Fundamentals-- Offense and Defense

[Pringles105]

its gonna take shooting forms and defensive sliding are extremly impotant to teams

[rosemounter]

free throws should be free buckets. practice that with good rebounding so boxing out.

[Pringles105]

ballhandleing and passing very impotant to play as a team and theses definitly help with that

[earp]

Free throws in practice should be implemented into the schedule right after an intense drill!I know making free throws was part of conditioning at Fairland "making them when you are tired" As far as learning to play defense it is just flat out effort!I see alot of guys that get beat and they dont turn and run once they get beat,A good defender will sprint back and cut his man off once he is beat.Good defenders never take a play off either,they are relentless!

[BOBBY]

Jumper,

I think the lack of responses is deafening on this subject. It answers alot of questions for me about the opinions I see on this site.

[J-Bird]

A team should be able to work on the ability to shoot, pass, dribble, rebound and defend. This is about as simplified as the game gets. And any coach, or I should say any good coach would go over these everyday in practice. One thing I think that is overlooked is team chemistry. Teams that play hours together, not only during ball season, but during the summer. A team that is not worried about who is going to score 20 that night will execute an offense better than someone or several people on a team with an agenda. Nothing looks better in the game of basketball than a well executed offensive play, where players set screens, have good ball movement, and finds an open teammate for a shot or a layup. Defensively, it is all about one word, Heart. Offense will come and go, but defense can be played with the same intensity night in and night out. There are some skills in playing defense, such as knowing your teams defensive schemes, when to get help side, looking for cutters and etc. But I would rather have the guy that doesn't know these as well and plays tough hard nose defense everynight than someone know knows the schemes and only plays at about 70%. They were just talking about this topic on Colin Cowherd this morning on ESPN Radio (Don't know if anyone know's who that is or if anyone listens?) But they were talking about San Diego Chargers lack of defensive intensity. They have the skill players and execution, just no emotion behind it. He equated this to playing in a pick up game at the local YMCA. He said you don't want the guy with the most skill to guard you, but the guy you seen who couldn't shoot the ball in the ocean, which ends up being the best defender. He'll get in your face and play with intensity the whole game. Though he may not know the fundamentals of defense, he plays with intensity, which cause the other team to be frustrated and uncomfortable, forcing turnovers and bad shot selection.

[Yossarian]

All the fundamentals mentioned above and the following: court intelligence/playng smart. The mental aspect of the game is not taught nearly enough. I think the single most important stat in basketball is assist/turnover ratio. It tells everything you need to know about a player, their ability, their attitude, and their intelligence on the court. A player who has a good ratio is not afraid to give the ball up and is smart enough to know when and how to give it up. An unselfish, smart, team player. Defense is heart and guts. If you want it or not. They don't write about the guy who held the other teams best scorer ten under their average. Defense gets no glory, that's why so few want to play it. AAU and the NBA don't even try to play it. It's not flashy enough. I agree with J-Bird, offense comes and goes but defense is there every night if you want it bad enough. Show me a player who leads the team in shooting percentage, assists to turnover ratio, and defense and I'll show you a basketball player. There isn't any reason why a player can't be both the most productive on the offensive end and on the defensive end but how often do you even hear anyone talk about a player being good at both. Few coaches really demand defense especially from the so called best player ie: leading scorer/most shot attempts regardless of shooting percentage.

[Pringles105]

that is very true and well put

[catscoachmac]

Offensive
IMO I start with ball handling and passing. When done well, both of these will put a person on your team in position to score from a range that does not require great "scoring ability." Knowing when to take an extra dribble to create an angle, or knowing when not to put it on the floor. Make the extra pass reversal, causing the defensive to move more and more each trip down the floor. To me, this is what allows for easy shots--especially late because you've tired your opponent.

Defensive
Could not agree with more with an earlier post noting "effort". Many on here can run down thru a bunch of defensive terminology/keys: seeing ball and man, sliding, staying long and wide, stepping ball side after your man passes, hedging, help side, sit down, etc. All important, yet none require exceptional basketball gifts. This is the "effort" side of the ball. Having the stones to decide (no demand) that the person in front of you will work for anything he gets.
Maybe when the season starts we can start giving props to those lock down guys in the respective conferences. "Defense wins championships!", right?

[Yossarian]

catscoachmac, good post. Defense does win championships. As far as the lock down defender getting props, not likely, it's all about the flash don't ya know. Have you ever noticed any conversation about basketball players is always about how many? The could be shooting twenty percent (you won't find that in the newspaper) with ten turnovers a game and everyone thinks they are the most valuable player?