Chris Capko, Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Ball State
This video is a segment from one of the 120 Videos in Glazier Drive Basketball.
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The full video that this clip came from is available on Glazier Drive: Protecting The Rim Without Having a Rim Protector
OVERVIEW
This is a defensive practice session built around one idea: protecting the paint, with every player (guards included) responsible for it. The coach’s mantra is “If you can’t guard the ball, you can’t guard anything,” and his second is “We stop the dribble, we stunt the pass.”
ON-BALL DEFENSE AND CLOSE-OUTS
- Close-outs are the first skill taught. Players find their arm-length distance and guard the ball rather than jumping into it.
- Stance changes based on where the ball is on the floor.
- In the corners, a piece of blue tape marks “jail.” If the ball is below it, the defender keeps the ball handler in the corner rather than letting them dribble back out and center it.
- Against a triple threat, the defender guards the ball with a high hand and stays at distance.
STOPPING THE DRIBBLE
- The defender meets the driver with the chest early, taking space and refusing to let him touch the floor. Letting a ball handler get all the way to the logo is unacceptable.
- Offensively, the team wants to be the one to hit first. Defensively, it wants to eat up the space.
- On a middle dribble, the help defender gets to the nail and clogs it. If his man is beaten, he stays on the nail and stops the ball rather than recovering home. The staff will live with above-the-break shots, since they are less efficient than corner threes, rim attempts and free throws.
- Players should not swipe at the ball. They should see the ball handler’s chest, stop him and wall up.
HELP-SIDE RULES
- No point-switching. Players cover their man as he transfers.
- If your man is opposite the ball and below the free-throw line, you should have two feet in the paint, across the midline.
- If you are the furthest man from the ball, you need at least one foot in the paint while still protecting the hole, and you sprint to help.
- The coach repeats “high hand close” constantly, and he is a stickler for early help.
- Guards cannot meet drivers at the rim like a seven-footer, so they must meet them outside the paint.
PHYSICALITY
- Be physical on drives: high hand, jump to the ball and be “clunky” so offenses have no freedom.
- The less physical the defense, the easier it is for the offense to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket.
GAME OVERS
- A “game over” is any live dribble or drive from a triple threat that ends in an uncontested layup. It is the opposite of what the team wants.
- In the ideal rotation, a help man (for example, 25) rotates over while the guard steps up to meet the ball at the free-throw line and force the pass.
- Players are graded on this, which tells them it matters.
DRILL PROGRESSION
- Close-outs begin the session, then the dribble is added.
- Next comes four-man shell to check positions, then five-man shell.
- The “disadvantage” drill calls up, down, left or right to put defenders in different positions, and the defense has to scramble to fix it.
- “Hands, hit, beat” is a five-man drill. Hands means the defense is in its help spots. Hit means the ball is driven. Beat means the defense rotates to cover.
RIM PROTECTION WITHOUT A SHOT BLOCKER
- The low man must form a straight-up, straight-down wall of verticality against a driver. Getting out of the way costs him a minus three in grading.
- The “crackdown” earns a plus one: the guard gets back in front, stays down, walls up and challenges the shot.
- Guards and forwards protect the rim by being in the right spots early.
- The “pickup point line” in practice is the NBA three-point line. A defender above it who fails to recover to help is doing it wrong.
- The big man meets the ball outside the charge circle and the “sink guy” helps from the weak side.
- When the ball is in the corner, three other defenders load into the paint. If the ball is driven, the strong-side corner defender is home, and the guard helps early and aggressively. Everyone recovers on the midline.
KEY COACHING PHRASES
- “If you can’t guard the ball, you can’t guard anything.”
- “We stop the dribble, we stunt the pass.”
- “High hand close.”
- “Meet him outside the paint.”
- “What do we stop?” (The answer is “the dribble.”)
