A SLOB is a play run from a sideline throw-in. You have five seconds to inbound, the same as on the baseline, but you must stay at the designated spot — there is no running the line the way a baseline inbounder can after a made basket. That one difference changes everything about how the set is built.
Why coaches use them
A front-court SLOB is a scoring possession that most teams waste. A back-court SLOB is a press-break decision. Both of them come up ten or more times a game, and both are where pressing teams collect their cheap turnovers.
The alignments are the same vocabulary as a BLOB, turned ninety degrees: box, stack and line. What changes is the geometry. The rim is a full pass away instead of directly behind the defense, so the finishing action usually happens on the far side of the floor rather than in front of the inbounder.
How to build one
- Guarantee the first pass before you chase the good one. Two players close to the ball who can get open on a simple screen are worth more than a beautiful three-screen action nobody can reach.
- Use the far side. A drive along the baseline with a flare screen waiting in the weak-side corner puts the helping defender in a bind he cannot solve.
- Get the inbounder back in the play. He is the extra man once the ball is live, and against a defense that turns its head he is often the open one.
- Have a release. A guard who breaks back toward half court kills the five-second count and is never a turnover.
Against real pressure, treat a back-court SLOB as a press break with a set start, not as a play. Get it in, get it to the middle, and go.