LeBron James and JJ Redick are embarking on a new podcast together where they hope to “examine and celebrate the game of basketball.” The podcast, called “Mind the Game,” is billed as an alternative to the hot take format commonly seen on other NBA shows and looks like it will focus on discussing the beauty of the game.
Having LeBron’s name attached to a podcast that covers essential basketball concepts obviously attracts a lot of attention. the first episode was released on Tuesday morning, and a trailer that was posted on X on Monday had already received more than 4.6 million views in its first 24 hours.
.@King James and @jj_redick They are obsessed with basketball.
Consider their podcast, Mind the Game, a celebration of the sport as they discuss the state of the game, analyze the X’s and O’s (as they do here), and wax poetic about the game they love. pic.twitter.com/lDf8ToVlHE
– Mind the game (@mindthegamepod) March 18, 2024
What made that number even more impressive was that people were still watching that initial conversation even though it was difficult to follow what exactly Redick and LeBron were talking about without a video accompaniment.
If you saw and were confused, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a breakdown of the terminology, plays, and strategy they were referencing.
Explaining LeBron James’ new defensive coverage idea
James began the teaser using the term BOB (also commonly called BLOB), to describe a popular out-of-bounds play from the baseline.
The play, which Redick and James refer to as “America’s play,” is more commonly called the “triangle” in the NBA and is run by almost every team. It is by far the most used action when teams enter from the baseline. Trainers can quickly identify it by forming a triangle with their fingers.
The coaches I have seen usually call this Triangle: pic.twitter.com/VhYeHcFeWn
– Coach Gibson Pyper (@HalfCourtHoops) November 27, 2021
He HalfCourtHoops Substack Newsletter has a great explanation of the play, but essentially, it’s what James calls a “pick-the-pick” action (also called a block-the-blocker) where a player places a pick and then executes it.
Teams will usually have defenders trying to chase that second screen, which can often create space to shoot. James suggests changing it, negating the effects of the screen. Here’s NBA writer Joe Viray explaining LeBron’s thought process, accompanied by images.
LeBron and @jj_redickThe preview talked about the most common “BOB” (or BLOB) action in the NBA: the set of picking the selector or screen the blocker.
So I decided to use the Warriors’ favorite pick set (“Rub”) to demonstrate what they were talking about.
I wouldn’t doubt it… pic.twitter.com/HfsrYwXNYu
—Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) March 19, 2024
Some teams already use James’ idea of having the incoming player pick action, and have great success doing so. Hoop Vision’s Jordan Sperber detailed some examples of what’s happening at the college level.
The BLOB coverage that LeBron and JJ were talking about https://t.co/Zg92GgK3Bj
– Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) March 19, 2024
Counterattacks on LeBron James’ defense
So why doesn’t every team use LeBron’s switch idea, thereby negating a play they’ll have to defend against multiple times a night?
Redick mentioned one problem: When teams tried to do it against him, they often blew coverage and sent him two defenders instead of switching.
LeBron responded that if teams executed the coverage correctly, it would work. You are right, but another factor to consider is that all coverage has counters. There are some that could be used to leverage a turnaround strategy.
Here’s one from X user Bowser2Bowser that would take advantage of the mismatch that is created after a change.
A clever twist on the ubiquitous BLOB Triangle Screen-the-Screener set
Normally, Curry would set a backscreen to CP3 and then cut off Looney’s screen to the corner.
Instead, Curry looks for Wiggins. Durant shuts down Wiggins, who scores over the smaller defender pic.twitter.com/BRE3B7kMPT
– Bowser2Bowser (@bowser2bowser) October 25, 2023
Playing with the blocking action and the players involved in it could potentially put defenses in a bind. Opposing coaches would start doing that once they noticed defenses opting to switch.
There are no perfect plays or defenses in basketball. If there were, each team would immediately copy them and start running them all the time.
High-level basketball is about continuous adjustments. LeBron’s idea would add another good idea to the mix, but another adjustment would soon follow. Surely he knows it too, and he has even more adjustments to make in his bag. That’s part of the beautiful chess match that goes on every night that this new podcast will highlight to new audiences.