Over-protect against the best shooters, or the "hot" shooter, and sag off the guy who never shoots.ġ2. When the offense dribble penetrates, quickly close the gap.ġ0. The weakside low defender should keep his "butt to the baseline" so that he can see the floor, and any cutters or screeners coming his way.ħ. This is especially important for weakside defenders. We are less concerned with dribble-penetration since the zone creates too much congestion inside for the dribble-drive.Ħ. Close-out on the shooter with high hands, to pressure the shot and the pass. Get your hands up and out, to shrink the passing lanes.ĥ. Move quickly on the flight of the ball, as soon as it leaves the passer's hands.Ĥ. Move quickly, adjust your position relative to the movement of the ball. I would practice man-to-man 80-90% of the time, and zone the remaining 10-20%.ġ. If you play zone most of the time, and rarely man-to-man, your players may become complacent on defense and may lose their man-to-man skills. See Zone Rebounding for help with this.Ĥ. There are not always clear-cut rebounding box-out assignments and sometimes the offensive player will slip inside for the offensive rebound and lay-up. If the opponent is having a good shooting night, your zone is not effective, and you must consider going man-to-man to get pressure on perimeter shooters.ģ. You must go man-to-man in this situation.Ģ. If your team is behind, you won't get pressure on the ball, and the offense can stall and hold the ball for a good shot. If you play zone defense exclusively (no man-to-man), you can save practice time in not having to teach how to handle ball-screens and other screens.ġ. Compared to man-to-man offenses, there are far fewer zone offenses to contend with, and zone defense can easily be adapted to counter the opponent's best player(s).ġ0. If you use a full-court or half-court press, after the press is broken, it is easy to drop back into a half-court zone defense.ĩ. By changing defenses from man-to-man to various zones, you can keep the offense off-balance and confused.Ĩ. Most youth and high school players are just average passers, and have difficulty making good inside passes and accurate skip passes.ħ. Opponents tend to become impatient against the zone and often rush shots.Ħ. You can slow the game and control the tempo somewhat with a zone.ĥ. Your team may be in foul trouble, especially your big man. Even good shooting teams have off nights, especially under tournament pressure.ģ. Use it to see if the opponent can shoot from outside consistently. An example would be using the 2-3 zone which clogs the paint and invites the offense to shoot from outside. In using a zone, you protect the paint area and force the opponent to shoot from outside. You can avoid this by playing zone defense, keeping your small players out on the perimeter.Ģ. If you play man-to-man defense and have very short guards, the opponent will run screens to get switches and size mis-matches against your small guards near the basket. A zone can look intimidating with all your big guys stacked up inside with their hands up. You may have a tall, strong, but not particularly quick team. Playing a zone can help in these situations. Or the offense may have a couple of outstanding players too quick to defend individually. Not all teams have good, quick man-to-man defenders. On the other hand, some high school and college coaches treat zone defense almost as if using it were blasphemous, or an admission of inferiority! At the upper levels, I believe you should assess your team's strengths and weaknesses as well as your opponent's, and the game situation, and use whatever tool you need to try to win.ġ. I believe youth basketball leagues should limit the use of zones to the older age groups. On a personal note, I believe that all kids must develop their man-to-man defensive skills first. Zone defense is often effective in stopping dribble penetration and one-on-one moves. Zone defenders move their position on the floor in relationship to where the ball moves. Zone defense is different from man-to-man defense in that, instead of guarding a particular player, each zone defender is responsible for guarding an area of the floor, or "zone", and any offensive player that comes into that area.
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