Episode 141: Lindsay Gottlieb, Thoughts on Pick and Roll Defense

Guest: Lindsay Gottlieb, Cleveland Cavaliers Assistant Coach

In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Lindsay Gottlieb joins the Basketball Podcast to discuss pick and roll defense at all levels.

Lindsay Gottlieb recently began her NBA coaching career with the Cavaliers. She joined the staff with coaching great John Beilein last fall. This hiring made Lindsay the first NCAA women's basketball coach to move onto the NBA. Gottlieb was coveted by the NBA because of her attention to detail and expertise of pick roll coverages.

Before the NBA, Gottlieb was the head coach at the University of California Berkley from 2011-2018. At Cal coach Gottlieb lead her teams to an average of 22 wins a season and 7 NCAA Tournament appearances. Along with that, the golden bears reached an NCAA Final Four and took home the Pac-12 title in 2012. Gottlieb also managed to balance team success and player development. In her short tenure, she had 5 of her players drafted by the WNBA.

At just 30 years old Gottlieb got her first head coaching job at UC Santa Barbara in 2008. In her first season, the team went 15-1 in the conference and made it to the NCAA Tournament. Throughout her short three year stint, she won two conference championships at UCSB.

Gottlieb has an incredible track record in her young coaching career. This includes 9 postseason appearances and 3 conference titles. Lindsay will also continue to make waves in the NBA this year with a young and exciting team.

Breakdown

1:00 - How to Defend Ball Screen

3:30 - Screen Coverage

6:30 - Beliefs on Ball Screen Defense

10:30 - Tag

13:00 - Making an Impact Offensively

15:30 - Aggressive Coverage

18:00 - Philosophy of Self Scouting

22:00 - Exposing Analytics in the NBA

25:00 - Pick and Roll Defense

28:00 - Triple Switch

29:30 - Icing the Pick and Roll