Winnetka Bullets Basketball
1. DEFENSIVE COVERAGE
Transition and Talk
Do we use one player back as a safety, one and a half players back, two players back, three players back?
What is our pick-up point?
When do we begin to pressure the ball?
Are they quicker than us and can they beat us on the dribble and thus we create offense for them?
What type of transition do our 3, 4, 5 men make?
Who is the safety, protector, or fullback in our terminology? He is at the half line and takes the first man down the floor after protecting the basket.
Who is our halfback? He moves to the top of the circle to get the long rebound and then pressure the outlet receiver.
Our tailbacks are our three rebounders who rebound and then get their tails back.
If our fullback is shooting, the halfback has to move to the fullback spot or the opponent will get easy run out baskets like Scottie Pippen did with the Bulls.
We want to get our full court pressure set and if that is not an option we want to be ready with all five players in proper stance and position.
We want to be on the line and up the line.
Ball Pressure
We want to apply as much pressure to the ball as we can without allowing penetration and fouling.
We want the ball to arc to the outside on the dribble. No straight line drives and NO MIDDLE DRIVES are to be allowed. Our help is below use when we are pressuring the ball on the wing.
THE BALL MUST NOT ENTER THE LANE ON THE DRIBBLE OR THE PASS.
We want to attack dribble penetration a full yard outside the lane. We will trap the ball until it is passed back out.
When the ball is in the middle third of the floor we want to control the ball, square up, and contain the dribbler.
When the ball is in the outside third of the floor we want to steer the ball or arc the dribble to the outside.
Denial
When the ball is in the middle of the floor and we are denying wing, we put a hand in the passing lane.
The opportunity and angle for the backdoor is too great with the ball in the middle.
When the ball is in the outside third of the floor, we can put our head in the passing lane.
We will have much more help when the ball is located in the outside third of the floor.
We try to KEEP IT OUT OF THE LANE and KEEP IT OFF THE TOP.
We do not want the ball on top as we want to control the middle one third of the floor on defense and offense.
If the ball is on top, it can be reversed, passed to the low post from the top down with no help available, and it is difficult to give help without giving up an open three on drives from the top to the rim.
Help
In order to keep the ball out of the lane, we form a help-side I formation with a high I and a low I.
On baseline drives when the low post is not occupied, the low I who is positioned with both feet on the ball-side of the basket stops the ball a yard outside the lane.
If the low post is occupied, the post defender is closer to the ball and stops the ball a yard outside the lane and the low I will take the low post.
On both of these situations, the high who has both feet on the helpside of the basket will turn and sprint to the
baseline getting outside the lane to steal the baseline pass and block out on the weak-side boards.
We call this covering down wide.
Shot Pressure
We want to pressure the shot with our front hand or hand above the front foot in our stance. If we reach with the back hand we are "short arming" our shot pressure.
We must leave the floor to change or alter the shot, take away the rhythm shot, and then prepare to get the missed shot off the glass. We want to*bleep*our wrist back and keep our hand over the ball to avoid the hacking foul.
Using an umbrella or brick wall is necessary is the tight quarters around the basket on moves to the rim or post moves in the lane. We want to take up space and make it difficult for the offensive man to move to the rim.
We are trying to buy time allow our teammates to come in an help us.
If the man is out of control, we are in position to take the charge.
2. BOPCRO---Block Out, Pursue the Ball, Chin the Rebound, Outlet
We can do everything picture perfect but we will not be successful unless we have SHOT PRESSURE AND WE HAVE BOPCRO on every shot.
When the shot goes up we want physical contact with our opponent. Once we make contact our vision can go to the basket area to pick up the flight of the ball.
We know there are certain "slices of the pie" that ball will rebound into when shots are attempted from different spots on the floor. We must keep our opponent out of that slice of the pie.
If our man does not go to the boards, we go to the slice of the pie and go to help block out a dangerous rebounder and help rebound. Guards should be among the leaders in defensive rebounding.
When a player is a great offensive rebounder we might take him on like a pass protection blocker and forget the ball completely and keep him off the glass. We do not concern ourselves with the rebound when we do this.
Our teammates will get the ball.
Our hands must be shoulder high to take up space, avoid fouls for wrapping, and grab a quick rebound bounce.
After pulling the rebound to our chin, we look to quickly and safely outlet the ball so we can run our break package.
If a capable ballhandler rebounds the ball, he can dribble bust out the ball up the floor.
3. SURENESS
We may have a team of great shooters but we will score if we can not handle the ball with sureness.
We want our players to face the basket in triple threat. We want them to see the rim, the post, and the action.
