By Coach Atwood
Last summer I observed a summer league practice session where the coach was discouraging a young athlete from guarding the player with the ball too closely. He was telling her, “You’re trying to guard her way too close, and you’re going to get beat off the dribble.” He followed up with, “After she picks up her dribble, then close the gap and get right up on her.” Since I started coaching, it’s been my observation that good coaches teach their athletes to improve their weak areas, while also encouraging them to take advantage of their strengths. Naturally this requires the coach have the ability to evaluate and recognize strengths and weaknesses in young athletes, and to respond with appropriate substance and delivery.
A defender should get up even tighter on the ball when the ball handler has picked up their dribble. But a good guard isn’t going to pick up her dribble except to pass or shoot unless she’s guarded closely. Against a quality guard, leaving a “cushion” of space just makes it easier for her to make an entry pass, or shoot the ball. And what about the discouragment? The kid he was addressing had not even been beaten off the dribble yet. In fact, her tight, in-your-face style of defense was clearly annoying the senior all-league point guard she was defending. As a defensive minded Coach, watching this freshman harass and annoy the best ball handler in the program was something beautiful to me. I was thinking that it sure would be nice to have 2-3 guards on my team every year who wanted to guard people like that. And it bothered me that she was being discouraged from using her strength as a player- the quickness and tenacity to closely guard a highly skilled ball handler.
I’d actually coached this same kid during her freshman season a few months before this. I was aware her offensive skills were still developing and that her best asset as a basketball player, the way she could really contribute to a team was with her on-ball defense. Not only that, she realized this was her strength, and she had real pride in that. She was very quick, didn’t shy away from contact, and she clearly enjoyed getting right up in the ball handlers space and making dribbling and finding an open pass receiver very difficult. Why would a coach discourage that? If you’re going to have an aggressive and tenacious defense, you NEED some quick defenders who want to guard as tight as possible. If she does get beat because she’s guarding too tightly, then adjust her defense, but not before there’s even a problem. The coach was taking away her strength. And consequently in my opinion, he was weakening his own team. Plus, discouraging her from playing defense like she was capable of had another detrimental effect.
This player was still in the early stages of developing her skills and was not yet a skilled offensive player. She was an adequate guard, but neither a great ball handler, nor a consistent perimeter shooter. That coach took the one thing this player was actually good at, the one thing she felt some confidence and pride in, and he disrespected and disregarded that ability by telling her to back off. Though I’m sure it was not his intention, he discouraged her development instead of positive force of encouragment. My point is that this is not the kind of leadership that creates a team atmosphere conducive to playing hard. As a coach, if you want your players to back off, to be less aggressive and less physical, this example might be near the top of a list of suggestions to accomplish that- deny them that which they do best. There’s just no excuse for it.
Any observation of outstanding individual defenders easily demonstrates that great on ball defenders do in fact often look like they are guarding the ball too closely. But that’s the whole point of playing very aggressive defense- pressure the oppoent into mistakes. The offensive player with the ball basically has two choices when confronted with a defender who gets right up in her “grill.” She can accept the challenge, play more physically and look to beat the defender off the dribble. Or she can become intimidated and shrink a little as a player- avoid the ball, don’t try to beat the defender, when she has the ball don’t look at the basket, just become a passer. In short, play with fear. If you are a player, and your defense is bothering the opponent, causing her game to shrink, then you’ve won a small individual battle within the game and helped your team to be successful.
I believe any coach who discourages aggressive on ball defense when it’s effective should be put out to pasture. Because he’s hurting the program he’s coaching in by actively diminishing the ability of the players in it.
Tags: aggressive defense, bad basketball coaching, basketbal individual defense
