Its exam week so I have a few days off to recharge my basketball battery and refocus my thought process. I have not been happy with our defensive effort and execution so far this high school season. As a result I need to look at what I do, what we do, and any other contributing factors.
It would be really easy for me to point to the following:
- We are JV aged in a varsity league so physically we struggle to win matchups.
- We have 9 of 10 players who had never played in a varsity level game before this year so we have to learn how to compete at this level.
- We have only 10 players and because of schedules/injuries/illness haven't had a high turnout to some practices at times making it difficult compete and implement.
- Defense is about commitment, hustle and heart; so young kids with less time invested just aren't battle tested enough.
It would be easy but its also mostly crap. This stuff may help keep our frustrations in perspective or difuse responsibilty, but the truth is defense is all about responsibility. To ourselves, to our team, to our goals. We need to be able to defend better.
So bottom line we need to refocus on what it is we want to do. In order for me to relay that message and focus teaching points I need to reclarify what I want to get across. So what makes sense defensively.
1 - Everyone has a skill set. Every opponent we play has a skill set and good or bad it is limited some how! Generally those limitations fall to some degree in three categories: ability to execute skills better with one hand, ability to execute skills a pace, ability to execute skills vs different levels of defense (primary defender, secondary, team rotation). So it makes sense to me to challenge the skill set of the player. Make them do things with their bad hand, at a pace where they are in less control, vs. multiple layers and looks of defenders.
2 - You don't slide the 100m dash. If basketball is an explosive game, then why when we look at the most explosive athletic endeavours on the planet do you never see people sliding to win? I understand the need for a good athletic stance to be ready to move and squaring up the ballhandler to limit vision and space. After that though why would we slide when offense can sprint. Unless we are superior athletically we just won't beat people to spots. Other than intial on ball defense as the ball is held or moving east west, we must sprint everywhere.
3 - Why help recover? The more I watch basketball, coach basketball, teach basketball (other than for simplicities sake) I have no idea why people would play help and recover. Its not like you are never going to send an extra defender. Its not like you are never going to get individual defense broken down. There is no way I can help and track the movement of the player I left so when I recover vs good offense I'm lost and disadvantaged. Good offense will react to any attack to make it difficult to both help and recover with reactionary movement and rotation. Instead of saying my teams individual defense can bust up what they want to do on offense (and then need to adapt to each opponent) why wouldn't we come with a defensive rotational game plan of our own. Now its not us adapting to them its hopefully them needing to adapt to us. More importantly we now are in a position where defensively we can focus on what we're doing not what they other team is doing. Why not create a defensive competition with the offense to see whose attack, reaction, and rotation is better trained and practiced then hoping we win enough mathcups to bust up their initial attack and reactions.
So what do we have to do (focus on in practice):
- Play in a stance ready to attack and be moving constantly.
- On the ball force the ball to play at speed with their bad hand through multiple players and rotations.
- Work on team rotations for the angles and actions we force so its our stuff vs theirs. Not our players trying to stop their stuff.
- Bring energy and communication in every situation so we are competing 5 vs 1 ball every possesion.
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