In practice we have make the verbal calls RIM, POST, ACTION.
We want pass receptions to be made with our feet in the air landing in a quick stop facing the basket in triple threat.
Ball in the air, feet in the air. Square in the air. These are teaching terms we use constantly to build the habits.
We want to identify the easy passers on our team and the assist passers. The unforced turnover by the player who is not an assist passer trying to make the difficult pass really hurts offensive efficiency.
We discourage the dribble except to go to the rim, improve a passing angle, or get out of (not into) trouble.
4. Shot Discipline
We can get all the shots we want but we have to make them. We work hard on shooting but like most coaches we don't work hard enough. The first part of every practice usually finds me working with each of our players on the GUN. We can get a lot of work done on the basic shot stroke, shot fake to a shot, and shot fake and go somewhere for a shot. If you are interested in the GUN, call John Joseph at 1-800-294-4654. Tell him that we told you to ask him for help on the price. Our players live on the gun in their free time working on their shooting.
Our players do a shooting progression when they hit the floor. It gets them acclimated and ready of the practice.
We want the right people shooting the shoot, the right way, in the right spot, and at the right spot. We practice
GAME SHOTS AT GAME SPOTS AT GAME SPEEDS. We try to combine shot pressure work with our shooting after we are warmed and ready to go hard.
Our worst shooter should have our best field goal percentage because he only takes the easiest possible shots that he can make.
Our best shooters and scorers must get more shots and should not have our best percentage. They need more shots on goal.
Our shot rating scale is as follows: 4=Lay-up 3=Wide open rhythm jumper 2=O.K. Shot 1=Bad Shot 0=Turnover
The shot clock has caused a downward trend in shot selection with the "short seconds" excuse.
We want to get 4's and 3's.
Our emphasis on the shot stroke is to hold a one second high follow through.
We want the top of the shot arc at the top of the backboard on perimeter jump shots. TOP OF THE SHOT, TOP OF THE BOARD
We stress that all lay-ups are clean, off the glass and in the net with no rim. Players do three push-ups in drills if they don't do this. It make them concentrate and think.
We want to swish our jump shots because that makes us concentrate.
In some of our work out drills, we only count clean lay-ups and we give an extra point for a swished jump shot.
We also use reduced rims that are two inches smaller and two inches higher than the regular rim.
We order them from Dakota Sports. 1-800-888-2193 Ask for Percy or Greg.
5. OFFENSIVE BOARD COVERAGE
We constantly try to get two of our offensive rebounders on the weakside boards for shots take from the side of the floor. That is the slice of the pie we want to dominate.
The shot taken from the top of the circle requires our wings to move the elbows while our post is working the front of the rim. The ball will bounce back most often in the slice of pie that is in the lane to the free throw line elbows.
What we do on the offensive board coverage puts us in position for the defensive coverage beginning with transition and talk. You can see how the cycle works. As you work with it you can adjust it to your system and it will make you think about what is really important for practices and game execution. It makes you look at the game in a more calculated manner with emphasis on execution. Players can "figure it out themselves" if they understand the cycle of the game.
Here is a handout detailing what we are trying to do with our rebounding. Good luck in your preparation.
WOLVES REBOUNDING
1. We emphasize rebounding on every shot taken in practice or games.
2. We evaluate our rebound performance on effort rather than the number of rebounds we get in a practice or game.
3. We evaluate the block out effort by each player on each shot.
4. We evaluate the number of times a player made the all out effort to get to the offensive boards vs. the number of opportunities he wasted.
5. We get 50% or better of all our missed shots including our free throws.
Defensive Rebounding Techniques
1. Pass protect block or step in his crotch and put a forearm in his chest.
2. Hit your opponent, make him take a step back, and pursue the ball.
3. We go to the best slice of the pie if our man does not go to the board.
4. Clean, chinned rebounds are a key to our fast break.
5. Our guards will be great defensive rebounders. Their defensive rebound quickens the fast break.
Offensive Rebounding Techniques
1. We treat each teammates shot as a pass to us.
2. We pursue the ball. We avoid contact and don’t go to a back. We want to be inside, beside, or burying our opponent.
3. We carry our hands at shoulder height for quick jumping and rebound capture.
4. When we can’t get the rebound we keep the ball alive by tipping it to someone else.
5. We get the ball inside to the post and we get dribble penetration into the lane to maximize our offensive rebounding. Our guards will follow up the post player’s shot. We will rebound the dribble penetrator’s shot.
Best Of Luck As Your Season Gets Underway.
From Coach Don Meyer Coaches Newsletters http://www.coachmeyer.com
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