Building a Tenacious Full Court Defense- Andy Landers Press 1. To control tempo 2. To force turnovers 3. To drive or to change the tempo 4. Because other teams do not 5. There will always be one time in a game where you may need to press due to time and score. If you press frequently, they will become comfortable and confident in the press. 6. You want your team to want to press and not need to press. 7. There is not enough time in practice to teach a lot of different presses Full Court Pressure 1. This is about pressure on the ball and spacing everywhere else 2. Three levels The back court The area around the half court line, the mid court area, called the ready area Half court defense Drills 1. Zig Zags Keep the nose on the ball to the mid court level and keep squared up. Do not get beat down the line so get one foot out of bounds. Play through the lines. The offensive player goes half speed. On change of direction, do not care how the defender gets his nose back on the ball (slide shuffle or sprint) but he must get his nose ahead of the ball and has squared himself to the dribbler. As the offensive player reaches the mid court area, the defender should take his nose off of the ball and cut the floor. Keep the man on the sideline and do not let him come back to the middle. Must try to turn the player twice before half court
2. Zig Zags with sideline cut Try to keep the ball close to the sideline as it crosses half court Keep your head on his hip and not on the ball Once the ball has crossed half court, make ball reversal difficult. Make them throw over you and allow your teammate to intercept the pass. On the sideline slide, sweep the man with your arms like a bird swooping down on him. Do not allow the ball to be dribbled back to the center of the floor It is difficult to guard the ball one on one full court. In fact it is almost impossible. That is why your teammates must get involved. No one person can defend the full court. It takes a team effort. 3. One on one backside- this starts building the backside help Start with two lines at opposite ends of the court The offensive player with the ball dribbles down the floor with the defender using his zigzag rules to defend him 1. Pressure the ball hard with your nose on the ball 2. If the ball crosses the half court near the sideline, cut it (keep the ball on that side of the floor)
3. If the ball crosses the half-court in the middle, stay square to the ball until it goes to the sideline and then you will cut it The backside defender will: 1. Eyeball his man and the ball at all times while in a stance 2. You must anticipate that the defense on the ball will break down and you must be ready to rotate to the ball to stop the ball going to the basket 3. If a long pass is thrown to your man, you must close out on the ball with high hands or possibly intercept the pass 4. If the ball gets into the lane area and you have rotated to get square to the ball to stop the ball, the original defender (the zig-zagger) on the ball must rotate over to your man once the ball is passed 4. 2 on 2 support The man on the ball uses his zigzag rules The man off of the ball rotates ahead of the ball so that his outside shoulder is aligned to the inside shoulder of the man on the ball as he knows he must help as the ball cannot be contained 1 on 1 full court. He is not guarding his man; he is helping on the ball. Once the ball is passed, the helper must sprint back to his man and apply ball pressure Once the ball crosses the mid court, the ball must be cut and the opposite defender must look to intercept the pass The offensive player without the ball must stay behind or even with the ball Add a coach in the middle of the floor that the offensive players pass to and make the defenders rotate ahead of the ball and then back to their men to apply pressure
5. 3 on 3 support Cut on the sidelines, contain in the middle Do not turn your head on the ball, open to the ball when you are rotating One player is on the ball, one is in support and one is spacing (see Spacing rule below) Play normal half court defense once within the 3 point circle 6. 3 on 3 Sidesaddle The back defender: 1. Lines up even with his man 2. The farther the ball is from his man, the farther he is from his man 3. Spacing rule- be as far from your man as you can be but if the ball is thrown to your man, be there Teach spacing first, then middle cut (have the defender body up by turning his back to the ball and send him backdoor) then sideline upcut (make them catch it below the free throw line extended) 1. The simple objective of a press offense is to get the ball ahead of your front line of defense to create a numbers advantage. If the ball is caught behind your first line of defense, they will send a cutter long to create this advantage. 2. The sideline cut is the most difficult cut in basketball to defend 7. 4 on 4 support Make it difficult for the ball to advance up the floor Use all of the other drills rules as the ball advances Do not let the ball come back to the middle once it nears or reaches half court Once the ball is contained on the sideline, the defender of the player in the middle of the floor must be on the line and up the line to intercept passes back to the middle 2-2-1 Press Front men 1. When the ball comes inbounds, pressure the ball, cut the middle and send the ball handler down the sideline 2. The opposite guard gets into support 3. If the ball is passed back, either pressure the ball (middle) or cut the sideline
Middle men 1. Spacing rule- be as far from your man as you can be but if the ball is thrown to your man, be there. Make him look open but be ready to intercept the pass. 2. When the spacing is good and the ball is progressing up the sideline, double team the ball near half court 3. Play through the lines (stop sideline dribble with feet outside of the line) 4. Once the trap is set, the man opposite the ball turns and sprints into the lane for support and basket protection Back man 1. Have your nose on the ball but 40 to 60 feet from it 2. Once the trap is set, take the closest man to the sideline and deny him Give up the pass backwards and nothing else Run and Jump Rule- If I leave my man and come to jump yours, I have to be able to get there and create a defensive play. Run and Jump is not run and trap Yell out to the person defending on the ball Blitz. That tells the man on the ball that you are coming to jump the ball. When you get there, he will rotate in the direction you came from and pick up the first open man. He will keep rotating until he finds the first open man, as there may be some other rotations that may have occurred. Anything that goes over the top, one of the back defenders will pick up and the front defender will rotate. You can play this defense with the out of bounds offensive player covered or leave the defender in the middle of the court to double team the ball once it is entered Think spacing- be as far away from you man as you can be if the ball is thrown to him, get there. If you are going to support, encourage pressure on the ball. Andy Landers PO Box 1472 Athens GA 30613 800-259-2809