I know how to STOP three point shooters. Everyone knows the trajectory basketball is heading, and who in their right mind can stop that wave? Better yet, who can claim to stop it?
Talent wins games. Teamwork and intelligence wins Championships - Michael Jordan
I know I recently wrote an article all about how to improve three-point shooting in our athletes. It might seem contradictory to now write about how to stop it, but it is not. Every player on the team has a purpose. When the other team is full of three-point shooters, and we only train three-point shooters; then, we might as well only have a shootout and not a basketball game right? Today’s focus if you haven’t figured it out yet is, Defence.
Remember, I used to be a player myself. The player and competitor in me still comes out while training the new generations. Which means my aim will be to reduce the other team from scoring so we can win. In my playing days I have faced many superior three-point shooters, and while they were not always successful plays on my end, I learned two main plans to always try.
Make it difficult. Make it extremely difficult for the other team to even catch the ball. We can do this by using different defence techniques such as the “Box and 1 defence” move. For those of you who are not familiar with this play: Box and 1 defence play is a combination of defence techniques that prevent the other team from getting the ball to their star player.
Improve On-Ball Defence. This means hands must be active, up, and shadowing. It also means side-lines should be forced and pickup on full or ¾ court. We need to train fast feet, anticipation, and quickness into our young athletes as well.
Focusing on these two key defence maneuvers should always be a staple in all basketball training; Jordan, Kobe, Bird, and Magic are a result of great defence training. Hard-nose defence needs to be brought back into the basketball community to build well rounded players.
Coach Ben
Comments