Why Spacing Multiplies the Advantage
The screen's value depends on how expensive help is, and that is a function of where the other three offensive players stand. When those players are shooting threats positioned beyond the arc, their defenders cannot drift toward the ball without conceding a shot the offence is happy to take. The help that used to arrive from the weak side now costs something specific, and the rotation distances get longer because defenders start further from the ball.
That is why the same action looks different depending on the personnel around it. Surrounded by non-shooters, a pick-and-roll is a two-against-two problem with three defenders free to clutter the path. Surrounded by shooters, it becomes a five-man problem in which every defender is already committed and any help creates an open shot elsewhere. Teams push this further by deliberately emptying the side of the floor where the action happens, removing the nearest helper from the equation before the screen is even set, so the defence must either accept a genuine two-on-two or rotate from a long way away.
