Scotty Pippen Jr.'s pressure fuels his game
The pressure Scotty Pippen Jr. brings on both sides of the ball fuels his skillset, and has made him a rotation player for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over the past year, Scotty Pippen Jr. has been another “diamond in the rough” for the Memphis Grizzlies’ front office. All of his contributions have looked repeatable in winning basketball, and it’s manifested this season as well. Whether it’s as a starter, backup, playing next to Ja Morant, any role — Pippen is finding ways to impact winning with the Grizzlies.
And it all points to his pressure.
“He’s just fully engaged when he steps on the floor,” Taylor Jenkins said of Pippen. “He is live on both sides of the floor.”
I discussed this trait of Pippen’s game from Summer League. I want to extend upon it, because it not only fits the Grizzlies’ principles on both sides of the ball, but it activates his two-way skillset.
Scotty Pippen’s defense has been a major component of his pressure. Despite his 6’1” frame, his pressure coupled with his length enable him to be a major contributor to the defensive side of the floor — posting a 0.63 D-LEBRON [Luck-adjusted player Estimate using a Box prior Regularized ON-off], ranking in the 80th percentile per The B-Ball Index.
Starting with his point-of-attack defense, he hounds ball-handlers all the way up the floor. He leverages a low center of gravity, length, and physicality to bother primary ball-handlers and force the opposing team to uncomfortably get into their actions with his full-court pressure.
In conjunction, Pippen’s defensive technique serves as a catalyst for strong screen navigation. Because he’s assigned to primary or secondary options, he’s thrown into tons of ball screens — on and off the ball. He weaves through them well, often offering contests or staying attached to his man. However, it’s not perfect all the times — a product of the nature of defending screens as a smaller guard against big men. Nonetheless, he offers resistance or even funnels his man to the rim protector if he can’t fully recover.
Diving deeper into the process of pressure and the different outcomes as a result…
Upon the initial action between Davis and Reaves, Pippen comfortably navigates the screen to recover, and the stunt prevents Reaves from getting to his shot after pulling the dribble. He then gets it back to James to reset the action. When getting back into the pick-and-roll, Pippen knocks it away at first step, which forces Reaves to lose the ball. Once he retains and sets for the corner 3, Pippen flies through to alter the shot.
The next two are more about the process despite differing results.
Pippen applies pressure upon the inbounds pass. He provides physicality before Murray can even cross half-court, even amidst the changes in direction. Pippen also alters pass to Watson near the top of the key. Murray and Watson exchange a “touch” action into a stagger pick-and-roll to free the guard for a mid-range shot. Even with the bucket, Pippen’s process was great. He prevented the Nuggets from settling into the possession earlier in the clock, and then navigates the screens well enough to offer some contest on the shot.
Later in the game, similar instance.
Pippen maintains top-lock positioning and flies around the pin-down screen to stay on Murray. From there, it’s all about physicality and holding a good base of gravity to maintain his ground. Murray tried to shake him off with changes of direction, but Pippen’s force prevents him from creating an advantage — thus settling into a fadeaway mid-range shot.
Pippen’s skills have him slotted as a defensive stopper, tag-teaming that role with Jaylen Wells. Their collective ball pressure has been paramount in the early season, especially with guys in and out of the rotation. Their energy feeds off one another, a major key when tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best players.
“It’s fun when you get to feed off another player,” Wells said about the pairing. “Knowing that me and him can shut them down, we have confidence in each other. When you have guys like that, you definitely feed off defensively, especially when you’re trying to chase the best player around and then you got another guy that can do the same.”
Pippen is not only getting stops with his point-of-attack defense, but also his event creation. The Grizzlies cause more turnovers with him on the floor than off, as their turnover percentage goes up by 1.9% when he’s in the game, per Cleaning the Glass. He also ranks in the 77th percentile in steal percentage (1.8). His processing and 6’5.5” wingspan have made him a havoc-wrecker for the Grizzlies. He can tally steals from point-of-attack or from jumping the passing lanes.
