Poeltl passing his screen test
Second-year centre has been a quick study on how to create space for his teammates
His body is going quickly but his mind is racing a million miles an hour when Jakob Poeltl gets on the move.
He comes from near the baseline at near top speed, headed to the threepoint arc to set a screen for a teammate with the ball, and makes a snap decision. It’s one of the things the young Toronto Raptors centre has learned to do tremendously in less than two seasons in the NBA.
In a few seconds — two or three at the most — Poeltl has to understand who has the ball and who he is being guarded by, try to anticipate which way the ballhandler might want to go, and then be ready to set the screen. That requires a level of basketball IQ and experience not often found in a second-year player.
“That’s a huge thing that you don’t really realize,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
“When that guy is going up there, he’s got to decide ‘Is my guy going left, I’ve got to get him open so he can go to his left. Does my guy want to go right?’
“The speed of that, processing all of that, has to happen very quickly, and that’s one thing he can do — think quick on his feet and understand angles.”
Coaches and teammates rave about Poeltl’s ability to set screens to create either driving space or provide a chance to swing the ball to the other side of the court, an integral part of Toronto’s of- fensive philosophy. He had only played 66 career games before he and the Raptors faced the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, but he had developed a great read on his teammates.
“If it’s a guy like Deebo (DeMar DeRozan), I’m really just going up there to get him open,” Poeltl said. “I don’t even worry about my own role. I’m just trying to hold the screen as long as possible because I know if he goes downhill against a big, it’s going be a score more often than not.
“Other guys, like Fred (VanVleet) or Delon (Wright), I’m trying to set a good screen and give them an outlet with a roll and maybe suck the defence in with the roll, so they have a pass to the weak side. I try to see how the defence guards them, like the smalls, then I try to flip the screen so maybe I get a hit on them. Look at his feet, maybe, then try to get him off guard.”
“If it’s a guy like (DeMar DeRozan) … I don’t even worry about my own role.” JAKOB POELTL ON SETTING SCREENS
There’s also a bit of trickery involved, another aspect of Poeltl’s wise-beyond-his-years intelligence. He was frustrated repeatedly last season when he was called for illegal screens. “I thought last year he was the victim of rookie-itis, getting called on moving screens,” Casey said. “But he’s better at it this year.” That’s because Poeltl has studied enough to know what he might be able to get away with in games.
At seven feet and a solid 248 pounds, he is strong enough to “hold” a screen against just about any player in the league, he doesn’t flail — that tends to attract the attention of officials — and he’s watched enough video to learn all tricks of the trade.
“For sure, it’s also a lot (of ) watching film, seeing how the best screeners in this league figure out how far (they) can go with illegal screens without being called,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a game really.”