I'm coaching a team of 6th graders in an upcoming 3 on 3 competitive league. Last year teams used pick and rolls quite frequently. My kids understand the importance of communication and calling out potential picks when on defense to avoid them.

They understand to switch if they couldn't defend against the pick any other way. My question is, how does the defender who was picked defend against the roll in a 3 on 3 situation? I've coached my kids to spin and get between the person who picked them and the basket ASAP. Am I thinking correct here?

Rob,

The way we defended the P&R was to show early help.... get the defender covering the guy setting the pick to get out and take away the space that the person with the ball wants to dribble thru... hands wide..... he has to go wider and that allows his defender to stay with him, no switches and that strengthens your D.

The person defending the guy setting the pick has a hand on his hip, when he feels him leave, the defender goes with him.... and of course as the ball is being dribbled away from the other defender, he has to get to the help line... even though he is one pass away, the main objective is still to stop the ball.... most dangerous man.

Clear enough?

Yes, that makes sense. The key is the guy (D2) defending the person setting the pick (O2). He must help slow or stop the ball handler (O1) which allows the ball handler's defender (D1) to catch back up, thus avoiding a switch with a possible mismatch.

As you mentioned, D2 needs to have a hand on O2 in case of a roll. I could see my D2 going wide to stop O1 and having O2 roll to get open. I'm assuming most players are coached to brush the person setting the pick, so under normal circumstances, O1 is going to be coming close to the pick and D2 won't have to go that far away from O2.

Trust me.... D1 does NOT have to slow down... I demonstrated D2s spot and told our kids that anyone that could run into me, I would buy them a steak dinner... its pretty simple.... if you are wide enough.... D1 just defends - doesn't have to worry about the screener because D2 has created this big lane......When O2 leaves, D2 goes with him....
Play D2 yourself and you will see what I mean.

BTW, I never got hit.... I'm not crazy enough to let some 16-17 year old run me over LOL