Play better Defense by Jumping to the Ball
This was a phrase that several coaches taught me over the years and it helped me immensely in not getting beat by cutters. Let’s breakdown some scenarios:
Once the ballhandler passes the ball the defense should jump to the side that the pass was made to. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic literal jump but make sure that you are solidly between the ball and your man so that your man can’t just run in front of you and get a return pass and have you stuck behind him. That’s a bad position to be in. This also puts you in an excellent position to help a number of spots on the floor if you have to and forces you to pay attention to everything else going on. Teams like the Utah Jazz run the ‘rub’ all the time where Deron Williams passes the ball to the wing and then tries to rub his defender off the high pick. If the defender doesn’t jump to the ball he gets picked and the Jazz get a layup and at least once a game this happens. If the defense gets in front Williams then he can’t get picked and the 2nd option of the offense plays out.
Practice this by running a simple shell drill with no shots involved. Have 5 offensive players be guarded loosely by 5 defensive players. Once the offense passes the ball make sure that the players are correctly jumping to the ball. Once the motion is correct then start to involve some simple cuts from the players who pass the ball. Don’t let the team go to fast at first until they truly understand the concept and why it is beneficial. If you are coaching young players or young teams then this shell drill will give them a strong sense of team defense.
