be positioned in the offensive transition and recalls his days with Real Madrid, working with Jaycee Carroll, and how he tactically tried to exploit his shooting prowess, using screens to either free his best scorers or divert the defense’s attention.