Annotated (hard to understand at times):
- Must develop your individual system
- Must understand your system
- Must challenge players but not overwhelm them ("so you lose the player")
- Goal: player recognition and reaction (we call this CARE system - concentration/anticipation/reaction/execution)
- "Fundamentals are the most important part of our game."
- Three part program - knowledge, progression, correction
- Young coaches' most common mistake: big picture failure
- First responsibility, take away transition (usually results from players' failure to recognize where both the ball and offensive players are)
- Second responsibility, no open threes (usually come from penetration to pass)
- Defense cannot always be in reactive mode
- Third, "no offensive rebounds"
- Doesn't want defense based on rotations
- Force teams to play one-on-one and two-on-two
- He wants individual defenders to have responsibility not always looking for help
- Stance should be comfortable
- Minimally 'open' with dominant foot forward
- Feet 'more or less' shoulder width
- He advocates nose on chest (some coaches favor head on the ball)
- He argues for moving nose on dominant shoulder in 'force' position
- He favors more of hop back and slide to defend crossover, not "opening the gate"
- He wants pressure on the ball with only one hand.
- The goal is preventing penetration and disturbing shot.
- Bad defenders are often caught out of balance.
- With 'dead dribble', hands up, legs down and deny pivoting.
- He feels coaches don't always push defenders to use their head on defense.
- Can't tolerate players who won't think.
- One pass away, understands that coaches want to vary aggressiveness - full denial or less
- He teaches the head snap method because must see ball. He doesn't like the 'open' (pivot on back cut) because he feels too vulnerable to screens. He continues the argument by saying that he can rotate better from that 'closed' versus 'open' position.
- Without the ball, defense must choose between being back to basket or between ball and defender (more pressure but maybe higher risk). Argues that being between ball and offensive player (jump to the ball) eliminates any give-and-go possibility.
- Discusses difficulty of defending "line of deployment" post player (that means ball-post-basket straight line). He makes the point that forcing initial (wing) pass higher changes that dynamic.
- Discusses personality of great player, willingness to "fight for position" defensively and offensively.
- Individual battle victories determine team outcomes.