Real Madrid plays today against Regal Barcelona in the most interesting ACB game so far in this season. Ricky against Sergio, Navarro against LLull, Pete Mickeal against Suárez, Reyes against Lorbek, Vazquez (pronounced Vathketh, not Vashkesh) against Tomic, and much more including young promise Nicola Mirotic.

More after the jump.

I like Ricky and Vázquez playing pick & roll. In the last five games we have seen these two players playing the pick & roll with mostly good results, in different ways:

1.- Ricky goes to the rim but, as Vázquez´s defender helps on him, he pass the ball to Vázquez for an alley-oop.

2.- Ricky goes to the rim and scores because nobody closes on him.

3.- Ricky goes to the rim but helps come from a third player, so he passes to the open teammate for a three.

Lets imagine for a while that Ricky is a NBA SG and Vázquez a NBA PF and both play together. For this exercise we´re pretending that Ricky is a good three point shooter but is not a good ball handler with his left hand. As the scouting reports would be aware of these plays, NBA defense would be sending the big defender to show up in front of Ricky´s right side, forcing him to go left, where he is less effective in our hypothesis. This move forces the small defender to keep his body between Vázquez and the basket, who in other case would be free to go to the rim open to get the ball in the low post. That move creates an open space for the ball handler, who can go to his left and shoot an open three, making even more difficult to defend the pick & roll, because the offense has now 4 options.

So here comes my questions:

1.- What do you think about the idea of including the “three pointer" option as a fourth one in pick & roll situations?

2.- What other options do you think these imaginaries Ricky and Vázquez might add to their play book?

3.- What Real Madrid or Barcelona player or players would you like to see in your favorite team, and why? For the sake of this exercise you should pretend your favorite team is not the Blazers, just in case they are. You can be a fan of the NBA North East Barcelona though.

4.- Would you like to watch this ACB game, starting today at 10:00 AM? (West Coast time).

5.- Should I readthis pieceto learn more about the pick & roll?