Sam Hauser is a shooter. He’s on the floor for one reason. Yet he keeps finding himself pretty open for 3-pointers. He got himself 12 attempts vs. the Detroit Pistons, many of them varying degrees of pretty open.
How does that keep happening?
Let’s start with the obvious. He’s a shooter either playing with Malcolm Brogdon, who is driving well, drawing defenses, and kicking, or guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who are doing the same. His job is pretty easy in this regard: Stand there, occupy a defender to create driving lanes, catch the pass and make the shot when the driver gets too much attention.
Basic stuff. But that's not all Hauser is doing. The Celtics are involving him in the flow of the offense to create opportunities to get their deadliest shooter going.
This is a nice little play to take advantage of the switching defense.
This is a pick and roll with Derrick White and Grant Williams against the switching Pistons. One of the most effective ways to spring a shooter against a sloppy switch like this is to screen your own man. Hauser’s man thinks he is switching onto Williams, so he willingly backs off. Williams screens his own defender so he can’t actually switch, leaving Hauser wide open for the shot.
The Celtics are also putting Hauser in the middle of actions, using him as a screener but then quickly screening for him to get him a shot, which he surprisingly missed.
He and Tatum worked off each other again here:
Tatum ghosts a screen and then uses Hauser’s pick to get to the corner. The Pistons' defense is confused as the Celtics flow into the same action Grant Williams used earlier, this time with Luke Kornet. Kornet actually looks like a lineman who pancaked his guy and is waiting for someone to block on a pass play.
Setting the screen for Tatum is the key here because no defense in the world is going to leave Tatum. A bad defense like Detroit’s is going to overreact more often than not, just like it did here.
“Usually, guys who can shoot the ball are also really good screeners,” Joe Mazzulla said. “So I think putting him in the action is another guy that they have to worry about, along with Jayson and Jaylen … when you have him involved, it just adds another layer to how they're going to guard.”
Mazzulla uses the “Spain” pick and roll a lot in his offense. It’s a popular wrinkle on the normal pick and roll that involves an additional back screen for the roll man. Against Detroit, they used Hauser and the second screener.
The Pistons are switching, so Payton Pritchard’s man moves onto Noah Vonleh. Using Hauser as the second screener takes advantage of this because his screen forces his own defender to have to account for the ball handler. Meanwhile, Isaiah Stewart is still focused switching onto Pritchard.
Suddenly, Hauser is wide open.
Just for fun, watch Dwane Casey on the sidelines as Hauser springs open. He knows what’s going to happen before it happens.
“I think being an active screener will not only get others open, but also get myself open at times too,” Hauser said. “So just trying to be active on the floor and doing anything I can to help us get the best shot possible, and going from there. So I’m going to keep doing that.”
Constantly being bombarded by 3-pointers takes a toll, and it’s opening up what is actually going to become a huge part of Hauser’s game: the backdoor cut.
This is a set play against an overly aggressive defense. Marcus Smart comes over to screen and Hauser’s man is very well aware of the 3-point threat he’s defending, so he is preparing himself to deny that pass.
Hauser times the cut perfectly and is going south while his defender is going north. With Tatum and Brown in the corners, the paint is completely wide open. Horford’s pass is on point.
The more Hauser can make plays like this, the more it will have to be respected, and the harder it will be to defend his shooting.
"I think that's where my shot helps me become even more of a weapon,” Hauser said. “They're a little bit too worried about it at the 3-point line a lot of the time. So it allows me to sneak backdoor cuts every now in a while."
There are all sorts of creative ways to use a shooter like Hauser who is willing to do so much of the other dirty work along the way. His willingness to set picks and get stars open just makes him more dangerous when defenses overreact. It has to be a shooter’s dream, because he gets to benefit from the greatness on the floor with him.
Hauser is an amazing shooter who should never be left open, yet the way he’s being used, defenses continue to lose him. And he continues to make them pay.
