Do We Disguise Defenses Enough? Plus Common Sense from Dale Brown

The Lombardi Philosophy - we do what we do, see if you can stop it. The alternative - figure out what we do and then try to stop it. It's not mutually exclusive but most people believe execution tops trickery.

Football defenses show a "pre-snap" look and afterwards there's reality. In high school, the first offensive trip we'd send a cutter through to see whether the defense followed him (man defense).

With a shot clock, momentary confusion might create advantage, producing late shot clock decisions. "Discomfort produces indecision."

Pros and cons exist. Are we confusing ourselves? Young players seldom understand offense or defense well. Yet, if they understand defense, they get a leg up offensively. 

So where do we start? 

• "A good zone looks like a man-to-man, and a good man-to-man looks like a zone." 
• Have a clear philosophy like "no easy shots" and "no second chance points."
• Good team defense begins with good individual defense. 
• Develop defensive stoppers to complement offensive stars. 

Defensive structure

• Man-to-man (individual assignment)
• Zone defenses 
• Hybrid defenses
• Matchup zones
• Varying pick-and-roll defense (e.g. show, drop, switch, blitz)
• Denial versus packing
• Trapping 
• Direction triggered (The Freak)
• Miscellaneous (e.g. run-and-jump/trap and go)

The "simplest" disguise might simply be changing defenses. That covers a lot of territory, not just man versus zone. Changing defenses could include 'extended' defenses, pick-and-roll coverage, trapping, and hybrid defenses blending zone and man. 

Limited practice runs the risk of being "jack of all trades" and master of none. Ask how many defenses can we run effectively? Playing one defense well is better than playing many poorly. 

The initial alignment suggests a 2-3 zone defense, but it doesn't have to be so. A team could 'show' zone and play man. Or we see x1 and x2 'twitchy' or hear a call like 'fire' or 'red' and know a trapping defense is coming. Most young players do not feel that. And even so, do they have a quick adjustment (e.g. 5 cuts to the middle, a pseudo "short roll" situation)? 

Alternatively, we could run a "triangle and two" out of the 2-3 set with a goal of limiting two perimeter players and having 'protection' underneath. 

Dale Brown used 'The Freak' defense. This is an excellent summary of The Freak. 

Much depends on our philosophy. As a middle school coach, I want to develop fundamentally sound players, emphasizing technique over tactics. The more we do strategically, the less likely we are to do it well. 

Summary:

• Execution tops trickery.
• Create advantage. 
• Don't confuse ourselves. 
• "A good man to man looks like zone."
• The simplest disguise is changing defense. 
• Better to play a few defenses well than many poorly.
• Trapping and altering pick-and-roll coverage are simple changes. 
• "Show one defense" and adjust to another is also simple.  

Lagniappe (something extra). Dale Brown quotes...

"Leadership is difficult. It is a lonely responsibility. The best leaders are servants. It is always about others."

"It’s not too late to become what you thought you should be or could be, you can do it." 

"You must be determined to apply massive common sense in solving complex problems." 

"In life, adversity only visits the strong. It stays forever with the weak. We have to decide whether we're going to be strong or weak."

"No leader is exempt from criticism, and his humility will nowhere be seen more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts and reacts to it."

Lagniappe 2. Approaches to defending quicker players.