How "The Hostage Dribble" Traps Point-of-Attack Defenders Behind The Action
How Savvy P&R Maestros like Chris Paul, Markelle Fultz, and Franz Wagner use The Hostage Dribble to Trap POA Defenders behind the action
don’t look back.
look forward.
that’s what they say one should do in life, to not spend too much time harping on the past.
These are the rules lived by savvy pick-and-roll maestros like Markelle Fultz, Franz Wagner, and Chris Paul.
Fultz, Franz, Paul decipher defenses gradually. By sticking their defenders on their hips, the ball-handler is able to use screens as a blockade, running their defender into a wall like a police chase alleyway scene with Burt Reynolds behind the wheel.
Using a move called a “hostage dribble”, also known as putting a defender “in jail”, the playmaker is able to create space to attack by slowing down. Maneuver just past the screen, freeze long enough for the defender to run into ball-handler from behind after chasing around the screen, and the seas in the paint are parted, freeing a point like Markelle to Middy attack in any way he pleases, usually leaving a lone drop defender stuck in a 2-on-1 situation between stopping a floater and contesting a lob.
Why did the basketball gods decide to coin such menacing phrases like “hostage dribble” and “in jail” instead of letting Ian Eagle scream something like “OHHHH he puts him in the backpack!”? The hoops world may never know.
A “Gortat Screen” involves the roller purposefully diving into the drop defender to clear the paint for the ball-handler, made famous by Orlando Magic Legend, Marcin Gortat, aka The Polish Hammer, through endless Nash-led pick-and-rolls in Phoenix.
Properly timing a Gortat Screen into the big defender after a hostage dribble to keep the POA defender behind the action leads to wide open layups, floaters, and elbow jumpers — the paint opens up into a blank canvas for the point to paint.
When aided by a big like Wendell Carter Jr. or Mo Wagner clearing the way with a Gortat Screen, Fultz and Franz have even more room to operate.
Markelle moves through defenses with ease, orchestrating his own path with shoulder-blows and hip-thrusts like he’s a conductor to the groove train.
Moving purposefully with each step, Fultz takes what he wants from defenses, driving 11.4 times per game, able to gracefully pummel to any spot on the court.
Orlando is scoring 0.87 points per possession on 4.5 pick-and-rolls per game with Markelle Fultz at the helm.
The following data visualizations compare volume for players who have racked up the most Drives and Pick-and-Rolls in the 2022-23 NBA season, with player headshot size revealing offensive efficiency (PPP) in P&R.
Averaging 11.6 drives per game, Franz Wagner is similarly effective with the help of a screen and the ball in his hand, with Orlando scoring 0.94 points per possession with Wagner running 5.8 pick-and-rolls per game (37th-most) and 0.95 points per possession with Wagner running 1.5 handoffs per game (10th-most).
Franz uses deliberate movements to break down defenses to get to his spots. Once Wagner secures his man in jail behind him, all that remains is gliding to the rack.
No one locks up defenders “in jail” like Chris Paul, which feels basketball karmatically right, with CP3 being the NBA’s defacto cop on the court not wearing pinstripes. Creating 0.96 points per possession on 8 pick-and-rolls per game (18th), driving 9.6 times per game, CP3 teaches a masterclass in hostage dribbles every night.
Just about every time down the floor, where CP3 is running a P&R, he aims to stick his defender on his hip as he runs through the screen, stopping long enough for the defender to be fully behind him as he clears the screen.
A staple to his game, if not his go-to move, Chris Paul hostage-dribble snake-dribble elbow fadeaways feed the legend of The Point God.
Zak Boisvert, George Washington University Assistant Coach and Founder of Pick and Pop Net, highlights examples of the move here, first recalling the move being taught in a 2013 coaching clinic by University of Michigan Head Coach, John Beilein:
Luka Bassin, Slovenian player development coach, calls hostage dribbles “essential in attacking Drop or Ice Pick&Roll coverage in modern basketball.”
Having the skill to knock down a tough shot is one challenge; combining the handles, feel, and body control to create the look in the first place is another entirely.
As @polarfall notes above, this counter dribble-move provides the ball-handler time to scan the floor; to find the open spot in the defense; and to decide whether to attack, drive, shoot, or kick.
Hostage-dribbles serve as one weapon in the pick-and-roll arsenal that can be combined with others to create clean looks for creators. Involving snake-dribbles, the floater/lob threat, and Gortat Screens can leave defenses scratching their head.
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Data sources: NBA Stats