In the first few years that I coached youth and high school basketball, we always struggled against zone defenses.

Then I took this approach that might seem strange and it changed everything for the better!

Prior to this, I always taught man to man defense and spent zero time teaching zone defense.

(Note: I don't like zone defenses at the youth level for developmental purposes. For the sake of staying on point, you can read why zone defenses aren't optimal when coaching players 13 and under at this page.)

After I thought about it, I knew that in order to develop an effective zone offense, they had to face a sound zone defense in practice.

Since I knew the 2-3 zone defense quite well from watching Al Marshall's 2-3 Zone Defense video and it was one of the most frequent zones we faced, I decided I was going to teach it to both the youth and high school teams. I also didn't want to waste a bunch of practice time teaching different zone defenses.

So here is what I did:

• Develop the foundation for our man to man defense first!
  
  I found that when I did this, our zone defense took very little time to teach since we already had sound defensive principles established.


• Taught the 2-3 zone defense after the first three to five weeks.


• 30 to 45 minutes was spent teaching the zone defense over two practices


• Had specific players learn specific zone defense spots.
  
  Each player just learned one zone defensive spot. This helped reduce the time needed to teach the zone.
  
  The same players were always guard defenders. The same players were always bottom defenders. The same players were center defenders.


• We would have a 10 minute refresh a few times periodically throughout the year.
  
  With your high school team, you could do it a few more times per year.
  
  Also, if you have an assistant, you can have them coach the zone defense while you practice zone offense. This is the most efficient way to do it.


• Implemented universal offensive concepts that worked well against zone defenses.
  
  That way, players could use tactics with any offense as they got older. It would benefit them in the long-run.
  
  Things like spacing, cut and replace, make two defenders guard one (triangle spacing), penetrate gaps via the dribble and the pass, delayed short corner cuts, cutting behind the zone, screening the zone, cutting to open space, and so forth.

I found this made us very effective against zone defenses.

During one of the first games after making this implementation, I had a big ole' grin on my face...

The opposing team went to a zone defense against us. We ripped it apart after a few possessions and the opposition quickly went to man to man defense. And this became a recurring theme.

Now don't think this approach is going to be a magic wand if your players can't shoot, pass, dribble, and make plays.

You still need to develop better shooters, ball handlers, and passers if you want to have any luck against any defense.

Videos for 2-3 Zone Defense and Zone Offense

If you'd like to do the same thing, these two videos will give you a great foundation for teaching zone defense and teaching zone offense:

The Aggressive 2-3 Zone Defense With Al Marshall

Zone Offense Concepts to Beat Any Zone Defense with Don Kelbick

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First faisalpox says: 10/8/2020 at 9:15:00 AM In Banjarmasin, Indonesia, it is so rarely to apply same players were always guard defender, bottom defender and center defender. most of the time, the practice is not attended by all team member. How can i handle that problem? Like     login   register

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