This season, the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense is undergoing a transformation under new head coach Taylor Jenkins, who is determined to modernize their approach and reinvigorate their attack.
Jenkins has established principles of play to guide their offensive decisions—a shared language for where to move, when to cut, and how to give a teammate with the ball somewhere to go.
One piece of that language is the Clyde cut.
It has many different names. It is also called cut-and-burn or drop-and-slide. According to Bucks assistant coach and head of player development Johnny Carpenter, Milwaukee calls it spacing away and weak corner cutting.
For ease, we’ll stick with calling it the Clyde cut.
The action involves two teammates on the same side of the floor. The corner player cuts toward the basket, and the player above him slides down into the vacated corner. Milwaukee uses that coordinated movement on middle drives to threaten the rim, maintain a perimeter outlet, and complicate the help defense’s job.
Here’s the basic sequence:
- The ball handler attacks the middle with teammates occupying the weakside slot and corner.
- The corner player cuts toward the rim, threatening the space behind the defense.
- The slot player slides into the vacated corner, widening the gap between himself and the ball.
- The ball handler reads the help: finish the drive, feed the cutter, or kick to the corner.
Simple enough on paper. The fun is in what it does to the defenders.
The possession begins with some chaos before Milwaukee settles into its spacing. Jaime Jaquez occupies the strongside corner. Ware is in the weakside corner, with Ryan Rollins above him in the slot.
Tyler Herro prepares to receive a ball screen from Myles Turner. The screen’s direction is key, sending Herro toward the middle of the floor and setting the movement around him in motion.
As Herro probes near the free throw line, Turner pops into the space he just vacated. On the weak side, Ware cuts from the corner toward the rim as Rollins slides down to replace him.
With his attention fixed on Herro’s drive, Ware’s defender loses track of the cutting big man. Herro doesn’t. One moment Ware is standing in the corner. The next he’s hanging from the rim for two points.
Milwaukee wants to preserve the advantage created after their initial middle drive. A defender who slides over to stop penetration now has to track a cutter or recover to a moving shooter. Simply standing in the original spots makes those defensive responsibilities easier.
That is the appeal of the Clyde cut. Helping on a drive becomes more complicated when the players you’re responsible for are changing locations. The corner defender has a cutter moving behind him. The slot defender has a shooter drifting farther away. Both must account for the ball, too.
Here’s another prime example.
Kasparas Jakucionis rejects the screen from Pete Nance Jr and heads toward the middle of the court. He has Ousmane Dieng in the strong corner, Brayden Burries on the opposite slot and Jericho Sims in the weak corner.
As Burries slides down to the weak corner, his man stops the penetration near the free throw line. This forces Sims’ defender to prepare to help on Burries on the three-point line.
Meanwhile, Sims vacates his spot in the corner and heads toward the paint. Jakucionis manipulates Burries’ defender, who is caught in a two-on-one, to find Sims for a point-blank bucket.
These two clips end with the cutter scoring, but that doesn’t have to be the outcome.
If the defense follows the cut, it can open the drive. If a defender hangs in the paint, the player sliding into the corner can become the release valve. A useful cut can produce a basket without producing a touch.
That’s why the Clyde cut fits into Jenkins’ broader emphasis on principles of play. Milwaukee doesn’t need to call a separate set to create this opportunity for his team. Players need to recognize the middle drive, understand the space around it, and coordinate their response.
The defense still gets to choose what it takes away. The Bucks want to get better at finding what that choice leaves open.
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