Guarding the Ball – Conversation Distance
The first thing to learn about defense in the game of basketball is how to guard the ball. There are four levels of defense and the first level is, How to Guard the Ball. If I mentioned the word spacing most will think about offensive spacing, but today we are going to explore three easy […]
4 Steps to Easy Practice Planning
I have compiled four easy steps to help you create an effective practice plan that keeps your players engaged on a daily basis. Evaluate the Defensive Level of your Opponent How do they guard the ball? How is their help-side defense? Match the Read & React Offensive Layers to the Defensive Level of your Opponent […]
3 Tips for Defending Ballscreens
On a recent Hardwood Hustle Podcast, PGC’s Tyler Coston discussed three effective tips to defending ballscreens. These simple ideas can be very effective at any level, but especially at the high school level. 1. If ball handler using the ballscreen isn’t a threatening force on the floor, do not even guard the ball screen. Meaning […]
Closing Out with Urgency
After watching the Dallas Mavericks’ defensive performance in The Finals I thought it would be great time to share with you my philosophy on close outs and a few drills to go along with it. The #1 key to closing out is knowing who you are closing out to. Many times players just focus in […]
Help Defense Positioning – Hand on the Rope
In my opinion one of the most difficult things to teach young players is where they should be standing on defense when they are not guarding the ball. I am going to give you a great tool that will give your players a visual aide of where they should stand when on the help-side. This […]
Creating the Perfect Trap
One of the toughest things to teach young players is effectively trapping the basketball without committing a foul. Trapping not only takes athleticism and skill, but it also requires a tremendous amount of self-discipline. While there are several reasons why you may decide to trap, I think we can all agree the main purpose is […]
E.L.C. – Early, Loud, & Continuous on Defense
Ask any basketball coach in the world what they think is one of the most important factors to having a GREAT defensive team, and I would bet they will mention “Communication” somewhere in their explanation. While knowing your rotations, knowing personnel, and playing solid fundamental defense are truly key components; Communication is vital in order […]
