Defensive Basketball Terminology
By Steve Witty
Head Coach Boys Basketball, Ben Davis High School
The following information provides defensive concepts and
terminology utilized when teaching man-to-man team defense. This information is an excerpt from one of
the eight books of the Giant Championship Coaching Series developed by Steve
Witty of Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. To learn more about the Giant Championship
Coaching Series, please contact Coach Witty at CoachWitty@msn.com.
- Make it happen / attack
The defensive player on the ball
applies pressure on the handler and makes him do what he wants him to do
instead of allowing the ball handler to do something and then trying to stop
him.
- Make him predictable / over play half a man
By performing this technique the
defensive player on the ball over plays half a man. He now has a pretty good idea which direction
the ball handler is going to go.
- Give it to him and take it away
When over playing half man, we have
now made the ball handler predictable because our defensive pressure has given
him a logical direction to go. When the
ball is advanced in that direction the defensive player slides to turn the ball
and take that direction away.
- Front
foot leads / push off back foot
The proper defensive stance and
footwork is to always maintain a wide base and during defensive slides the
front foot is always the first foot to move, with push off help from the back
foot.
- Force
the ball to the sideline
We want to always keep the ball out
of the middle of the floor. We
accomplish this by forcing the ball to the sidelines where we can use the
sidelines and the baseline as defensive teammates. This also helps our defensive teammates to
establish their ball side and help side responsibilities.
- Jump
to the ball
The defensive player guarding the
offensive player with the ball should move in the direction the ball is
passed. It is important that the
defensive player makes this move while the ball is in the air and assumes
position two-steps to the ball and one step off the passing lane.
- Front
the cutter
An offensive player without the
ball should never be allowed to make a cut between two defensive players.
- Screens
This situation takes place away
from the ball, when the offensive player gets in a position to allow his
teammate to get open by rubbing his man off.
- Wing
denial-Deny-Contest
Method of being in a passing lane
to prevent the ball from being thrown to a wing offensive player. For maximum pressure, the head of the
defender is in the passing lane.
- Chest
to chest
Position taken by the defensive
player who is guarding or contesting a pass to the wing area. The defensive players’ chest should be facing
the chest of the offensive player.
- Snap
the head
This technique is used in a denial
situation if the offensive player breaks to the wing and decides to go to the
backdoor to receive a pass. The
defensive denial player must snap his head to get in the passing lane to deny
the backdoor cut.
- Hand
and foot in front high side / Hand and foot in front low side
This is the phrase we use to
describe our low post defensive techniques.
If the ball is located above the free throw line extended, we play high
side. If the ball is below the free
throw line extended, we play on the low side.
- Front
the low post
Play directly in front and force
the lob. We should have help from
behind.
- Show
and Go
(Fake switch) This is the technique
we use vs. any picks on the ball. The
defensive player on the ball must get over the top of the pick. The defensive player guarding the picker must
show himself early to help force the ball away from the picker. When the picker rolls to the basket, the
defensive player who showed himself goes with him.
- Drop step
When guarding the ball handler who
changes direction on the dribble, the defensive player must drop step one or
two steps in the direction of the dribbler in order to reestablish a pressure
defensive position.
- Support line
An imaginary line straight down the middle of the floor running from basket to basket. This is the dividing line between help side
and ball side.
- Help
Verbal to be yelled by the defender
guarding the ball that has been beaten, to indicate he needs the closest
defensive teammate to pick up the ball to stop penetration.
- Ball-You-Man
When defending a player away from the ball, the defender must always maintain a position between the ball and his
man. If it becomes ball-man-you, the defense is playing follow the leader and is not in a position to prevent his
defensive assignment from receiving a pass.
- Flat triangle
The help side defensive player
always assumes a position on the support line a step off the passing lane and in a position to see the ball and his man.
If you drew a line from the ball to a weak side offensive player to the help side defensive player on the support line and back to the ball, this would form a flat triangle. The help side defensive player is the apex of this triangle.
- Help & Recover
A situation that arises when the
closest defender must get in a position to help a teammate slow down the ball in order to stop ball penetration. When this is accomplished, the help defender must recover back to his own man. KEY POINTS: It does no good to help if you don’t recover. The defensive player on the ball will always have help but don’t expect it. Help side player should use defensive fake techniques, and always keep back hand in the passing lane when recovering for possible deflections.
- Deny the flash cut
When the offensive player makes a
cut from the weak side of the floor to the ball side, the help side defensive player moves up the support line and beats him to the spot and denies any pass.
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