Got Pressure!

Good Monday Hoopsters!

Here is your weekly bolg with tips and posts. Enjoy!

Listening in on what
Bill Walton had to say.





Weekly Tip by TJ

Skill: Ball Handling

Drill: Crossover Dribble

Action: start at one end of the court
- start dribbling up the floor with your right hand
- fake like you are continuing to the right and plant your right foot
- at the same time drop your shoulders, get low, and cross the ball
over to your left hand
- make sure you change direction when you make your crossover
and sell the fake

Workout - 2 crossovers right to left and 2 crossovers left to right
(4 total crossovers on one trip up the court)

- take 6 trips total full length of court

Is Pressure Always Good?

Have you ever watched the old games on "Classic Sports" and noticed how the defense was played. The players were off the ball handler quite a bit and there wasn't frantic pressure on the ball handler when he or she was dribbling. Boy has that changed.

In today's game the pressure on the ball is intense. The purpose is to make it difficult for the ball handler to do what he or she wants- basically take away the ability to get into the offense easily. I have some opinions I would like to share- shall we...

First of all, I am not a big fan of applying in your face pressure all the time. If you don't have a bunch of defensive thoroughbreds it can get you in a lot of trouble quickly. You can get your guards and big men in foul trouble and have them sitting on the bench. Pressure needs to be taught properly so it can be beneficial to the outcome of the game.

I remember watching a sectional high school game and seeing one team apply pressure all game long. The problem was the defensive guards were too slow to handle the quickness of the offensive guards. The offensive guards could get to paint all game long. They were creating mismatches and great scoring opportunities. This was obviously a case where the coach wanted his team to do something they were not able to do.

Basketball, like many sports, is trendy. A new system or style of playing is developed and a team or two has great success, and the next thing you know every high school or college in the country tries it out. Not a bad thing if it fits (also, colleges can adapt easier because they can recruit the kind of players they want and need). Full court and aggressive half court defensive where the ball is being denied all the time is one of the shifts in the game that has been successful for many programs. It also has caused many programs to be unsuccessful.

I have always tried to do what was best for my teams. If I felt we could pressure the ball more I would. But I am very realistic about my goals. The number one goal in a game is to score more points at the end of the night then the opponents. I have to figure out how to do that.

Let's change directions just for a second. The trend in the game offensively is to shoot the long ball or take it hard to the hoop. There are many different ways to get to these 2 options, but that is the overall theme for many programs. Now if my defensive philosophy is to get up high and pressure the ball and deny the next pass, it is pretty obvious a good guard can get to the hoop rather easy. Here is my thought on this. If I can pack the paint with soft off the ball man to man, semi-pressure the ball handler to make him or her work, but stay in front of them so they cannot penetrate, get out on shooters when the pass is MADE and not wait until it is caught to get out on them, switch on screen when needed, and basically not let the offensive get to the hoop, I just took away options that the offense relies on. Now of course I am going to have to make adjustments, but here is why I might want to play softer if it benefits my team better.

By defending the paint better and having more bodies in the paint when a shot is taken, my team can rebound and get out and run the floor better. We have basically set our defense up to be offensive-minded. I have put the pressure on the other team to force shots because they aren't getting many good looks in close, and they better get back on defense because we are rebounding and running.

So the purpose of this post is to get you to think about doing what is best, not what is popular. Pressuring all over the floor is popular and productive for some teams, but it can be trouble for others. Do what is best for you. I think of the Boston Celtics last year. They took the paint away from everyone. They did things differently then other teams- hmmmm, it worked out pretty good for them.

Play Hard,
Lee

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