Digital Playbook: Pressure Pack Line Rotations

Great team defense is built on five defensive players moving in unison and rotating to the proper coverage areas. Their movements must be quick and any time the ball is passed, they should move on the air-time of the basketball and be in position on the catch. To teach our defense in the most effective way, we need to break it down into several sections.

The sections to our man-to-man defense are:

The Court
Guarding the Ball
Guarding Off the Ball
Closing Out to the Ball
Helping and Recovering On Drives
Guarding the Post
Guarding Special Situations
Rebounding
Communication

The Court:

The helpline splits the court in half from north to south, or from the basket to half court.
Free Throw Line Extended is the line that extends to each sideline as a continuation of the free throw line.
The strong side is the side of the court (separated by the help line) that the basketball is on.
The weak side is the side of the court (separated by the help line) that the basketball is not on.
Our players’ positioning on defense is dependent on where their man is and where the ball is located.
As the ball is passed and players move within their offense, defensive players must rotate and adjust their positioning quickly.

Guarding the Ball:

Defensive Stance:

Our players will remain in a defensive stance at all times until we recover the basketball and transition to our offense. A good defensive stance has our players with their knees bent just over 90 degrees, in a seated position with their back arched, their head over their center of gravity, their feet slightly wider than their shoulders, and the majority of their weight on the balls of their feet.

Defensive Footwork:

It’s not enough to be in a good defensive stance; our players must have great defensive footwork. When they are guarding the basketball, they must “big step” to keep the ball in front of them. They must not hop or cross their feet. Do not open up and give the ball handler a clear path to the basket. Don't lunge to get steals that aren't there. While sliding, the defender must have active hands guarding against the pass and the cross-over dribble.

If a defender is beat off the dribble, they need to get off of their man, find a spot down the court, and sprint to cut the ball handler off.

Guarding in the Back Court:

When pressing the opponent and the ball is being guarded in the back court, the defender on the basketball should try to “turn” his man. Turning a ball handler speeds him up, makes him more reckless with the basketball, forces turnovers, and takes the opponent’s team out of their offensive rhythm. A defender on the ball in the back court should try to turn the ball as many times as possible. However, once the ball crosses half court the on-ball defender should change his mindset to keeping the ball out of the middle 1/3 of the court.

One of the main goals of the defender on the ball handler is to prevent dribble penetration into the paint.
The defender must contain the basketball and keep it in front of them so they don’t get beat and compromise the help defense behind them.
When guarding the ball at the top of the key and in the two corners, the defender should match feet with the ball handler.
When guarding on the wings, the defender should angle their body so that they discourage a middle drive and force the ball handler into the corner. It is important that the defender does not open their stance too much allowing a straight line drive.

Defending the Drive:

Defenders who are guarding the ball handler must read their opponent’s non-pivot foot or attack foot. If your opponent makes a jab step move, it must elicit a response from you. Take a two-foot hop back. Take the fake on your back foot. If he resets to triple threat, don’t hop back toward him. Creep up (crab walk) to regain space.

If a speed dribbler is heading your way, you don’t want to attack him. You must retreat and then match his speed to angle him to the outside, away from the rim. Force him to slow down or veer to the outer third of the court.

Guarding a Dead Ball:

When a defender makes the ball handler pick the basketball up, the ball is dead. He should pressure the ball further by inching into the dead ball handler’s space and trace the ball.

Guarding Off the Ball:

The positioning of the basketball determines where our off the ball defenders should be positioned.
The primary deciding factors are which side of the floor the basketball is on and where the helpline is.
If a defender is guarding a player on the weak side of the court (the side the ball is not on), they should be at the helpline (ex. x2 and x5).

Help side defenders should be on the helpline and below the line of the ball, forming an imaginary triangle between their man, their body, and the ball.
Help side defenders should have their back to the baseline so they can see the entire court.
They should “point their pistols,” or point to their man and the ball handler.
Help side defenders should communicate to their teammates at all times.
Help side defenders need to keep their "head on a swivel" so they can see both their man and the ball.

As the ball drops closer to the baseline, notice how the help defenders locate themselves lower so they can stay below the line of the ball.
The help defenders must maintain the triangle between "ball-you-man."

Gap Protection:

When a defender is on the strong side and his man is one pass away, he should be in gap protection.
In this example, x3 is guarding #3 and is in the gap because his man is one pass away from the ball on the strong side of the court.

A defender in gap protection should have his feet angled (as represented by the “U”) so his stance is open and his back is not turned to his man.
The gap defender’s positioning alone should prevent the ball handler from driving his lane.

Another example of a player (x2) in proper gap protection position.

Closing Out to the Ball:

When the ball is passed to an open offensive player, a defender must close out to that player.
It is important to close out on the air-time of the ball. When the ball moves, you move. This enables you to be guarding your opponent on the catch.
The defender who is closing out must sprint 2/3 of the way and then chop his feet the final 1/3 to gain his balance and get into a defensive stance. The only exception is on a long closeout. On a long closeout, you should close out to the shooter's shooting hand with your inside hand up to force them to put the ball on the floor.
The defender should take a good angle of approach to position himself in the offensive player’s driving lane.
While closing out, the defender should shoot his hands up high to prevent an open shot.
If the ball handler makes a dribble move, the defender must take a big step to take him off his driving lane and push him out of the center of the court.

