Defensive drills vs penetration and the pick and roll. (Basketball).

SINCE THE BEST OFFENSE in basketball is simply beating your man to the hoop, we have devised a defensive drill that focuses on the control of both offensive penetration and the pick and roll play.

We believe it takes more than one person to stop anyone from scoring and that defense takes a total team effort. The accompanying drills show how we attempt to do this in practice.

As show in Diag. 1 we set up three lines of defensive players (X's) behind the baseline and have one player from each line come out to play defense against the three offensive men (numbers).

X2 and X3 set up just below the elbows and X1 just above the key vs wings 2 and 3 and the ball-handler (1) at the top.

The X's continue to play defense until the offense scores against them. The X's then go on offense while the three offensive players go to the ends of the waiting (defensive) lines.

Since most players usually prefer to play offense, this drill is focused more on defense. The X's awaiting their turns will likely be watching what the defensive men on the court are doing.

Diag. 2: We start with the ball-handler (1) driving to the hoop and being picked up by his man (X1) at the top of the key. The ball-handler tries to beat his defender to the hoop, and it is then up to X2 and X3, depending on which side the penetration come from, to step up and help out X1.

After they have forced a pass to the wing (2) and the opposite defender (X3) has sagged off as a help man, X1 and X2 must close out on their own men.

Note: X3 must also step up and make his man (3) go behind if he cuts for the hoop. If 3 decides to set a screen for 1, the play may wind up with a pick and roll between 1 and 3.

In Diag. 3, the original penetrator (1) sets a pick on X2 while X3 is still sagging off as a help man. But he is also ready to step up and deny a direct cut from the offside wing (3).

There are basically four ways to defend the pick and roll:

Hedge the screen at the point where X1 steps over the screen to stop Wing 2 from penetrating until X2 gets around the screen set by 1 (Diag. 4).

Switch the screen at the point where X1 now guards Wing 2 and X2 defends the original penetrator, 1 (Diag. 5).

Wing defender X2 can go over the screen or under the screen set by 1 (Diag. 6).

The last thing we can do is have X1 and X2 double up on Wing 2 whenever the screen is set by 1 (Diag. 7).

All four of these alternatives have advantages and disadvantages.

If we hedge the screen the advantage is that it will slow down the wing (2). The disadvantage is that the screener (1) can set a slip screen on the defender (X2) and cut directly to the basket.

A slip screen is where 1 appears to be setting a screen on X2, but instead of screening, he cuts directly to the hoop.

If we switch the screen (Diag. 5), the advantage is that we are matched up and cannot be hurt. The disadvantage is that we could be mismatched due to physical abilities.

The advantage of staying with your man by going over or under the screen (Diag. 6) is that all defenders are matched up and accountable for their man. The disadvantage in going over a screen is that the defender winds up trailing his man. If he goes under the screen, his man is free to shoot.

If the defender doubles up on the screen (Diag. 7), he definitely stops the man from penetrating. The disadvantage is that any time you have two guys guarding one, someone is open on the floor.

We use all of our choices to defend the pick and roll.

If the offensive penetrator is extremely quick or a good finisher, we will hedge the screen in order to get the penetrator to pick up his dribble.

If there are no match-up concerns and the athletes are guarding players of similar attributes, we may switch the screens.

If the penetrator can't shoot, we may go behind or under the screen.

If we want the ball out of the penetrator's hands or the offense is spread out, we may double the penetrator.

This drill may also be run from different areas on the floor. We defend the pick and roll from the wing, elbow, corner, and top of the key.

Depending on the particular opponent or what we want to work on, we can emphasize exactly how we want to defend the pick and roll.