Defensive Concepts

Point to Remember-  As a player it does not matter whether your team plays a man or zone defense.  This is because you want to play team defense.  It is all five players on the court working together as one.  Each player should understand their objective and responsibility and do this to the best of their ability.  

 

 

Defensive Stance – Each player should be in an athletic staggered stance at all times.  It is important to stay low and to be wide so you can take up space. 

 

 

Ball Pressure – This starts with who ever is guarding the point guard, you want to make the offensive player worry about you and not about running their team.  It would be great to have every player on the floor apply pressure on the ball. However, their will be times that you do not to need to pressure players who are not considered scoring threats with the ball on the perimeter.

 

 

Contesting the ball – This comes into effect with every pass by your opponent and every shot they take.  You want to disrupt their space and timing and make the game as difficult as you can for them.  If you can get them thinking about how they are lucky to get a shot off instead of making the shot you have won the mental battle. 

 

 

Help side/Ball side- This is the establishment of staying between both your man and the ball.  It requires you to make adjustments as the ball moves and is a very important part of successful team defense. 

 

 

Communication – Your ability to communicate with your teammates is a lost art.  As a coach you want to have your players using the same terms such as “ball” when they are guarding the ball or “deny” when denying the wing.  If your team communicates well as a whole it also creates dependence amongst the players and you will know your teammate will be there for you on the defensive end. 

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