As teams began countering the Low Drop with a High Screen, a new defensive strategy emerged—the High Drop. This coverage addresses the spacing weaknesses of the Low Drop while continuing to protect the highest-percentage shot in basketball, the layup, through the "no man behind" defensive philosophy. Additionally, it still encourages the most inefficient shot in basketball: the long two-pointer.

However, like any defensive scheme, the High Drop is not without its vulnerabilities. There are effective ways to exploit this coverage and turn it into an advantage for the offense.

In a High Drop coverage, the screener’s defender positions themselves on the ball handler’s driving side and back pedals as the screen action unfolds. However, if the screener’s defender over commits to the drive, it can create a gap for the rolling screener leaving the lane wide open for an easy finish at the rim.

However, many defenses are prepared for this play. In some cases, they may prefer allowing the big man to catch the ball on the roll and make decisions rather than letting the ball handler dictate the play. To counter the roll, the defense often involves a tag man from the weak side.

This is where the ball handler’s ability to read the defense becomes crucial. It's important to identify where the tag and the defensive rotations are coming from.

With this awareness, the ball handler can find open teammates in various ways—whether it’s a skip pass to the tag man’s original matchup, a fake skip pass followed by a dish to the rolling screener, or even better, a pass to the teammate whose defender is rotating to cover the tag man’s assignment.