Defense Archives | Basketball For Coaches

3-2 Zone Defense – Complete Coaching Guide

The 3-2 zone defense is a disruptive half-court zone that forces the opposition out of their regular offensive structure and set plays.The main reason for this is that the 3-2 zone hard denies the wings from the top of the key and forces the opposition to initiate offense with a skip pass to the corner […]

47 Basketball Defense Tips (Become a Great Defender)

How important is basketball defense to you?

If you go to the park or the gym, most of the time all you’ll see is players working on their offensive game. Rarely do you see players down in defensive stance entire possessions anticipating passes and offensive movement.

You see, basketball offense is fun. It’s ‘cool’.

It’s the crossovers and dunks that make spectators stand up from their seats and cheer and get players excited.

But it’s basketball defense that will have a bigger impact on the amount of success you have individually and as a team.

I challenge all coaches and players to place more importance on the defensive end of the floor in games and practices.

Man-to-Man Defense – Complete Coaching Guide

The traditional man-to-man defense is by far the most common defense in the game of basketball today.

This is especially true as players progress to a higher level of competition. In fact, due to the great outside shooting of professional players, every NBA team almost exclusively plays man-to-man defense.

The man-to-man defense involves all 5 defensive players on the court being allocated one opposition player who they’re accountable for defending whenever they’re on defense.

Of course, there will be times when players switch opponents or help each other on defense, but for the most part, each player is responsible for one player from the opposition.

The Best Defense For Youth Basketball

Let’s play a game.

We’re going to design the perfect defense for youth basketball…

Here are 3 important criteria I came up with off the top of my head that are imperative when designing a youth basketball defense:

1. The perfect youth basketball defense should prepare players for the next level.

2. The perfect youth basketball defense should allow players to experience all components of defense.

3. The perfect youth basketball defense should be easy to learn.

Are there any defenses you can think of that fit this criteria?

Run and Jump Defense – Complete Coaching Guide

The ‘Run and Jump’ defense is a full-court man-to-man press with rules that encourage jump-switching and trapping. It was first created by Dean Smith at North Carolina during the 1970’s.

This full-court defense is best suited for a team of athletes that want to play an uptempo style game. Big and slow teams should avoid this offense as the rotations require quick movements to be effective.

Box and 1 Defense – Complete Coaching Guide

Do you ever come up against teams with a single dominant player? One player that scores a majority of their team’s points every game?

When you do come up against a team like that, it’s the perfect opportunity to implement the box and 1 defense.

The box and 1 defense is a junk defense commonly used against teams with one great offensive player surrounded by players of less offensive talent.

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