Putting Together Team Rotations:

Helping and Recovering on Drives:

Helping from the Gap:

If a defender guarding the ball is beat off the dribble, his teammates must be there to help and stop the penetration.
When helping on a drive coming from the top of the key or the wings, help defenders must not turn their back completely to their man.
They should get a body stop and help with their inside foot so that when the ball is kicked out to their man they are able to recover easier.
When they are recovering to their man after the pass, the defender should take a good angle of approach for the close out.

Notice that when a defender is in position before the drive, he has a much better angle to help and recover to his man. He has a lot less ground to cover to make the play.
When a player is not in position, he has a poor angle to help. He also has a lot more ground to cover to make a play, putting the defense at a disadvantage.
We must always emphasize being in position early.

Helping from the Helpline:

When a helpline defender helps on a drive, they should be in position before the drive and help with their inside foot.
After the pass is made to the help defender’s man, the defender must take a good angle of approach and close out to the ball.

If x5 can't recover to their man on the closeout, the weak side defenders should "X Out."
"X Out" means the closeout defender takes the closeout and the help defender recovers to the unguarded man.

Helping from Baseline Drives:

When the ball is on the wing, the weak side defenders should be on the helpline.
The two defenders in this case, x1 and x5, are forming an “I” on the helpline.
On the baseline drive, the bottom man on the “I” should help and meet the ball outside of the lane.
The top man on the “I” should cover down to the tip of the rim to protect the basket and prevent a baseline pass.
They should get a body stop with their chest and “wall up” on the basketball.
In any case, when a defender helps on the ball they should not leave their help position until their teammate recovers to the basketball or the ball is passed to another player.

When the ball is passed out, the defensive players must rotate accordingly.
If x5 can't closeout to his man, the defensive players can "X Out" as detailed in a previous section.

Helping on Wing Drives to the Baseline, When There is a Shooter in the Corner:

When the ball is driven towards the baseline and there is a shooter in the strong side corner, helping off that shooter is not a great strategy.
In this situation, the low help should stop the ball if the defender on the ball is beaten (similar to how we defend baseline drives from the corner)
The defender on the weakside wing becomes the "hunter." He must play two (in this case, #3 and #4) and be prepared to close out to either player.
If x4 has to close out to a player that is not his man, players should "x out" on the back side.

Helping on Wing Drives to the Baseline with a Non-Shooter in the Corner:

If there is a non-shooter in the corner, the corner defender can help on the drive (first diagram).
If x1 is beat and #1 has his shoulders past the defender on the drive, x2 can "peel switch. (diagram 2)"
A peel switch means x2 switches onto #1 and x1 switches onto #2.

Guarding the Post:

One of the primary goals of our defense is to keep the ball out of the paint, whether it’s through preventing dribble penetration or opponents feeding the post. If the ball is entered into the post, we have specific rules for guarding it.

Base Coverage:

When the ball is at the top of the key and above free throw line extended, post defenders should be denying their man up the lane line.

As soon as the ball goes to the wing and below free throw line extended, our post defenders should 3/4 front their man.
They should stay in a defensive stance, split the post players top foot, and deny the pass
The man guarding the ball needs to pressure the basketball to prevent a straight line pass
The post defender’s teammates should be on the helpline to aid in the case of a lob pass.

If the ball is entered into the post, the post defender needs to slide behind the post player on the air-time of the ball and take away their baseline shoulder.
The weak side low defender is there to help if a lob is thrown which would necessitate a cover down from the weak side wing.
Once the ball is entered, the perimeter defenders dig on the post by stunting at him an open stance with their baseline hand.
If the post player puts the ball on the floor, the perimeter players “choke," or be in a soft double team trying to force the post player to pick the ball up.

If a post defender is guarding someone who is on the weak side of the court, he should still follow helpline rules.

Game Adjustments:

If a post player is hurting us offensively and a 3/4 front is not working, we can move into a full front.
In a full front, we give up a little on the offensive boards to prevent an effective post from scoring on post ups.
If the ball is lobbed into the post, the weak side help rotates over and we cover down on the back side.

If we are guarding an ineffective post scorer who is not a good passer out of the post, we can play behind the whole possession instead of going to a 3/4 front.
This strategy also works well against someone who is extremely effective on the offensive glass.
If the ball is thrown into the post, we follow the same rules of taking away the baseline shoulder, dig, and choke.

Rebounding:

All five guys on the court need to attempt to rebound the basketball. Instead of waiting to box their man out as they are flying towards the basket to get an offensive rebound, defensive players must initiate contact first. They need to “pop and stop” the offensive player to prevent them from getting an offensive rebound. This entails defensive players finding someone to box out, stopping them in the chest with their forearm as their arm is bent, and turning to box them out if necessary. Once the defensive rebounder makes contact with the offensive player, they must turn, locate the ball, and pursue the rebound.

Communication:

Our players need to talk on both ends of the court at all times. Communication is especially essential on the defensive end of the court, so we must demand that our players talk on the court. Our players will call out match-ups, where they are on the court, screens, shots, and other key items necessary for our defensive success. This will not only be demanded, but it will be practiced on a daily basis. The term E.L.C. should be emphasized with players at all times; we talk Early, Loud, and Consistently.

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