Diving into one specific application of pressure and defensive event creation…
Pippen sets up nail help to generate a more favorable switch. Upon the swing and drive, the Grizzlies’ defense shifts. Wells helps Huff on Markkanen drive. Aldama “helps the helper” by moving to Kessler. Bane is in between the opposite box and elbow ready to react to the pass — and rotates to the corner on the skip. Pippen has to rotate a swing away and flies in to block the 3-point attempt off the catch-and-shoot.
Next thing you know: transition offense.
Pippen’s ability to generate stops has been vital for the team’s system, as it alleviates pressure off the team’s half-court offense.
“We get stops,” Desmond Bane said. “When we can get stops, it takes a lot of pressure off our offense. We’re not playing in the half-court. We’re playing free flowing. [Pippen] does a lot on the defensive end, but a lot of the stuff he does really helps our offense as well.”
Pippen’s event creation creates cycles, a cog in the Grizzlies’ system in this era. Once he creates the turnover, he hits a gear to fly down the court in transition for scoring opportunities and pressure the defense with his pace.
One thing I’ve noticed with how Pippen’s transition offense is how tight he runs the lane next to an initiator. Instead of adding space and flaring out to the corner, he stays tight for an easy dump-off and finish at the rim.
His transition offense best highlights his performance in pushing the pace and applying pressure on the rim. The Grizzlies are making “pace” a pillar of their principles. Pippen is a driver in accomplishing that vision. He ignites early possessions at any chance he gets. Among players that have played at least eight games, he ranks 24th in field goal frequency in “very early clock” situations (18-22 left on the clock) — fun note, the Grizzlies have four players in the top-25 of this category (Desmond Bane, John Konchar, and Ja Morant). Playing at this way has also benefitted him as a scorer and as a playmaker. He’s finishing on 65% of his shots at the rim, and he ranks in the 96th percentile among combo guards in assist percentage (31.2%), per Cleaning the Glass.
“He’s moving the ball, but then he’s also moving his body,” Taylor Jenkins said of Pippen. “He’s seeing the space, he’s taking the space with the drive, he’s getting to the paint, which is a huge priority for us and something that we want him to continue to grasp.”
Getting into offense before the defense sets up creates early advantages — a key component in Tuomas Iisalo’s offensive system. Pippen also plays to that advantage with his speed, conditioning, and his desire to play fast.
“The coaches have been pushing me on pushing the pace when I’m in the game. I just be trying to push it,” Pippen said. “I feel like I’m in better shape than anyone.”
One subtle thing Pippen is doing to provide rim pressure is how he cuts. He has this cool jab-and-go he does near the slot to generate separation from his man and open up a driving lane.
To close, here’s how Pippen uses his pressure to trigger his skillset.
Pippen is glued to Damian Lillard this entire possession. He maintains denial position to force the Bucks to get into their offense sooner — Lillard didn’t get the ball until the 14-second mark. Despite the pick from Brook Lopez, Lillard couldn’t generate separation from Pippen. When trying to change directions, Pippen forces the turnover to ignite transition offense and get an easy bucket at the rim.
It’s quite cool to see how one specific trait — a mindset, even — can serve as a catalyst to enable an entire skillset.
Pippen’s pressure has not only served as a catalyst for his skillset enablement, but it’s earned him early trust with rotation minutes to start the season. It’s a process that’s been dating back to Summer League.
“I thought he really grasped that learning opportunity and is putting it into action right now. Now he’s just got to continue doing it night after night,” Jenkins said. “When you can have that two-way impact, that’s huge for us.”
Scotty Pippen Jr.’s two-way pressure connects and unlocks his point-of-attack defense, defensive event creation, transition offense, and rim pressure. With his mindset and production on both ends, it’s not shocking to see him earn the trust to be the team’s backup point guard — a responsibility we should see carry over this season and beyond.
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