THAT IS EXCELLENT ADVICE. I KNOW WHEN I USE TO PLAY MY COACH USE TO SAY THE SAME THING AND IT WORKED ALL THE TIME.

THANKS FOR ALL THE TIPS!

I really like the tip on moving during the pass. Great to teach to my young kids.
Thanks, mark

Nice tip! I'm not a really good defender but I'll try it.

Quality advice. All for free!!

Great tips...I'm going to include them in practise tonight. Especially like the tip about moving on the pass. I'll also try the race!!

Good tips for increasing my defense skills in my 14-under team. Go ahead

Great tips. Moving on the pass is a key part in becoming a good defender.

They are alright but what happens if my coach doesn't have the names of the players on the other team ahead of time? For tip #1 do you mean when they pass the ball you start running or what?

Ava,

You won't always know who you'll be guarding and you won't be able to do much about that. But with most organized middle school and high school basketball you'll know which team you'll be playing. Coaches can almost always get game tapes. Just ask the coach. Most players have numbers on their jersey too, so you can go by number.

For moving on the pass, yes, you start quickly moving (running or sliding) to your spot as soon as the ball is passed. You should be moving while the ball is in the air. Sometimes you don't have to move very far and other times (on a skip pass) you have to go farther. It's all about anticipating and watching the ball.

Jeff

These were great tips. They are times perfectly because I have noticed that on defense my players move to late. I like the idea of moving on the pass. Thanks, these were great!! Keep 'um coming!!

This is a good tip! The athletic stance and the kness bent is very important in establishing denfensive positioning. Let me add that I always teach my players to use their hands on the off the ball defense. One hand pointing at the direction of the ball and the other hand pointing to his man. So that at all times a player will know where the ball and his man on defense. Also, I encourage them to voice out their position so the other players on defense will be able to recognize the help and weakside defense, etc. Thanks and more power!

its good to know that there are ways to speed up the defense. for sure this will be effective once we praticed it. but we have to go back to the basic so that the players will be able to master the art of defense.

Hi Jeff, thanks for this tip, accually it is tru and i think most of the coach's try or tell or even teach his players to move with the ball not to move when the offence receive the ball, but the seceret and the diffecult part how to make it a habit and that you don't have to shout at them all the time in the games so that they do it. So is there any special drills to help them, or i have to keep shouting at them untill hopefully one day they will do it as a habit.
Thanks for all your effort in suppling us with great tips.
imad

thanks to the tips, really good teaching and im excitted to the new release this end of nov. more power and God bless always!

Hi Imad,

To get you players to develop a "habit" of moving on the pass, you can do a couple different things:

- Explain the "reason why" to your players. Demonstrate the difference and make sure they understand "why" they are doing these things. It’s easy as a coach to forget to teach the reason why and just try to make them do it. People don’t like to be force fed.

- Playing time. The ultimate motivator is playing time and if you reward the good defensive players that move on the pass, they'll all get the message. Or if you pull a player out of the game and leave them out because they didn't go hard on defense, they'll get the message.

- Repetition. We do tons of 4on4 and 5on5 shell work. This is when you emphasize defense and the kids know it. This is where we develop many habits. We start with just passing the ball around and don't move on to the next thing until everyone is moving on the pass (even if it takes the entire practice). If it's non-negotiable from day one they just do it and it's not a problem.

Hope this helps.

Jeff Haefner
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com

Great tip regarding moving on the pass & not the catch. This idea alone will improve my zone defense's "shifting" speed.

Props.

- Coach Ruwe in the nasty 'nati

I like this moving on the pass tip. Have tried in once, it works when showing it to one player. The thing is to get everyone on the defence to react to it. But great tip.

I appreciate the great tips! I will incorporate them in my defense!

GOOD

Good stuff.
It gives those who think they are the slower player a system to even the playing field.

you do not have off nights in playing defense.

Gentlemen

Thank's for all the good advice and the good play's. My kids really enjoy the hard work and dedication you guy's put into it

Great tips, this will help at any level and allow -slow footed kids again an edge in games on close-outs and not allowing good open looks at the bucket - keep them coming love the FREE advice...

what not also to teach players to move whwn a pass is to be received

Simple but effective tips, helps to be reminded.

Please explain in more detail how the race goes...one person is running standing straight up and the other person is sliding?????

Hi Ke,

The race is meant to emphasize the importance of being in an athletic stanc has on moving quickly.

In the race, there is no sliding. the players will just run forward. One is standing straight up in an "unathletic stance" while the other has he knees bent in an "athletic, read-to-run" stance. You'll notice that the player with his knees bent will be able to move much quicker. That's why we emphasize "no standing straight up" on defense.

