Diamond on the ball to take away the drive

The way we defend the ball is based on several ideas.
- Most players can't hurt us nearly as much if we take away their strong hand.
- Three point shots give a big boost to the other team so we want to take them away.
- A good defender can take away the outside shot and the strong hand. It takes help but it's doable.
- The best case scenario for us is for the other team to pass it around the outside of the three point line.
- We don't mind it if the pass is made to the wing as long as they don't receive it going to the basket. It's more important to avoid back door cuts as these lead to easy baskets and fouls.
- Players won't play tough on the ball if they don't have help.
- Post defense is easier when there is big pressure on the ball.

The diagram shows our diamond on the ball defense The posts aren't shown for clarity (and because it's too long to draw them....).
- X1 has their head on 1's right shoulder (head on shoulder) and is told that they will be on the bench if they get beaten twice by their check's strong hand. I try to apply this rule religiously.
- X1 has the hand on the ball handler's strong hand above the defender's eyes. The tendency is to drop the hand when the ball handler fakes a drive. Wayne Hussey, the former coach at Bishop's and the Canadian women's team told me this. This is something that has to emphasized often if it's going to happen.
- X1 is the point of the diamond. We tell the ball defender they are the hard point of the diamond.The mental aspect of ball defense is harder than the physical part. Players who can't drive left have great fakes left.
- X2 and X3 are told that their role is first to support the defender on the ball and then to stop the back door.
- We consider it a win if the wing player gets the ball outside the three point line either stationary or going away from the basket.
- X2 and X3 have to close out hard to the strong hand when their check gets the ball. We keep on telling the defenders that it is a win for us when they pass the ball around the perimeter, as long as we apply pressure immediately.

We apply the same diamond principle when the ball is at the wing. The posts are hidden again.
- X2 plays up on the ball to stop the shot and the drive right.
- X1 supports X2 and concedes the pass back to the point.
- X3 has at least a foot in the key and is very active to convince 2 that the pass isn't possible

We will of course make adjustments against great players. Randy Pfund, who was an assistant with the great Laker teams 80's at the at the time he told me this, said that the Lakers had three defensive strategies. They had a standard defense, defense for a star and another defense for a star on fire. I've never gotten that far, but it's probably something to aspire to.

The most common adjustment is keeping the ball away from a great offensive player. If is a great offensive player we deny the pass hard, have help for the back door and leave the other wing wide open. We would probably pick the ball handler up a little earlier and influence away from 2.

None of this is magic. It is very hard to get players to commit to pressure on the ball and there are all kinds of problems when it doesn't happen. It has however been good for us.

Force, take away and Occam's razor

I had an interesting conversation in October at the Université Laval cegep tournament for women's teams. Rod Gilpin (Bishop's), Chantal Vallée (Windsor) and Richard Leblond (Mérici) were there and we congregated outside the gym between two games.

We started talking about forcing left, right or to the weak hand. There were of course different opinions, but one of the constants was that different options would work if it they were well done. This is probably true as a generality but it doesn't help a coach who is trying to decide what to do. There are major differences in the rotations that other players have to do to make each strategy work.

For the record, my philosophy is to take away the strong hand. This isn't the same as forcing. I tell our players to take away the opponent's first choice. This means that we don't want right handers to go right. We aren't forcing them left, we're making sure they don't go right. I feel that the difference is psychological. An offensive player on the right wing wants to dribble with their right hand but doesn't want to get trapped. It is tiring however if defenders can get it in their heads to take away the offensive team's first option. I think this eventually wears them down.

The late Dick Divenzio, who founded the Point Guard College, helped me understand this. He pointed out that most players can't score nearly as going to their weak hand, even if they manage to score. The kick-out pass going to the weak hand side is also much worse. I didn't believe Dick at the time (I'm a slow learner) but have now adopted it as a guiding principle. I don't know how to add images yet or I'd explain how we teach it. Incidentally, Richard and I went to the Point Guard College with Stefan Fradette. It was one of the most useful learning activities I ever did. Dick really knew what he was doing and he ran a great camp.

Now back to the question of which way to force (or what to take away). My decision is based on Occam's razor, attributed to William Ockham, the 14th century English logician. According to to Wikipedia it can be expressed this way. "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best".

The reality is that you can't count on help once you get within one dribble of the basket. To me, this means that you have to take away the strong hand at least part of the time. It therefore becomes simpler to do it all the time. Not easy to do, just a simpler concept for the players.

Incidentally, I find that it is very difficult to get players to take away one side of the other. I see two reasons. There is a misguided sense that you have to stop the offensive player from doing anything. This is clearly impossible but it's true that a defender can look bad if they force without the required help from their teammates.

The second reason seems to be that players take away their own strong hand. In other words, I close out to the right side of the ballhandler, i.e. my right hand. This of course lets the ball handler go right. My dear departed mother had the same problem because, when rushed, she could only identify her right from her left hand by crossing herself. Not the best thing when driving and trying to follow instructions....

It takes a regular practice and lots of emphasis for players to learn to take away the strong hand. Here are two thoughts. Lift up your right hand as you close out and don't run to that side. This sounds awkward but it might work. The ballhandler could help the defender by lifting their right hand during closeout drills. If neither of these works there is always the option of push-ups, sprints or bench time.

As a final note, look at some film and see how often players score going to their strong side.