Chicago | Zone BLOB

The Chicago is a baseline out of bounds play built specifically to attack a zone defense. The inbounder sets up on the baseline while two players stack on the ball-side block and the remaining two occupy the weak-side elbow and wing to pin zone defenders in place.

On the slap of the ball, the 3 cuts hard to the ball-side corner as the primary scoring option, attacking the bottom of the zone. The second player immediately peels to the ball-side elbow, threatening the middle of the defense at the same time. The weak-side players set a screen to prevent defenders from rotating and recovering.

The inbounder reads the zone and delivers the pass accordingly. A collapsing zone leaves the elbow open. A zone that spreads to cover the elbow leaves the corner open. If weak-side defenders get caught in the screen, a lob becomes available. After the inbound, the passer steps onto the court and fills the weak-side wing as a reset option.

What makes the Chicago reliable is the pressure it puts on zone defenders to cover two dangerous areas simultaneously. The corner cut stretches the bottom of the zone, the elbow cut attacks the gap it creates, and the weak-side screen takes away the help. Executed with timing and purpose, this play will produce a quality look every time.

Take a look at the animation of  Chicago | Zone Play for clarification.