Last year when I was teaching the shell drill I was teaching players who were 1 pass off the ball to play in an open stance to be able to better help on the drive. Next season I want to teach denial defense on the first pass. The question is, where we were communicating help left or right off the ball what would be the appropriate call for the player defending the next pass? Also do you have information which talks about what players should be calling, ball - for player marking ball, 1 pass away - ? 2 passes away, 3 & 4 - split line. Thank you for your continuing articles, has helped me to improve my understanding of the game and coaching.

When I played "wolf pack" defense where we packed in the lane to help on dribble penetration. If the players could help on dribble penetration, I would just have them say, "Jim, I got your help." It might be 4 other players saying it, but that's great. It can have an affect on the mentality of the offensive player, because he realizes that he has to get through 5 players. The offensive player tends be less aggressive because of this.

If you are playing aggressive denial on the wings, it hard to say, "I got your help" because you don't. The players that are 2 passes or more away should still say, "I got your help" Remember, if you want to get good at something, you have to stick with your guns. If you are changing your defense every year, it might be less effective. However, I'm not telling you not to change it. You need to figure out what works best for you and your team and get REALLY good at it.

Best of Luck!

Joe Haefner
Breakthrough Basketball LLC

I'm in agreement that you need to "stick to your guns". However, A big thing to stress is just sight of the court and understanding anticipation. Alot of players aren't sthletic enough to make full rotations but they do a good job of anticipating the next move by the offense.

My calls are:

On the ball
In denial
On the help line

Coach Springer
www.spartanpt.com/blog1

I have taught both a pack line defense as well as m/m pressuring defense in which I had players in the passing lanes. When teaching my defense to playing in the passing lanes I told my players to make short one word calls but to say each term twice. For example my players who is one pass away just calls "deny, deny" the player two passes away just calls "help, help." When using your shell drills make sure you are stressing communication. Use your floor to teach defense points, such as the rim to tell your help side to stand or possibly just a foot in the paint, depending on where you want your help side to be. By doing this, it simplifies your defense and gives each player a reference point. So I would suggest simple terminology along with reference points on the floor.

I agree, we used one word calls... pressure, deny, help. I always said that the excellent defensive teams had GREAT help defense. NO one drives the paint without someone being there to take the charge.

The simpler the call the easier it is for the kids to make it during the game.

Ken