McDermott is coming back, and the Bulls could use him

If there’s one thing we can say about Fred Hoiberg during his early tenure as Bulls head coach, it’s that he has a knack for designing some of the most effective baseline out of bounds (BLOB) sets in the league.

Last season during his first as head coach, I touched on this subject a few times. First, breaking down his box set, then his line and spread sets. And this year, Hoiberg is back again with another slew of BLOB sets the players are executing seamlessly.

One such play is for Doug McDermott, who prior to his concussion on November 12th, was ran for multiple times. As his return appears to be immanent after missing two weeks, it’s likely you’ll see this pop up once again.

This particular BLOB set, instead of box or line form like you may usually see, is set up to spread out the defense.

The point guard, in this case Rajon Rondo is taking the ball out, as McDermott sets up on the strong-side wing, Taj Gibson on the strong-side block, with Bobby Portis right below the top of the key and Dwyane Wade in the weak-side corner (decoy).

As the play begins, Gibson sets a back-screen for McDermott before receiving the pass from Rondo.

After receiving the back-screen from Gibson, McDermott waits at the opposite block for Rondo to come back inbounds to take the dribble handoff from the former. Once Rondo comes off the handoff is when McDermott makes his move, and Portis moves down to set a screen on McDermott’s defender.

McDermott then comes off the Portis screen, accurately reading the way his defender is playing him by curling around the screen for midrange jumper.

It’s a great play as a means of getting shooters like McDermott easy looks at the basket out of a set play.

While this play is effective for Doug, this doesn’t necessarily mean this play is ran for McDermott alone. Think of putting Jimmy Butler in McDermott’s position, then Doug in Wade’s. The floor is spaced even more, and you have an opportunity to get Butler a look at the rim or fouled and to the free throw line. That’s the great thing about Fred’s BLOB sets; the variation to plug in different players and provide numerous options.

But once McDermott does return to the lineup, hopefully this week (fingers crossed), be on the lookout for this set.