Welcome to another breakdown of NBA 2k16’s freelance offenses. Today I will be breaking down the Flow Freelance. This offense is a 3 out 2 in offense, meaning you need traditional bigs, not stretch 4’s. The Spurs are a perfect team for this offense. Teams with brickwall screeners will be utilized effectively in this offense, due to the high amount of screens.
In total there are up to 12 options, if not more, within this freelance offense.
Starting out you will see a base of 1 guard at the top, 1 guard/forward in the corner, and one guard/forward on the wing with 2 bigs, one at the elbow and one in the low post. Make sure to choose Motion Cuts! Hold the ball at the top to initiate the offense. You will see one of your bigs screen the guard/forward and this initiates the offense. You can pass to them or hold it for a split second.
First Branch: If you pass to the guard/forward coming off the screen
a) You will then get a hand-off opportunity back to your PG or whoever brought the ball up and this will lead to a pick and roll with your strong side big.
1) If nothing is there, hold the ball and do not drive to initiate a double down screen for your opposite guard. They will flash to the top of the key for a shot or drive opportunity. This will end the offense here if you choose this branch.
b)You can hold the ball here instead of handing off and you will get a back screen to the PG or whoever brought it up on the strong side. On the weakside you will see a down screen. This will end your offense here if you choose not to hand it off.
Second Branch: If you hold the ball to initiate a double on ball screen
a) Drive if you can off the double screen. If not, hold the ball.
b) This will initiate a strong side down screen to a guard/forward and a flare screen for your weakside guard/forward.
c) If nothing is there, hold the ball and your high post player will either post up or screen away. For the Spurs, Aldridge wants the high post iso, while Duncan usually screens the guard/forward in the corner. This concludes the 2nd branch.
Overall, this is a quick hitting offense with multiple options and branches. Know your personnel and what you want to get out of this offense. Lastly, if you do choose to run freelance instead of motion, set your POE’s accordingly. If you want to get shooters open then you will see more off ball screens. If you want to work through a certain big then you will see postups and pick and rolls with them. I don’t recommend freelance cuts with this offense, however, but feel free to experiment!
This will conclude our in depth look at the Flow Freelance Offense! Remember to know your strengths and to take what the defense gives you!