What is the difference between Nellie ball and 7 seconds or less?
by Leo
via flickr/_vikram
I’ve noticed that people searching Mike D’antoni’s 7 Seconds or Less system (7SOL) want to know how it compares with Nellie Ball. Because I’m such a good guy, I did some digging for you.
Nellie ball and 7SOL are both “organized chaos,” up-tempo systems that use smaller, faster lineups. They encourage shooting the ball – trading a little quality for a lot more quantity.
During a fast break, like 7SOL, each player has a specific lane to fill out. These lanes structure the offense to have a particular spacing.
Where Nellie ball differs from 7SOL is in the half court. In 7SOL, point guards control the half court offense. After coming off a pick and roll, the point guard reads the defense and make a decision. At that moment, the point guard is in total control of what happens in the offense.
Nellie ball would rather a player go 1-on-1, attacking the basket, and making the defense collapse. While they do have a couple of set plays, they only use them when absolutely necessary.
A New York Times piece profiling Nellie ball had this to say:
But to call a play is almost a sign of failure. Coaches would prefer that Davis attack, even one-on-five, believing his activity will somehow create offense.
This tells you everything you need to know about the offense. By exploiting the matchup advantages caused by their speed, Nellie ball wants players to play 1-on-1 basketball.
This type of offense is more like a street ball pickup game than anything else. This much is confirmed in 2 quotes from the same NY Times piece:
The perfect game for the Golden State Warriors would be one in which they do not run a single play.
The game would be a 48-minute fast break, with no time for hand signals, no need for calls from the bench. The Warriors would just get the ball and go.
“That would be the ideal,” said Larry Riley, a Golden State assistant. “If we had our choice, we would never run a play.”
“Then you’ve got free rein to shoot it,” Golden State forward Al Harrington said. “It’s like playing in the summertime: push it down their throat, push it down their throat.”
So they next time you’re playing a fast paced pickup game – a game that seems more like a track meet than a basketball game – know that you’re playing Nellie ball at its most pure.
via flickr/oso
Further Reading
The original practitioners of Nellie ball: Run TMC! (Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin)
Just as an aside, I use to practice Tim Hardaway’s crossover for hours. He’s one of the first players I ever loved – and he was on the rival Miami Heat! Those ’90s Knicks-Heat games were just classic.
Anyway, you’ll notice a lot of fast break and 1-on-1 play.
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