Thanks a lot for this. I'm a good offensive player but i'm not so great at defense. I'm sure this'll help

Once again,great stuff.
I can easily name several High School, AAU and travel programs that your tips and drills have saved or revived.
You remain a constant source of know how,motivation and time saving ideas for all of us,thank you.

Thank you very much. This ought to enhance my skills fast.

im a freshmen & i just made the varsity team
im trying to do whatever it takes to become better and this site really helps
theres a ton of great pointers

I coach professional basketball in China and have been coaching for 35 years both in Canada and the United States. I have learned many things over the years, however, every once in a while on this very site, I find a gem. Something that someone else has thought of and given it a little twist. You never stop learning about this great game.

Dr. Laurence J. MacDonald PhD
Head Coach Keen Lady Dragons
Hong Kong, China.

These are great tips. I''ll be implementing these suggestions at tonight''s practice!

Thx.

I am a kid who loves basketball, but isn't all that great at it. These tips are bringing me more confidence in myself. Tryouts are tomorrow,12/15/09, through Friday,12/18/09. These tips will surely help me in this struggle!
Thank you so much for these!
David

Is there a specific man-man defensive play to deny the ball over to a strong center? Or which zone defense may be better to implement?

Hi Rafael,

Here are a couple of options within man tom an

- 3/4 Front where you have the defender partiall step in front of the post player with the defender's leg and arm in the passing lane.

- Full front - this is where the defender is completely in front of the player and facing the ball.

We have plenty of pics and explanation in our Man to Man Defense eBooks as well: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/mandefense.html

danq thiz is realy kool maybe it will help me improve 2 becominq a n.b.a player...//

thanks so much i play on 3 teams and all that really helps but this henlps alot who ever invented this thank YOU!!!!!!!!

i like your advice.it really helps...

i like ur advice.thnx v much!

Can''''t wait to try these out on my youth team. Thank you.
Loving your e-books as well.

The most basic and unhelpfull tips that you are suppose to know by the 5th grade. Please come up with tips that are made for individuals that are highschool or better.

I am the best shooter on the team at my high school and i am only a 10th grader, but my coach thinks that d-fence is 100% of the game, and im getting about 12 points a game in 3s alone and i still cant get that varsity uniform and there are only 7 people on the entire vasity team, i was just wondering what else i can do, i play ok d-fence but we have no offensive game besides our posts

i am totally tryying them

I am 43, never played, never coached. I am deployed military, and joined the unit team in a tournament. We are winning because I am using these tips, and communicating to others to use them, especially the move when the ball is passed tip. Many thanks.

have been on this site 3 times now, just picked my 9 & 10 year old team today....won a state championship, played a year of college, and 3 years in the military....i am scared to death to coach all of these impressionable minds. i have never coached (head coach), firm believer of "rebounds equals rings, and if the other team cant score, they cant win!"... please, is there any advice you can give? these drills, so far, will be the basis of my teachings.

...and thanks!

another good way to teach this is to practice shell drill with hands behind the player backs. that forces them to use their feet when jumping to the ball.

I teach my players to move:

on a pivot, sprint(slide) on a pass.

Read the eyes(especially girls bball) and the shoulders of the person with the ball.

Micahl

You are working with 9 & 10 year olds.. teach them fundamentals of the game... m2m defense and remember to let them have some fun. At that age its not all about winning... its about playing and having fun, developing a love for the game and learning a little bit about HOW to play.

Bob Bigelow has a great tape regarding working with young players... you can find it on this site.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/store/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=8&cat=Coaching+Youth+Basketball

Thanks, very helpful

Thanks so much i am a basketball player and have a game tomorrow. These tips will hopefully work!

Very informational tips. Thanks!

William -

I think you already answered your own question.

"
I am the best shooter on the team at my high school and i am only a 10th grader, but my coach thinks that d-fence is 100% of the game, and im getting about 12 points a game in 3s alone and i still cant get that varsity uniform and there are only 7 people on the entire vasity team, i was just wondering what else i can do, i play ok d-fence but we have no offensive game besides our posts "

Its obvious that your coach is defensively oriented, so thats what you have to do, Improve your defensive game. Dive on loose ball, take a charge every time you can, rebound and play great helpside defense. OK in his book is not good enough... Look at the three tips and then work on your game. Good luck, hope this works out for you.

As a player, tip #1 sounds effective, as it can lead to a high number of turnovers for the offensive team (interceptions), but for example the point guard fake passes to the 2 and passes to the opposite wing, meanwhile the person guarding the 2 has already 'jumped' the fake pass (anticipating the point guard would pass to the 2) leaving a back door cut for the 2 guard (the defensive player would be slow getting back, as he/she tried to intercept it but failed). Kinda hard to explain, but does it make sense what i am trying to say?

Gr8 advice, will definately put this into practice.