When to slide adjacent?
In a conventional crease slide package the first slide comes from the crease. This is effective because typically if a dodger beats his man he will be running toward the goal and therefore right at the crease defender therefore he is generally closest and at a good angle to approach the dodger.
However a crease slide becomes weak when you face a team with a strong alley dodger or with an offense that uses sweeps across the top. In both cases the dodger is not running towards the crease.
So now who is closer, and who has the best angle to turn away the dodger? Many teams will want to introduce the adjacent slide in these situations.
Dodging down the alley
when dodger #1 goes down the alley defender #3 is in a great position to stop him.
Good teams will teach offensive player #3 to cut through to clear space for the dodger; with the adjacent slide package in place if offense #3 cuts through for the back door cut defenders #4 and #6 are in a great spot to thwart him.
If offensive player #3 does not cut through and the ball is dumped off to him, he is not really in a threatening position without making a dodge himself.
Therefore if you are playing a middie focused team and you can teach your defenders to keep them down the alley this defense can be very effective.
If the attack initiates from behind coaches change the slide package back to the crease
The reason is because, as shown in image #2, when Dodger #6 goes and Defender #5 slides it opens up a very nice shot for offender #5,
or if defender #2 comes down to help the dodger can send it up to offender #2 up top for a re-dodge or a time and room shot.
When the ball comes from X like this a crease slide from defender #4 avoids leaving the openings, instead leaving defender #5 in position to block passing lanes.
With a second slide from Middie # 1 and perhaps some help from defender #3 on the crease the offense will be denied a shot on the drive from X and will have to spin the ball to work something else.
These are the basics of this package. Many coaches like it because it can mess up an offense as they will not be sure where the slide is coming from, especially at the high school level or younger. Teams can identify if somebody sliding is from one place or the other, but if a team is sliding from 2 different spots depending on the situation it can make it very difficult for a less experienced offense to identify.
This package does not work for all teams or against all teams, and is not ideal against all sets. For example, against a 1-4-1 adjacent slides can be too long, and against a circle set there is no crease man hence taking away the crease slide.
