CHALON-SUR-SAONE (France) - "It's straight to the point. Don't go around something; go straight to the point," said Elan Chalon head coach Elric Delord when describing the culture they are building in Chalon.
"We are not cheating or faking. We are all-in in all situations", he continued.
"The culture is to have each other's back, including me. I protect my players even if we are playing badly, as long as we are giving everything we have. I take the bullet for them, but they also have to protect each other. We are all in", he echoed.
This concept of cutting the wheat from the chaff and narrowing the focus to find core priorities is a learned strength from a previous mentor.
During his time as an assistant coach with ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne, it was a certain Zvezdan Mitrovic who taught him the value of less is more when it comes to coaching.
"As a young coach, I fell into the trap of many young coaches thinking about this, this, this, and this. I was at a point in my career where it was the best thing that could happen to me to be with Zvezdan Mitrovic because he's able to go straight to the point to make his team better," Delord explained.
But when it comes to the brand of basketball we see on the floor for Elan Chalon, it was almost certainly the role that bought Delord his opportunity at ASVEL that has shaped the way he coaches this team now.
"So we're talking 2013, in Europe, there were not a lot of teams that were able to do it, and there was an opportunity that (then head coach) Pierre Vincent wanted a coach who was able to do stuff with the computer, able to make software, able to make analysis of data," Delord explained.
Despite knowing from an early age that coaching was always the end goal, Delord applied his abilities as a mathematician to study and qualify as a computer engineer.
With books like Dean Oliver's "Basketball on Paper" publishing in 2004 and Daryl Morey taking a role with the Houston Rockets in 2007, to usher in the "Moreyball" era, analytics had firmly taken hold of the NBA by that time Delord had finished his qualifications.
In Europe, however, the landscape was still far more traditional, and Delord's combined ability to design applications to assist in data analysis, alongside the skill of applying the learnings on the floor, made him uniquely positioned to fulfill the demands of a forward-thinking Pierre Vincent.
In analyzing the different phases of play, the efficiency of every set play and every shot location, Delord was able to develop an idea of how his teams would play when his opportunity to step up into a head coaching role arose.
Eventually, that happened, initially with Le Mans and after a short six-month sabbatical, now with Elan Chalon and we can clearly feel the influence of an analytical approach in the Chalon style.
"As a guy who worked in computer science, mathematics, obviously, is very important for me. We are tracking some situations, like the rebounds, the way we play, we attack the rebounds, set plays. For me, it's very important to have some goals we can reach in terms of numbers."
Statistically, although we are only three games into the BCL season, it's very clear to see those mathematical priorities in action.
Chalon sit fourth in the rankings for Pace (possessions per 40 minutes) at 75.6, they attempt the second-most field goals and three-pointers with 71 and 32, respectively, and they absolutely crush it on the glass.
On the offensive end, they rebound 42.2 percent of their misses, ranking them comfortably the best offensive rebounding team in the BCL thus far.
If we watch the clip below from a sequence in the road win at ALBA BERLIN, we instantly start to build a picture of how Delord and Chalon go about achieving Pace and field goal attempt numbers like that.
"So it starts with very aggressive defense and very high defense. We are playing full-court defense," Delord explained.
"Sometimes we take risks, double team, to force, you know, the pace to be higher, and for us to be able to push the ball."
And that is exactly what you see in that passage of play.
Number 40 Zac Cuthbertson picks up Boogie Ellis full court, denying him in the inbound and making his life a nightmare. Even after he caught the ball, Cuthbertson was able to rush him into an out-of-control dribble, directly into the help defender.
In the play immediately after, it's Cuthbertson again reading the passing lane, coming up with the steal, and running the fastbreak.
And the goal of this pressure defense is very simple.
"For only one reason, that's probably mathematically the most efficient situation offensively, all transition, all fast break", Delord explained.
This up-tempo style of basketball is very much the current European basketball meta developing across the continent. We have seen it with the likes of 2023 BCL Champions, Telekom Baskets Bonn, and now with ERA Nymburk over the last two seasons.
And it's not just about forcing the pace on defense and running the break for Delord. It's also about preventing the opponent from doing the same to you.
As we saw with your ERA Nymburk last season, Chalon implement an offensive rebounding system called "Tagging Up," which allows them to not only crash the glass with all five players, but also position themselves to control defensive transitions if they don't secure the rebound.
The sequence in the clip below is the perfect illustration of how and why Delord's Chalon team are doing this.
As soon as Chalon's defense forced the early, contested jump shot from Nymburk, they were out and running to push the pace. Once the initial fastbreak wasn't on, instead of slowing the game to run a set or running a secondary break, #8 Jeremiah Hill, threw a cross-court pass to #6 Yohan Choupas for the three-pointer.
Not only is this how they average such a high volume of three-point attempts, but what happens after the shot is where the clip gets really interesting; all five players position themselves behind their matchup to contest the rebound, but also get ready to stop any transition.
Eventually, #3 Nate Darling, comes up with the rebound and putback.
With the success teams are enjoying playing this way and using this specific rebounding system, you would think this trend would be common knowledge, but according to Delord, it's not only something that players still need to be made aware of, but also something that requires them to learn new habits.
"Many players are not used to it (Tagging Up), even now, that is more popularized for many teams. I still have players every year saying, Oh, I never heard about this," Delord explained.
And that adjustment period, especially when it comes to installing an entire system built around forcing the tempo, is still very much a work in progress.
"We're still early in the season. So sometimes we're making mistakes. But we're getting better and better; there is no doubt," Delord said.
On the offensive end, the mantra of getting straight to the point is possibly even more apparent.
A regular possession for Elan Chalon in the half-court consists of getting into a middle pick-and-roll with Lionel Gaudoux and Justyn Mutts setting ball screens for Chalon's playmakers with very few frills and distractions.
The clip above is a great example of what you will see from Chalon offensively. Gaudoux and Mutts both average over two assists because Delord's offense leverages their passing ability in the pick-and-roll and the low post.
And if they don't get an efficient shot from that, Chalon and Delord have an ace up their sleeve with Jeremiah Hill. The Cameroon star has that unique ability to hit the shot that the defense wants him to take, and we've already seen him do it in the clutch on several occasions this season.
In fact, just a day after we had talked to coach Delord, it was Hill being the superhero once again, draining the buzzer-beater from way beyond to take down ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne on the road.
Just add ASVEL's name to the list, because we are now talking about Hill and his teammates defeating UCAM Murcia, Monaco, ALBA BERLIN, ERA Nymburk and ASVEL in a matter of just over a month.
Chalon are far from a one-man band, though. They have nine players on the court for over 15 minutes every game, and get meaningful contributions from everyone on the roster.
Whether it's established players like Cuthbertson, Hill, and talisman Gaudoux, or newcomers like Clarence Nadolny making his first moves after stepping up from the Pro B, this Chalon team all look like they belong and will be a tough nut to crack for any team they face.
They now sit top of Group B with a 3-0 record. Up next is the key, road leg of a back-to-back, double-header against BC Sabah on Wednesday, November 12.
If they can pick up a tough road win in Azerbaijan, Elric Delord's team will be tough to stop on their charge to the Round of 16.