"Be easy to play with and hard to play against."
Focus on making life difficult for your opponents...not your own.
Offensive problems
- Create separation with cutting or dribbling
- Create and maintain spacing
- "Draw 2" (the help defender) and pass
- Identify and exploit mismatches (that often means passing)
- Be a willing passer
- Consistently take and make quality shots
- Take care of the ball (limit turnovers)
- Get to the foul line
- Always know your assignment
- Load to the ball (shrink space)
- Communicate to energize and intimidate
- Pressure the ball
- Never take plays off
- Cover 1.5 (yours and half of another)
- Contest shots without fouling
- Block out or get the ball on the boards
- Play hard on both ends
Don't display "Warning Signs"
- Ball sticking (undoing energy)
- Quickness on offense and slowness on defense (pet peeve)
- "Me, Too" or "My Turn" shots
- Lazy cutting
- Unwilling passer
- "Baking" (turnover maker)
- Selfish defense ("my guy didn't score" - no help)
- Low energy on defense
- Frustration fouls, bad technique fouls, perimeter shot fouls
All these fall into the "everybody knows that." And watch every high school game, most college games, and some pro games and you'll see them all.
Lagniappe. Brad Stevens Defensive Musts
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