Del Harris Defense

Coaches are hypocrites. I mean that. We preach defense but we spend more time on offense than defense and usually favor offensive production. 

Reality is that if we spend the majority of time on defense, then we simply won't score enough to be competitive. In the arms race of basketball, offense gets more of the money, love, and time. 

All of which demands that when we invest defensive time, we should bring great ideas to the fore. Here are some thoughts distilled from Del Harris, an underrated coach with high character and NBA championship pelt. Urban Meyer would say he has ethical trust, technical trust, and personal trust. 

Excerpts:

1. Be physical. Make the first hit. Play with body contact first of all. We like tobody up, as picks are about to be set. We want to body up on cutters.STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR MAN as he comes off of picks. Do not let him create a big gap between you and him or he will beat you on easy catch and shoots, splits and penetrations.
2. Pressure but still contain the man. Our second front court priority is to prevent your man from “taking the angle toward the goal.” Move your feet and body in order to cut him off. Make him go “East to West”, not “North to South”.
3. In our basic 5 man to man defense we want the defenders one pass away from the ball to deny the inside passes aggressively. On the perimeter they must know they are defending their man, but be in a help position.
4. Challenge every shot possible—our third on-ball priority—deny easy passes in the scoring area–pressure but contain and challenge the shot.
5. We utilize switching on defense against several NBA offensive maneuvers. We like to switch equal size players and often involve our 2-3-4 men in switching with each other—especially in pick/roll games.

My 'simplified' defensive appeals are:

Defense should attack, not play passively. Deny dribble and pass penetration into the paint. Don't foul perimeter shots and especially do not foul 'bad shots' such as off-balance shots and runners. The 'trend' in basketball is 'positionless' play, meaning more switching as 'smaller' player need to play more physically. We're not ever 'good enough' to allow easy baskets (layups, put backs, transition hoops, and free throws).