Blog Posting #24, December 27, 2008

DEFENSE: “THINKING” STEALS AND BLOCKED SHOTS

Ball movement and penetration are key to productive offense.  The latter is dependent on the first. Therefore, hindering ball movement and reducing penetration are key to effective defense. That means, off-the ball defense and on-the-ball defense.  Players become sounder off-the-ball defenders when they are thinking, “STEAL.” Players become sounder on-the-ball defenders when they are thinking, “BLOCK THAT SHOT.”

OFF-THE-BALL DEFENSE: TEACH PLAYERS TO THINK “STEAL.”
Positioning yourself in the passing lane (ball-you-man) is good but not best. All it does is make the ball go in another direction and put you in a position where you can’t play help defense. How many times have we seen dribble penetration into a huge gap created by the closest defender being in a denial stance, far away from the ball.

Teach your players to think “steal.” One pass away from the basketball, have them take one step off the passing lane (line directly from ball to offensive player) and open the stance a little toward the ball. Every time the ball handler begins to look in the direction of an offensive player, the defender fakes a steal attempt and retreats, simultaneously studying the idiosyncrasies of the passer and receiver. As the game progresses, the right time to go for the steal will become clear. Being physically off the passing lane but mentally in it, all the while faking as if going for the steal, will slow offensive ball movement as the passer becomes apprehensive about passing. The other benefits are: the backdoor is eliminated and the defender is in good help position.

ONE-THE-BALL DEFENSE: TEACH PLAYERS TO THINK “BLOCKED SHOT.” 
The two best defensive post players I have ever seen, both had first names of “Bill.” I never played against Bill Russell, but I practiced against Bill Walton for three years at UCLA. I can tell you this, every time I took a shot against him, he had one thing in mind: “Swat that thing to half court!” Bill Russell had the same mindset.  Making you miss was OK for them, but they made you miss because you knew they were trying to get to the ball.
 
The focus of getting to the shot is followed by improved footwork, not visa versa.  In other words, in order to get up in the air quickly, with good timing, and good altitude, their feet have to be set and the player has to be in balance. The point is, teaching proper defensive footwork alone will not create a merciless defender; it is the relentless pursuit of the blocked shot (without fouling) that does.

Take that concept to the perimeter, and you’ll have an outside defender that will never allow penetration. Why? Because he can’t block the shot if his man gets by him.  A perimeter defender with the goal of getting to the shot will learn the footwork necessary to stay close enough to get to the shot, but maintain the proper spacing to cut off the drive.  If he is not thinking, “blocked shot,” he will be too far away and/or get beat. That’s called “footwork.”

For one-on-one defensive footwork, there are four basic steps:
STEP ONE: Advance Step (two-foot step toward the offensive player),

STEP TWO: Retreat Step (two-foot step away from the defender and toward the basket),

STEP THREE: Slide Step (step-slide step-slide, feet not crossing over each other, to stay between man and basket when man is dribbling),

STEP FOUR: Sprint and Catch-Up Step (To stop the drive, sprint toward the basket and slide to cut off dribbler). Note, the Sprint Step is not a slide; the player crosses his feet and runs to the spot where he can slide over to cut off the drive. In higher levels of basketball, the Sprint and Catch-Up Step is the most used one-on-one defensive maneuver. When playing nominal offensive players, the advance and slide steps may be enough to prevent penetration and get to the shot, but against talented players, the Retreat Step and Sprint Catch-UP steps are most important to stay between the man and basket and to block the jump shot. 

In order to develop players into “blocked shot-minded” defenders, you’ll have to teach four things: try to block every shot, don’t leave your feet before the offensive player does, jump vertically—not into or past the offensive player, block the ball after it leaves the shooting hand.

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Swen Nater