Skills without Drills – Part 11

Players: You want to bring something to the game – bring something to your team that can immediately affect the outcome of the game, but you don’t time to acquire a new skill like shooting, or point-guard-dribbling-abilities, or ten more pounds of muscle. These things take time – usually off-season time. What can you bring […]

Skills without Drills – Part 8

Players: You want to bring something to the game – bring something to your team that can immediately affect the outcome of the game, but you don’t time to acquire a new skill like shooting, or point-guard-dribbling-abilities, or ten more pounds of muscle. These things take time – usually off-season time. What can you bring […]

Skills without Drills – Part 7

Players: You want to bring something to the game – bring something to your team that can immediately affect the outcome of the game, but you don’t time to acquire a new skill like shooting, or point-guard-dribbling-abilities, or ten more pounds of muscle. These things take time – usually off-season time. What can you bring […]

Skills without Drills – Part 2

Players- Here’s the situation: Season has begun and you find yourself wanting to bring something to your team that can immediately affect the outcome of the game. But you don’t time to acquire a new skill like shooting, or point-guard-dribbling-abilities, or ten more pounds of muscle. (Those kind of things take time – usually off-season […]

NBA Terminology – Ice/Blue/Weak

Last year we wrote an article discussing how the NBA defends sideline pick & rolls. Some of the information will be somewhat redundant, but I encourage you to read that older post because it is very detailed and incorporates a few videos; you can find the article HERE.   Ice/Blue: Most, if not all, NBA teams will Ice […]

5 W’s to Pick & Roll Defense

Here are five things to consider when defending the pick & roll. Where The location of the screen is extremely important as it can alter your coverages and rotations. Who Who is setting and receiving the pick is the 2nd factor that ultimately determines who the action will be defended. Is the screener a pick […]

3 Defensive Gaps

The first thing to learn about defense in the game of basketball is how to guard the ball. The first level (and there are 4) is how to guard the ball. Now, if I mention the word SPACING, most will think that I’m talking about offensive spacing. But instead, we will explore 3 easy ways […]

Defending the Corner Fill

Recently I was fortunate to spend time with almost 20 NBA players for a week at the NBPA Top 100 Camp. One term that was used by one of them when defending a shooter in the corner with a potential wing-baseline drive was, “Body here, mind there”. I absolutely LOVE that term. In the illustration […]

Highways & Alleys

The highway is the one-third strip of the court right down the middle of the floor. When I ask great offensive players where they want the ball, they always say in the middle of the floor. If that’s the case, then defensively, we need to do everything we can to keep the ball out of […]

4 Drills to Become An Effective Pressing Team

Circle Trap The Circle Trap drill is one of the best drills to not only teach your offensive players how to handle traps under pressure, but it also teaches your defense how to trap without fouling. Offensively teach your players to be strong with the ball and how to create space. This drill also enforces […]