“Veer”

Definition: an off-ball screen set by a player who had just set a ballscreen; after a player sets (or ghosts) a ballscreen, he sets another screen for a different teammate instead of rolling to the hoop

Synonyms: Hooiser

See Also: Ghost, Ram, Korver, Spain Veer, Spain PnR, Double Drag (77)

Origin of the Name: N/A

How It Works: In the diagram above, 5 sets a ballscreen for 1. But instead of rolling to the hoop (as he would in a typical pick-and-roll), he then sets a wide pin-down screen for 2.

Why It Works: In short, Veer screens exploit the defensive concept known as the “tag.” In the diagram above, 2’s defender is the “tagger”: His responsibility is to “tag,” or bump, 5 as he rolls to the hoop.

In this next picture, Trae Young and John Collins execute a pick-and-roll variation known as a throw-and-chase (Collins throws the ball to Trae and then chases his pass to set a ballscreen). As Collins rolls to the hoop, Aaron Gordon — circled in light blue—is the weakside low man, and therefore the tagger. It’s his responsibility to tag Collins to prevent a wide-open alley-oop.

But Aaron Gordon’s assignment, Danilo Gallinari, is going to “lift” or “shake”: move from the weakside corner to the weakside wing, making it even more difficult for Aaron Gordon to split the difference between Collins and Gallinari:

This play was not a veer screen, but if it were, Collins would have screened Gordon, the tagger, instead of rolling to the hoop:

Because Gordon is anticipating the pick-and-roll, he cheats off Gallinari to tag Collins. But the farther he cheats off Gallinari, the more susceptible he is to both a veer screen and a lift/shake.

Furthermore, if the ballscreener’s defender makes an adjustment in anticipation of the ballscreen (such as dropping or showing), he takes himself out of position to help with the ensuing veer screen.

For a longer explanation of the “tag,” here’s one my videos that discusses the topic:

Examples:

The veer can also follow a Double Drag (77), with either one or both ballscreeners setting the veer screen. In this example, the Utah Jazz, forced to play both Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors at the same time, have Favors set the veer while Gobert rolls to the hoop:

The Indiana Pacers run a veer stagger, in which both ballscreeners set a veer screen:

Some teams, including the Sacramento Kings and the Atlanta Hawks, run a Double Drag — Spain Veer, in which the first ballscreener receives a backscreen (cf. Spain/Stack PnR) from a player who then receives a veer from the second ballscreener:

The Cleveland Cavaliers run veer in a screen-the-screener variation, with Collin Sexton setting a cross screen before receiving the veer/down screen:

And here is a veer out of a Wedge Roll (a wedge screen followed by a side pick-and-roll):